Briefly, I will like to reinforce my earlier comments on Dr Jobe. The sanctity of human rights transcends any dubious claim to national sovereignty, especially when the claim is made by a pariah state under the leadership of a tyrant such as Yaya Jammeh. This argument of Dr. Sedat invoking national sovereignty is futile, considering the stubborn fact of The Gambia's dependence on the International Community for financial aid and economic development. A foreign policy should reflect a nation's power and prestige, and not the other way round. In this New World Order, the preponderance of power dictates in alot of ways international relations. The EU and the US Government has no other interest in the Gambia but the enchancement of democracy, good governance, and the absolute respect for human rights and decency. Finally, I will close with a history lesson with a quotation from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: "From enthusiasm to imposture the step is perilous and slippery; the demon of Socrates affords a memorable instance of how a wise man may deceive himself, how a good man may deceive others, how the conscience may slumber in a mixed and middle state between self-illusion and voluntary fraud." Ebou Jallow ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------