Buharry,
I sincerely agreed with you that tribalism has no place in The
Gambia.The Gambia is a very mixed society,where all are related either one
way or the other.For I in particular my mother is a Mandinka and my father
is an Hausa.Thus the concept of tribalism should be encouraged in our mother
land.
History is not static process but a dynamic phenomenon.It is our
actions that creates history and help it to develop.Hence every human being
should ensure that whatever he or she did will lead to peace,liberty and
prosperity of the society he or she belongs to.If a human being,the most
creative being on earth,fails to fulfill this task then he or she has fails
to meet his or her social responsibilities.The issues surfacing in The
Gambia needs our urgent attention.But one should be very sober and objective
in handling the tribalism issue.Emotional comments would not help to address
our problem.
I sum up with this quotation of Benjamin Frankin: "Those who would
give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve
neither liberty nor safety." Liberty,peace,prosperity and dignity do not
come by chance and are also not gift.They are to be secured through our own
sweat and sober actions.
ARONA JOHN
International Islamic University,Malaysia
>From: Haruna Farage <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Another Dubious Coup Plot in The Gambia
>Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 10:07:27 -0500
>
> Hi Mr. Buharry,
>
> I wholly and solely concur with your arguments as put forward to the
> whole members of the L and The Gambia in general, on issues
>pertaining
> to tribalism.
>
> I cannot but wonder if there are elements agitating for tribalism in
> order to change the system in The Gambia without regards to its
> repercussions on the general populace.
>
> Having been working with the International Criminal Tribunal for
> Rwanda, prosecuting genocide suspects, I always hope and pray such a
> situation never prevail again in any given nation given the
> testimonies of the survivors.Genocide in short means the elimination
> of a certain ethnic group by another with the aim of wiping out the
> targetted ethnic group. The elements of genocide includes incitement,
> encouragement etc of a certain group to wipe out the other. This is
> due too tribal differences. One tribe aiming to eliminate the other
> for political reasons are in most cases the occurrence of genocide.
>
> In the tribunal, survivors revealed their ordeals, expressing how
>they
> loose all members of their families due to ethnic differences. Before
> the genocide Hutus and Tutsis were living side by side in peace but
> immediately when the genocide began all such relationships ceased to
> exist due to tribal differences. For in a tribal war one is not only
> aiming at political opponents but ethnic differences which would
>spare
> nobody, women and children, yound and old are all targets.
>
> PS. Note that the definition above is not quoted but mine to simplify
> my explanations.
>
> Bravo Buharry for a well thought out article.
>
>
>______________________________ Reply Separator
>_________________________________
>Subject: Re: Another Dubious Coup Plot in The Gambia
>Author: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]> at Internet
>Date: 1/23/00 5:33 PM
>
>
>Hi!
> The issue of underlining the tribalist undertones of Ebou Colley's
>posting has nothing to do with the "keep it safe business". It is neither a
>run for cover nor an attempt to use "code words" to run away from tribalist
>realities back home. The issues raised by Ebou if true, given that his
>information sounds real "insider", are issues that should concern us all.
> My beef with the posting is that it sounds like an incitement with the
>intention of rallying tribalist sentiment against the Jola people most of
>whom have nothing to show for Yaya Jammeh being in power. This is wrong and
>very dangerous for our country. What does Ebou want? Does he want Wollofs,
>Mandinkas, Fulas etc. to kill enough Jolas to even the numbers? Would this
>solve the problem? No, it would rather plunge The Gambia into a deeper
>abyss of endless violence and retribution. Is that what we want? I, for
>one,
>don't want that.
> We have to be analytical and not sentimental when issues such as
>tribalism are mentioned. Nobody is denying the fact that tribalism exists
>in
>The Gambia. Gambians wouldn't be normal human beings if no trace of
>tribalism is found in The Gambia. There is tribalism all over the world. It
>is therefore not unique to The Gambia and Africa. All over Asia, Europe,
>America, Australia etc. some tribes (though they are tagged otherwise) are
>marginalised because of their ethnicity. This is wrong and has to be
>tackled
>and remedied, but not through incitement.
> We have to avoid being sentimental when dealing with tribalism to
>avoid
>being victims of those with divisive and destructive ulterior motives.
>Isn't
>it quite interesting that Ebou "Colley" would incite people to react
>against
>the Jolas, knowing fully well that his kith and kin back home would be at
>the recieving end of the stick?
