You better believe that, Ous. Infact, we were in the process of negotiating a
proactive dialogue with Yahya Jammeh, upon attending the UN General Assembly,
next week. Unfortunately, events were postponed because of the horrible
attack on innocent civilians in NY.
Since you lobbed the question to me directly, from a personal point of view
and as a realist, most of us on this G-L medium and the Movement, MRDG[NY]
[which by the way emerged out of the April 10/11 incidents in Gambia],  got
caught up  in dogmatic ideologies and hang-ups on Yahya Jammeh, hence
claiming exclusive possession to all and nothing but the truth and also, the
keys and knowledge of the ultimate salvation to Gambia's problems. To some,
the rift between the Opposition Parties on the intended coalition, became a
turnoff. To me, it's a healthy atmosphere, since it forces us all to
scrutinize each political party's platform and agenda going forth. At the end
of the day, Gambia and Gambians, awoke to a new reality as we have reached a
critical mass/point where everyone aspires to reach a higher and wider
horizon, politically, economically and socially, come high or low; Yahya
Jammeh or Ousainou Darboe; Sedia Jatta/Hamat Bah or Sheriff Dibba. The
celebration of personalities, political affiliations/parties, Doctorate
Degrees,  fancy houses/cars/clothing, should be a thing of the past. To me,
there's no guarantee that, the coming into power of a UDP/PPP coalition
government, would be any better than a AFPRC/APRC regime. We gained partial
victory with the PPP regime and we lost it. Is there any guarantee that, come
October 19, 2001, we might not loose it again? Therefore, we must engage
ourselves with all the current/would-be/wannabe political establishment in a
conflict resolution paradigm. If confrontational, so be it. How we'll move
ahead, time will tell, or you can give us some wise words of advice.

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