To me the above question has a one-word answer: CASAMANCE.  Even before Wade
left Dakar for Banjul one can safely guess the contents of Wade’s talking
points.  What better time to get Yaya to ‘betray’ his friends in Casamance
than now?  Yaya already used the Casamance people to get elected.  His
government is snubbed by the international community.  What better time for
Wade to make cosmetic moves to bring respectability to this illegal
government and as a quid pro quo get Yaya to distance himself from the
rebels?

The Opposition should welcome Yaya’s change of sides in the Casamance
rebellion.  Apparently, the man no longer has ‘dreams’ of seeing a ‘Jola
Empire’ in the sub-region.  Anyone that knows the pivotal and dangerous game
Yaya has been playing in this conflict, will know that it was a cheap price
for Wade to pay to get Yaya to change sides by simply visiting Gambia and
making statements that everybody (including Wade) know are simply ludicrous.
  Even if Yaya’s change of heart is just ‘lip-service’, this is a
devastating demoralizer to the Casamance rebels.

Wade had his own students’ riot.  ONE Senegalese university student (NOT a
three year old as in April 10 and 11, 2000) was killed in those riots.  Did
Wade sign an Indemnity Decree in Senegal insulating the criminals that
killed that student?  If my memory serves me right, Wade dismissed one of
his ministers as a result of that riot even before the matter was thoroughly
investigated.  Now, how can that man go to Gambia and fete a leader that
ordered the massacre of defenseless children as young as three and deny
their families justice?  CASAMANCE.

Wade peddled the notion of Gambia being a country of law and order because
he was invited to an opening of a court building.  Did Wade know that Joseph
Joof was sitting in that commission of inquiry that denied the victims of
the Massacre the justice they deserved?  Did Wade know why the students came
out on April 10, 2000 to peacefully demonstrate against Yaya’s government?
The students came out on April 10, 2000 because one of their colleagues was
butchered and the ‘law-and-order government’ denied the victim justice.  The
record of this government is one of DENYING Gambians justice and one of
LAWLESSNESS.  Is this not the case of another African leader jettisoning
principles and cuddling an unadulterated Dictatorship?  Are we not
witnessing another Mbeki/Mugabe cuddling?  So long as some of these African
leaders are not prepared to weed out the ‘bad apples’ and quit standing by
them to explain away murder, mayhem and corruption, our continent has a long
way to go.  There is absolutely no way Wade would tolerate Yaya stealing
power in Senegal and imposing himself on the Senegalese people.  Why should
this man wish this fate on Gambians?

To ‘solve’ the Casamance problem, Wade is prepared to hail Yaya as a
‘respecter’ of law and order?  Did Wade know that as he fete at State House
there were political prisoners (like Dumo) languishing in jail without trial
for crimes they NEVER committed?  Did Wade know that as he visited
‘buildings’ there were some soldiers buried behind latrine pits at Yundum
Barracks and that those soldiers were summarily executed without the
‘luxury’ of a trial in one of our court ‘buildings’?  It appears that the
only intelligence briefing Wade is reading nowadays pertains to Casamance.
I sincerely hope that this trip was worth it for Wade and he will find
solace in the fact that although his conscience might be bruised by the
plight of the three-year-old that was slaughtered on April 10, 2000, he
(Wade) might have succeeded in saving some Senegalese lives by removing Yaya
out of the wrong side of the Casamance conflict.  Did Wade have to go to
this length to bring sanity to Casamance?  Obviously the man does NOT have
to go to Gambia and make such ridiculous utterances.  But he has to live
with his own conscience and be the master of his legacy.  At the end of the
day, I hope he got enough intelligence information from Yaya to equip the
Senegalese army to deal the Casamance rebels the final blow.  That is what
this trip is all about.  Signing papers about combating international
terrorism is neither here nor there.  This is about Yaya pledging to stop
harboring the Casamance rebels in Gambia.  Let us wait and see where this
takes us.  Is Yaya really committed to standing by the Senegalese government
(and by default ‘betraying’ his own people in Casamance)?  Or would we soon
hear the rebels calling a press conference at Atlantic Hotel in Banjul?  The
jury is out.

On the same note, I would like to comment on the ridiculous show of ‘air
power’ during Wade’s visit.  I am sure the Senegalese military intelligence
were just laughing their heads off when they saw those jets.  They know that
Gambia does NOT have what it takes to keep those jets in the air against
enemy forces.  The logistics involved in manning a fighter jet is just
mind-boggling to the mental midgets like Baboucarr Jatta.  I am not just
talking about the pilots in the jet.  We are talking about an elaborate
ground support. These are the same inept soldiers that blew themselves up
trying to fire some of their rudimentary weapons during exercise sessions.
I just hope and pray that when they perish with this jet they do so at some
remote location where there will be no injuries on the ground.  We are the
laughing stock of the sub-region.
KB


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