Folks,

I attended the Advocacy network for Africa (ADNA's) monthly meeting in Wash
DC on Tuesday. I distributed copies of Katim Touray's article "Another
African tragedy in the making" to provide the meeting with a background on
the Gambian situation.(I did modify the Jammeh/APRC won the elections parts
by putting them in quotes. Otherwise, except for formatting, everything was
passed on intact.) I've been in touch with Katim about the editing.

There were about forty people present at the meeting, mainly representatives
of various US agencies and NGOs: World Relief, Africa Trade & Policy,
TransAfrica, Amnesty Intl, and many other church groups I can't remember.
And I learnt that the ADNA infact has 200 orgs affiliated with it around the
US. But, even more impressive is the seriousness of the group regarding
making a difference in US policy towards Africa. It's a far cry from the
usual patronizing view of Africa here.

The main focus of the meeting was to agree on the contents and format of two
letters regarding Nigeria specifically, and West Africa in general. The
first is to provide an overview of the Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone
situations, and how further complications there will affect the US. The
intended audience for this document is Presidential and Hill staffers. And
there is a second and shorter letter that would be more precise in
identifying priority areas for the President's attention. This effort is in
antipation of Pres. Clinton's visit to Nigeria in three weeks. The meeting
has agreed to impress upon him the importance of certain issues, and why he
needs to highlight them on his trip. The letters will be sent to Clinton
this week, and each member of Congress (both houses) will be hand-delivered
copies the same time that the president gets his.

I gave the group a five minute overview of the Gambian situation, and how it
all ties in with what is going on in Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Thankfully,
the guy from Amnesty Intl, who was a co-facilitator of the meeting, is very
familiar with the situation, and he added some valuable points. While, we're
not guaranteed a mention in Clinton's letter, our situation is now on the
radar screen of this group. Hopefully, we'll make the agenda in the next
meetings. I'll push for that, and see how far we get.

But overall, this was one African meeting I don't regret
attending. Even the "wonderful" DC traffic, and chronic parking situation
didn't dampen my spirits. I look forward to attending coming meetings. Will
keep y'all informed.

Saul.

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