Mustapha Danso
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Mustapha Danso (died 30 September 1981) was a
constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...
in the military of the Gambia, who in 1980 killed Emmanuel ("Eku") Mahoney, the deputy commander of the
paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
field force of the country. Danso's actions ultimately led to an attempted
coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
in July 1981 and his own
execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...
. Danso shot and killed Mahoney in October 1980 with a
semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single round each time the Trigger (firearms), trigger is pulled while automatically loading the next Cartridge (firearms), cartridge. These rifles were developed Pre-World War II, and w ...
. At his trial in December, Danso was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. The unrest caused by the incident led to the attempted coup, which began on 30 July 1981 and was led by Kukoi Sanyang. However,
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Dawda Jawara Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara (16 May 1924 – 27 August 2019) was a Gambian politician who served as prime minister from 1962 to 1970, and then as the first President of The Gambia from 1970 to 1994, when he was overthrown by Yahya Jammeh. Jawa ...
put down the revolt by 5 August with the assistance of
Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...
ese troops. On 30 September 1981, Danso was executed in
Banjul Banjul (, (US) and ), officially the City of Banjul, is the capital city of The Gambia. It is the centre of the eponymous administrative division which is home to an estimated 400,000 residents, making it The Gambia's largest and most densely ...
. He was the first person executed by the Gambia since it gained independence in 1965. After Danso's execution, no other prisoners were legally put to death in the Gambia until August 24, 2012.


General references

* Tijan M. Sallah, "Economics and Politics in the Gambia", ''Journal of Modern African Studies'', vol. 28, no. 4 (Dec. 1990) pp. 621–648 *Arnold Hughes, "From Colonialism to Confederation: the Gambian Experience of Independence, 1965–1982", in Robin Cohen (ed.) (1983). ''African Islands and Enclaves'', vol. 7 (London) p. 69 *"Gambia executes first since 1965", ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'', 1981-10-02, p. 18 1981 deaths 20th-century executions by the Gambia Executed Gambian people Gambian military personnel People executed for murder Gambian people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by the Gambia Year of birth missing {{Gambia-bio-stub