JDAM,



 



I wasn't gonna crash y'all's party here for I hold all four of you (Mathew, Ebrima, Sherriff, your good self) in high esteem. Mathew happens to be my delinquent uncle so I have a special place for him in my heart albeit the nervous part. However, I couldn't help but bring something to your attention perhaps to yield more context to Mathews gift to SierraLeone:



 



1. The unidentified plane that landed at lungi with poisonous cargo while Ernest Bai was visiting with Yahya. The investigation is comprehensive on that according to Scotland Yard.



2. Crimes against SierraLeonean refugees in Gambia and Yahya's part in SierraLeone's civil war and the RUF.



 



I am not saying these two conclusively implicate Yahya but they presage the special SierraLeone tribunals on the matters or de-minimis SierraLeone's international commerce clauses regarding her diamonds.



 



Anyhow, and now that I have invited myself to this party, (I do not intend to crash it any further than this conversation - please forgive me) the only statement of uncle Mathews' that made me do a double-take was his disclaimer that he was not being conceited, merely truthful, to which I say to my dear uncle; Conceit is manifest more readily in stating the obvious.



 



Regarding insinuations that Ebrima and Sheriff ganged up on him, I advise restraint on Ebrima and Sheriff's parts in their promised rebuttals and or refutations. I plead they consider the banality of insignificant quarrel to the fragile newspapers groping to get a footing amid a confetti of pantomime. For what its worth, the duo should blame it on a slow news day whether or not Mathew is right. It is obviously a matter of perspective and the duo must consider that Mathew himself admitted to wanton oppressiveness. That is enough reason for retaliations and disdain. I am surprised uncle Mathew was only abandoned twice in his carreer as a revolutionary. Che Guevara suffered more abandon and uncle Mathew's mandate was more expansive and credible than Che. Mathews' spanned several continents. I ask for your forgivenesses for my uncles' erstwhile extremities.



 



Ok I'm done. Bye! Haruna. I will be back on your claims of optimism and circumstance Paco! Don't think for a minute that I forgot.MQJGDT. Darbo. Al........whatever!! 





 





Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 05:15:01 +0000

From: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: [>-<] QUOTE OF THE MONTH

To: [log in to unmask]

















Dr Ceesay

 

In the words of our resident Mali expert on the L, I apologise for any "chagrin" caused by my two sentence reaction to Mathew K Jallow's talk with The Gambia Echo.

 

As "excite", and "illuminate", are both accomodative of multi-layered meanings, I urge that you accept the context of their employment in my short reaction as strictly neutral. I did not analyse any part of the quoted material, and like my choice of words, that was deliberate.

 

For example, The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) has no jurisdiction over Professor Jammeh.  By its Charter as negotiated between the Government of Sierra Leone, and the United Nations, the SCSL has the limited mandate to try “those who bear the greatest responsibility” for the worst offences committed in the civil war since the Abidjan Peace Accord of 30 November 1996 … ”. It has jurisdiction over “crimes against humanity, war crimes, other serious violations of international law such as attacks against peacekeepers and conscription of children under the age of fifteen, as well as certain crimes under Sierra Leonean law like abuse of girls younger than fourteen and wanton destruction of property”. As an internal conflict, the controlling international instruments touching on the conduct of combatants were Article 3 Common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and of Additional Protocol II of 1977 to those Conventions.

 

On the question of handing the Professor over to the Hague, Mathew K Jallow may be referring to the International Criminal Court (ICC). As of now, the ICC has jurisdiction over only three crimes: genocide; war crimes; and crimes against humanity. If Mathew can negotiate the high threshold for ICC intervention, the only arguable allegations against the Professor may come under the jurisdictional rubric of "crimes against humanity". Here again, the likelihood of jurisdiction over the Professor is minimal.

 

Now that you forced some expansion on my reaction, I still recommend the interview for watchers of our public space. It really excites and illuminates.

 

If it means anything, I have the highest admiration for Sheriff, and yourself, and neither Mathew's insinuation regarding the two of you, nor Halake's utter rubbish against Sheriff, is likely to dent that perspective.

 

Rest assured, I am "careful with some of the stuff [I] read online". Very careful!

  

 

 

 



LJDarbo

 

 

 

 

 



--- On Tue, 3/3/09, Ebrima Ceesay <[log in to unmask]> wrote:





From: Ebrima Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: RE: [>-<] QUOTE OF THE MONTH

To: "Gambia Post Newest" <[log in to unmask]>, "Gambia-L List" <[log in to unmask]>

Date: Tuesday, 3 March, 2009, 8:37 PM





















Mr Darboe, 

  

I just saw your email and decided to quickly send you a short reply. Both Sheriff Bojang Snr and myself are planning to separately send rejoinders to The Gambia Echo, in reaction to the allegations Matthew Jallow made in his Gambia Echo interview, against us (Sheriff Bojang and I). 

