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. 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