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| Rebels untying the hostages |
Several hours after they were
unshackled and ferried away from hell of a bush in Casamance to a safe-haven in
Gambia, and hosted and freshened-up and quenched and fed in one of Gambia’s
finest luxurious five-star hotels, the freed Senegalese hostages, which included
six soldiers, could not wear a descent smile. But this forest of frowned faces
on display has a distinguished dissimilarity with the rather bluffing
grim-faced red-eyed men of boot camp.
Matter-of-factly, the year-long
captivity in the hands of the rebels in the bush, away from women and weapons, has
apparently stripped the men in arm and uniform off any aura or pride that
accompanies their professional or social standing. The soldiers, to say the
least, as well as the gendarmerie and the fire fighter, were uncharacteristically
cool and collected despite the pleasant twist of fate that should normally be
greeted with bang.
