By Baba Sillah

17 men from conflict ridden southern region of neighbouring Senegal, Casamance were found guilty on charges of unlawful entry into The Gambia and possession of firearms and ammunitions without license.
The Gambia has been enduring spillover effects of the three-decade long unrest in Casamance. This range from scarcity of resources in host communities as a result of exodus of victims of the conflict to sporadic incidents of attacks on Gambians travelers and border villages.
The self declared rebels were arrested by some Gambian security agents in October 2010 at various Gambian border villages.
Although the men pleaded innocent, Justice Ikpala of the Special Criminal Court in Banjul said, there is overwhelming evidence that they committed the said crimes.
Six witnesses to the crime, including some police officers had testified against them whilst none testified for them to establish their guiltless claims.
The convicts are :Yuspha Ceesay, Modou Lamin  Badjie, Sako Jammeh, Zakaria Jatta, Tijan Camara, Mafuji  Jarju, Abdoulie Sonko , Hatab Jatta, Abdou Badjie, Ebrima Jammeh , Zae Sambou, Basirou Jammeh , Seedy Sanyang, Tomani  Manga , Ebrima Badjie –Jatta, Alasan  Jarju and Aziz Kujabi.
The rebels have been sentenced to a fine D, 5000.00 in default to serve 2 year jail term on count one. And on count two, all the rebels, except Zae Sambou, were sentenced to a fine of D2, 000.00 in default to serve 1 year jail term.