I have a few questions I want to ask the following People/ Parties: Karamba Touray and Saihou Mballow and the UDP Pa Samba Jow and Malik Kah and PDOIS And anyone out there with access to the other opposition Parties. 1. Do you know what your individual parties stance are to a strategic alliance in the parliamentary elections? Is there is any discussion or is one scheduled between the opposition parties? In my opinion, it would be difficult to put fundraising activities in to action without word from the various parties or their representatives. I mentioned two parties above only because I do not have their contact info yet. MJohnson Read On The Independent Newspaper Banjul "No retreat No surrender" “The United Democratic Party led coalition may have lost last month’s presidential election but its spirit to continue the fight for a genuine democracy in The Gambia is still strong”, declared Lawyer Ousainou Darboe Friday at New Jeshwang where the coalition he leads organised a mass political rally. It was the first major public rally to have been organised by the coalition following its defeat in the October 18 presidential election. Lawyer Darboe in a lengthy speech amid cheering and drumming said that at this stage of our development, the issue of governance could not be left to the state alone. He said the UDP was formed because of strong convictions that The Gambia needs an alternative government that is more development-oriented and focused. Therefore, he said that defeat in an election, which in itself is part of the democratic process cannot make the UDP believe that all is lost. He declared that “the UDP is stronger today than before…We are even more determined today to bring back sanity to the country”. He disclosed that the coalition would participate in the coming legislative election in January 2002 and deplored what he called clandestine registration of foreign nationals from the southern province of Casamance. He also condemned the President’s sacking of civil servants as a contradiction of his call for reconciliation. “If Jammeh believes that he truly and honesty won last month’s presidential election, why the firing spree... Surely Jammeh must be unpleased with something else” he posited. The coalition leader called on his supporters to remain loyal to the coalition because as he put the future belongs to them. He challenged the government to investigate the death of one of his supporters, Ousman Ceesay who was gunned down by security forces two days before the election. Lawyer Darboe also renewed his attacks on the IEC. He remarked that the UDP had always doubted Gabriel Roberts’ integrity, honesty and leadership as head of the IEC. “We knew that Mr. Roberts would repeat what he did in 1996. That is why they sacked Bishop Tilewa Johnson and planted him there because he is a puppet” Darboe charged. The interim head of the PPP Omar Amadou Jallow alias OJ said that even though the coalition has accepted the verdict of the Gambian people, their suspicious of fraudulent registration exercises conducted allegedly by the electoral commission has been confirmed by the arrest and subsequent trial of many Cassamance nationals in Dakar for being in possession of Gambian national and voters’ cards. OJ said that any ruling party that cannot take pride in being voted into office by its own people cannot surely think good about them, nor will it respect their fundamental human rights. He said the just ended election was another coup-d’etat because as he put it there was open inducement, sacking of village head chiefs, indiscriminate arrest and detention of opposition supporters, widespread human rights violation, state sanctioned thuggery by the youth action group of the ruling party among others. Mr. Jallow however said that despite the intimidation and harassment, the Gambian people are still determined to establish a democracy where the strong are subjected to justice and the weak made to feel secured. On his part, the UDP Youth Wing leader, Shyngle Nyassi said that President Jammeh does not love a majority of Gambians and that those who voted for him were aliens who crossed the country’s porous borders from the Casamance as his brothers. Many others who spoke at the rally also called on their fellow supporters not to give up. The rally was organised according to the coalition to thank the supporters and sympathizers within and outside the country for their solidarity with the coalition during the presidential election. THE MEETING WAS TOLD THAT THE UDP WOULD TAKE PART IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS TOGETHER WITH ITS OTHER COALITION PARTNERS. THEY SAID IT WAS NO THAT THEY FEEL MORE UNITED THAN EVER BEFORE.(Emphasis mine) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>