New details of Nafissatou Diallo’s life keep popping up, while old ones keep contradicting themselves – why?
Sofitel maid Nafissatou Diallo
New York based Mamoudou Diallo, the man being billed by everyone as Nafissatou Diallo’s brother, must be suffering from repetitive strain injury of the larynx by now. Since his ‘sister’ accused Dominic Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape six weeks ago, the guy hasn’t stopped talking. He’s spoken to our own Dacre Mail, to the Telegraph, the Guardian, the New York Post, various online networks…and now he’s been talking to the New York Times. But every time he speaks to the media, something new crops up – and/or, something old doesn’t add up.
Mamoudou started off telling us his sister arrived in the US with her husband, who then died. Now it seems he died in Africa. And – a new detail this one – her marriage was arranged…to a cousin. But Mamadou remains very coy about what the husband died of. The death might well have been from AIDS, as his widow is living in an apartment exclusively reserved for those who are HIV+.
Mamadou said she arrived seven years ago ‘under tragic circumstances’. We’ve never been told what they were: but in this latest interview, he now says she arrived in 2002 – nine years ago. For a brother, he’s very confused about his sister’s history.
He’s remained consistent about Nafissatou’s arrival with her daughter in tow. But at one point, the daughter’s car-crash injuries were the reason for Ms Diallo getting ‘asylum’ in the US. Now in the latest New York Times piece, it seems ‘unclear’ whether Nafissatou was an illegal immigrant or not. Why?
For the first time, we learn that she was born in a village called Thiakoulle. Before, this hadn’t been released. Suddenly, now – it is.
But here’s an intriguing thing. Some weeks back, The Slog alone revealed that her husband was called Amadou – and that one Amadou Diallo had been shot dead by the NYPD. At this time, it was thought that Nafissatou had arrived after her husband – not without him. The Slog finding was picked up by several news agencies in the US. And it’s notable that this has to be explained away in the latest NYT piece:
‘The community was still recovering from the killing of Amadou Diallo, a street vendor from the woman’s region and ethnic group, who was shot to death by the police in 1999 in a case that received widespread attention.’
Funny how Mamadou mentions that…now it’s come to light.
Mamoudou’s chief consistency is in his ability to paint his sister mawkishly as a saint. He’s at it again in this latest in a long line of interviews: “She is a village girl who didn’t go to school to learn English, Greek, Portuguese, what have you,” said her older brother, 49, whose first name is Mamoudou. “All she learned was the Koran. Can you imagine how on earth she is suffering through this ordeal?”
Well no Mamoudou, I can’t imagine anything about your ‘sister’, because the NYPD have had her under lock and key since the day this happened. But then, I also can’t imagine how or why a girl with little or no education felt confident enough to fire her two top lawyers the week before last.
What I do know is that she speaks French – as does Dominic Strauss-Kahn, he being French an’ all.
I’ve never met Mamadou Diallo. But something in my water tells me he’s milking this for all it’s worth. Which raises another question: is he being paid for these interviews?
I think we should be told.
Footnote: much of the NYT’s Guinea reporting was done by one Abdourahmane Diallo
Closely related:
DSK accuser not US citizen, was granted asylum by immigration authorities.
The Slog 