Yahya is up to his old lies and tricks again. Enjoy!
<A
HREF="http://allafrica.com/publishers.html?passed_name=Panafrican%20News%20Age
ncy&passed_location=empty">Panafrican News Agency</A>
September 8, 2000
UN, New York
President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia Friday rejected claims by the main
opposition United Democratic Party of harassment, saying the opposition was
using its political platform to flout the laws of the land and foment
trouble.
There were clashes between the UPD led by Ousainou Darboe and the ruling
Alliance of Patriotic Reorientation in July, which led to the detention of
some politicians including Darboe.
Other cases involving the party are still pending in court.
Unidentified persons tried to torch a private radio station in Banjul in
August, but the miscreants were overpowered and the station saved by it
owner agents.
Critics in Banjul allege that agents of the ruling party might have
masterminded both incidents to intimidate the opposition.
But Jammeh denied the allegations, pointing out that people close to him
would not try to destroy a radio station from where he announced the ouster
of former President Dawda Jawara in July 1994.
The station was duly licensed and if it had flouted the law, the
government would have applied the legal provisions, he said, pointing out th
at it was unkind for anyone to try to link the government with the arson att
empt.
Jammeh, who is attending the UN Millennium Summit in New York, told
reporters that the UDP, one of the four political parties in the country,
had been involved in acts of intimidation against innocent citizens that
have sometimes led to injury and deaths.
He accused the party of encouraging ethnic and religious hate which often
led to clashes forcing security agencies to step in.
"We will not allow our country to go to the dogs in the name of
democracy," Jammeh said, asking, "where on earth will any government allow t
he opposition to maim and kill because they are in the opposition."
On the stalled mediation role his government has been playing between the
government of Senegal and rebels of the Movement of Democratic Forces of
Casamance, Jammeh expressed preparedness to continue the search for lasting
peace in the neighbouring countries.
He said previous efforts had helped defuse the tense situation in the
southern part of Senegal and neighbouring Guinea-Bissau, which made it
possible for elections to be held in the area in February and March.
This stopped when power changed hands in Dakar and Jammeh says he is
waiting for President Abdoulaye Wade to give him the go-ahead to continue
the mediations.
The rebel war in Casamance since 1982 had led to differences between
Dakar and Banjul on one hand, and Dakar and Bissau on the other hand, over
suspicions that the two countries were supporting the rebels.
Senegal intervened when the regime of President Joao Bernardo Vieira was
overthrown by the military two years ago further heightening tension in the
area.
Jammeh said Gambia was now hosting about 450,000 refugees ofall
categories because of the troubles, warning that delays in resuming the peac
e talks could further worsen the situation.
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