> It is very easy to be armchair revolutionaries, keyboard Rambos and
>the
>like living in some far away land knowing fully well that we are far
>removed
>from the repercussions of what we preach. What we however have to remember
>is that we have parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties etc. back home
>who may not be spared the turmoil if there is violence back home. We
>therefore have to be sober and realistic in our prescriptions. If there is
>a
>tribal problem back home, we should try to find ways and means of dealing
>with it without jeopardising the stability of the country and turning tribe
>against tribe.
> I came across a publication in England around 1994/1995 that was being
>distributed by a group calling itself the Movement for the Restoration of
>Democracy in The Gambia (can't remember the exact name but it runs along
>those
>lines). The publication, like Ebou Colley's, highlights tribal and
>religious
>differences. It supplied the names of members of the armed forces with Jola
>surnames and talked about how Christians were being promoted to this and
>that
>position because Yaya Jammeh was one of Bishop Cleary's "boys". I was as
>wary
>of that publication then as I am of Ebou Colley's now. Why? Because the
>same
>tactics are reminiscent of those employed in the PALIPEHUTU communiqué of
>May
>1988 in Burundi in which an incitement to deal with the ethnic issue in
>violent terms was propagated. They are the same as those employed by
>Interahamwe and other groups in Rwanda. Maybe the Gambian publications have
>fallen short of directly telling people to take arms and attack the Jolas
>but
>who knows what will happen if such views are not challenged. I would
>challenge
>the democratic intentions of anyone or any group that tries to highlight
>and
>play the various tribes against each other.
> To cut the story short, The Gambia is a very tiny country where I am
>yet
>to find anyone who can tell me that he/she doesn't have a relative who is
>from another tribe. We therefore have to be careful with what we propagate.
>If Yaya Jammeh is using tribe as a basis for employment and promotion, then
>he is violating the very spirit of the Constitution for chapter IV, section
>33, subsection 3 states: "... no person shall be treated in a
>discriminatory
>manner by any person acting by virtue of any law or in the performance of
>the functions of any public office or any public authority". Subsection 4
>states: "In this section, the expression "discrimination" means affording
>different treatment to different persons attributable wholly or mainly to
>their respective descriptions by ...colour, ...language, religion,
>...social
>origin ... whereby persons of one such description are subjected to
>disabilities or restrictions to which persons of another such description
>are not made subject, or are accorded privileges or advantages which are
>not
>accorded to persons of another such description". If Yaya Jammeh is
>violating this part of our Constitution with a few of his tribesmen
>benefitting, why should the Jola tribe pay for it? Yaya and those who are
>benefitting are the ones who should be brought to book for that and not the
>average Jola whose living condition hasn't improved an iota since Yaya took
>power.
> I therefore strongly stand by my conviction that tribalism has no
>place
>in The Gambia. We should all be fighting very hard to discourage it. We
>should also take a stance against all forms of incitement or the playing of
>one tribe against the other because if we don't, the ultimate losers will
>be
>Gambia and Gambians. Thanks.
>
>Buharry.
>--------------------------------------Original
>Message---------------------------------------------------------------------
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>From: Ousman Bojang <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2000 1:00 AM
>Subject: Re: Another Dubious Coup Plot in The Gambia
>
>
> > Ebou,
> > This is such a powerful piece. Just as Buharry said a lot of it might be
>a
> > revelation to some and to some it might be like an initiation of a
>tribal
> > differential. However, you seem to got the facts and said it as it is
>and
> > naturally Gambians like the "Keep it safe" business. In fact that is one
> > reason why it is going to take some a lot of bite to swallow and why
>Jammeh
> > continuos to act like this.
> > And to some you might just tell them it is not for them to agree, but
>there
> > is a lot of sense in what you said. Jammeh has succeeded in eliminating
>his
> > loyalties very well. And to confirm to you and everyone that it is among
> > tribal lines, wait to see the 33 people they accused as the coup
>plotters.
>So
> > far 30 of them are behind the bar as we talk and some will be stunt to
>hear
> > the list.
> > And as I always say, sooner or later the final day and the revelations
>shall
> > come and Jammeh will be the victim. Gambians have been the victims of
>these
> > brutal killings and harassment and I am sure God is not sleeping. God
>Bless
> > the Gambia.
> >
> > Ousman J. Bojang.
> >
> >
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> > Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
> >
> >
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