The Jakhanke by Lamin O. Sanneh

Author:Lamin O. Sanneh [Sanneh, Lamin O.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Islam, General, Reference, Social Science, Islamic Studies
ISBN: 9780819174819
Google: 0GGYQgAACAAJ
Publisher: University Press of America
Published: 1989-01-15T05:20:11+00:00

The Exile and Return of Karamokho Sankoung, 1911–17

Karamokho Sankoung did not in fact serve the full ten-year sentence in detention. He was to be released and placed under official surveillance at Dakar in April, 1916. Before his final release came, however, intense activity was needed to obtain a remission of sentence. On the official level, attempts were made to prove his political innocence. The Governor-General wrote to the Lieutenant-Governor of Guinea requesting a reconsideration of remission of sentence. He stated that during the eighteen months that Sankoung had lived in Dakar after his transfer from Mauritania there had been no cause for holding him to account, and that ‘his culpability in the affair of the Walī was very limited’35 The Head of the Political Affairs Department minuted in a Report to the Permanent Commission of the Council of Government that Shaykh Sidiya, a favourite ally of the French, had given a personal guarantee on the political intentions of Sankoung and of his loyalty. Shaykh Sidiya was commended in this report as a man ‘whose devotion to the French cause and high moral worth are indisputable.’36 It appears that these official pronouncements achieved their objective and on 10th September, 1917, Sankoung was granted remission of sentence and allowed to return to Touba (Suret-Canale 1970: 77). He died there, according to different traditions, some eleven or twelve years later (1928/9).

The oral accounts give much more detail about Sankoung’s imprisonment and release, most of which represents the eye-witness account of Karamokho Sankoung’s eldest son, al-Ḥājj Banfa Jabi, supplemented by his younger brother, al-Ḥājj Soriba.37 According to this combined account, which follows in detail, Karamokho Sankoung was arrested at Touba and taken to Conakry. Then he was transported by sea to Gorée before being transferred to Port-Etienne in Mauritania. His prisoner-companions were Alfa Yahya, his son, Aguibou, and Ba Gassama. Alfa Yahya was to die at Port-Etienne. In about 1914, al-Ḥājj Banfa left Touba on a mission to try to obtain his father’s release. He travelled to Boké before continuing to Dakar. From there he went to Boutilimit to see Shaykh Sidiya Baba and appealed to him to intercede with the French authorities on his father’s behalf. He then went to Port-Etienne to visit his father. The French authorities had informed Port-Etienne of his arrival in general terms (Suret-Canale 1970: 76). According to Banfa and Soriba, al-Ḥājj Banfa spent two years with his father at Port-Etienne, during which time he was able to put fresh heart into the surviving prisoners. After this, he returned to Boutilimit to see Shaykh Sidiya once more. This time he left Boutilimit in Shaykh Sidiya’s company, and headed for Dakar. In Dakar they approached a certain Capt Martin to help them obtain Sankoung’s release. At about the same time Banfa saw the Senegalese politician, Blaise Diagne, later a deputy in the French Assembly (cf. Johnson 1973). Blaise is reported to have promised help, but at a price: Banfa was to write to both Shaykh Sidiya and Sankoung to ask

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