  

My good brother, be careful with some of the stuff you read online. I can tell you that Matthew Jallow’s interview online is full of exaggeration, inaccuracies and misrepresentation of the facts. In fact, I intend to send a rebuttal to The Gambia Echo, as soon as possible, in order to set the record straight. Sheriff Bojang Snr, as I write this email, is also writing a rejoinder, to be sent to The Gambia Echo for publication. 

  

To start with, Matthew Jallow was never appointed editor-in-chief of the Daily Observer newspaper by Kenneth Best. He claimed in the Gambia Echo interview that he was once an editor-in-chief of the Daily Observer. Well, as far as I know, and this can be confirmed by D.A Jawo, Lamin Cham, Abdou Karim Sanneh and others, Matthew Jallow was not even a permanent staff at the Daily Observer. He was a freelance reporter – only paid when his stories/commentaries were published in the newspaper. 

  

The first editor-in-chief of the Daily Observer, when (it was) founded in May 1992, was the late Cherno Michael Baldeh, one of the most prolific/gifted writers I met. In fact, Kenneth Best would argue, at the time, that there was no better writer on the African Continent than the late Cherno Michael Baldeh. During this period, the late A.A Barry was the News Editor and Momodou Musa Secka (deceased) was appointed Features Editor. However, both Cherno Michael Baldeh and Modou Musa Secka were subsequently removed from their positions and following on from this, Kenneth Y. Best himself became the editor-in-chief, a post he held up to 30th August 1994, when he was deported to Liberia by the AFPRC. Matthew never served as the editor-in-chief of the Observer, not even for a day. The rest is now history. 

  

Matthew also said, in his Gambia Echo interview, that he was appointed editor-in-chief but got demoted because Sheriff Bojang Snr. and myself had approached Kenneth Best and complained about his (Matthew’s) stringent editing style. Again, this is a distortion of the facts. Matthew Jallow was never my editor-in-chief at the Daily Observer. He was not Sheriff Bojang’s editor-in-chief, as well. Sheriff Bojang Snr. is a very good writer himself and his writings do not in fact, need editing. 

  

As for me, I cannot even count the number of times I have had to completely re-write or edit Matthew Jallow’s news stories. From 1994 to 1996, when I became one of the editors, I can tell you that every news story/item Matthew Jallow wrote for the Daily Observer was either edited by me or the late A.A Njie. So I was actually one of his editors at the Observer Newspaper. Matthew’s commentaries, very well written in most cases I have to say, were handled by other editors - namely Baba Galleh Jallow or Ellicot Seade, a Ghanaian. These are the facts and Daily Observer insiders – past and present – and many of whom are online, can confirm my statement. 

  

For more on this, read my rebuttal or see Sheriff Bojang’s rejoinder, when sent to the Gambia Echo for publication. 

  

Regards, 

Ebrima 

  

 







Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 12:31:42 +0000

From: [log in to unmask]

Subject: [>-<] QUOTE OF THE MONTH

To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]

















"Within the coming weeks, I will announce the formation of an organization dedicated to removing Yahya Jammeh. After Jammeh is removed, this organization will morph into a political party, but until then we will do whatever is necessary to remove Yahya Jammeh and either run him out of the country, or we will capture him and hand him over to the Sierra Leone or The Hague Courts. 

 

... I don’t know if I will ever lead it or be a part of its leadership, but today, there is no Gambian both at home and abroad who is better prepared than me to run the government of our country. But, whether the Gambian people will give me the opportunity to do is another matter. But, there is nothing I would love to do more than to truly help transform our country into an oasis of development and prosperity in the midst of failed regimes and wasted African governments. From the educational and experience point of view, no Head of State in an Africa country can match me in terms of education, experience and readiness combined. In fact, I can say, all around the world, no president is better prepared than I am. I am not conceited. I am being truthful"

          

         Mathew K Jallow, 27 February 2009, in an interview with The Gambia Echo

 

 

 

Forumites

 

Mathew K Jallow's talk with The Gambia Echo both excites and illuminates. 

 

I highly recommend the entire interview for all watchers of our political space.

 

 

 

 

 

LJDarbo 

 







Windows Live just got better. Find out more! 





���������������������������������������������������������� To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html 

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ����������������������������������������������������������