Abdoulaye Saine,
I sincerely hope that you did not take my "enough already" comment at the end
of my response to you as being directed at you personally. That was an
expression of my frustration over this whole issue. Your intentions are fine
indeed, it is just that i do not share this enthusiasm simply because i
believe you will find no meaningful cooperation from the Jammeh camp, and
their sincerity is at best questionable.
Like others have said, those who believe that the ycan dialogue with these
paople can go ahead, but I do not really believe it will be a fruitful
exercise.
Regards,
Jabou Joh
In a message dated 10/22/2001 4:14:37 PM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
>
> G-L Community & (Jabou Joh, Katim Touray, Fatou Jahumpa-Ceesay):
>
> I believe that the offer of an OLIVE BRANCH from Jammeh to the Gambia-L, if
> done
> genuinely and in the spirit of reconciliation, should be accepted.
> Acceptance of
> the Olive Branch is yet another triumph for and recognition of G-L as
> another
> "estate", so to speak, to be reckoned with. Acceptance would be another
> opportunity to have our views heard and represented in our national
> debates. That
> is, another foot in the door to "speak truth to power." (Yet, if the spate
> of
> reported arrests are confirmed, it raises troubling questions. I hope its
> mandate to rule for the next five years, engenders more confidence in the
> APRC
> and in so doing, halt its repressive trend).
>
> Acceptance of the Olive Branch, does not mean giving up or softening the
> demands
> we have for the regime but a potential avenue to influence policy. It is
> an
> opportunity we should not dismiss, but a platform we can use to further our
> goals
> for a better Gambia. This is what counts, in the end.
>
> Many vexing issues persist and perhaps by addressing the "relatively" easy
> issues,( few easy issues) we can later address the more difficult ones. It
> is a
> question of strategy. I do not believe, and I pray I am proved wrong, that
> this
> regime would investigate the alleged murders of Korro Ceesay or take
> responsibility for the slaughter of our children on April 10 & 11. But we
> can
> engage them into releasing all political prisoners etc. with the help of
> others. The ball is in their court and let us try them and see if they
> indeed
> mean what they say. Thanks.
>
> Abdoulaye
>
>
>
> Jabou Joh wrote:
>
> > Dear F,
> >
> > Since you say that all or most of the things I have listed in my post are
> > distorted, and since you must have the correct version, perhaps you can
> > enlighten us as to what the actual facts are and what is distorted.
> >
> > No F, I did not present a one sided view. You see, on one side is the
> Jammeh
> > government and everything that has transpired since they came to power,
> and
> > which as I stated is clearly documented by both the U.S State Department
> in
> > their annual report on human rights, as well as Amnesty International and
> > other human rights organizations as well as recorded for posterity in the
> > hearts and minds of those Gambians whose loved ones are the victims of
> these
> > atorcities,soperhaps all of these entities are also just fabricating
> things.
> >
> > The way to address the murder allegations for instance F, is to
> investigate
> > these cases and hold a trial for the whole World to see, and i cannot
> imagine
> > why an innocent well meaning government where freedom reigns as you
> assure us
> > sister, would not want to do that, can you? Especially if faced with the
> > twisted misinformation peddled on the L, surely, the government would
> want to
> > vindicate themselves in the eyes of the World, and have everything to
> gain by
> > so doing.
> >
> > If not, then an easy way would be to hold a press conference and give the
> > World the details backed by concrete evidence to show that all of the
> > allegations as listed are distorted, and to give the true untwisted
> accounts.
> >
> > All that transpired on the L was that there were ongoing, rampant human
> > rights violations and unchecked looting of our economy and we registered
> our
> > outrage as citizens and disseminated this information to the World. End
> of
> > story. This is the way we know how to fight back, and an effective weapon
> it
> > is indeed as all of you know very well, otherwise you would not give the
> L
> > any attention if it were as insignificant and as unrealiable a source as
> you
> > say. if however we are liers who twist the truth, all you have to is
> govern
> > in a transparent manner and ingnore us.
> >
> > Now if the Jammeh government can step forward and first, render an
> > explanation as to why these allegations have never been satisfactorily
> > addressed, and then either conduct investigations to prove the
> controrary to
> > what is being alleged to us and the rest of the World, or provide the
> > necesary evidence to prove that we have fabricated these allegations or
> > twisted them, then the burden of proof rests on the Jammeh government and
> > ONLY THEY need to do a retrospective .
> >
> > We are merely citizens who are outraged by the injustices we are
> witnessing
> > while being told that we are lying. I for one would love to be proven
> wrong
> > because frankly speaking, these things constitute our worse nightmares
> that
> > we never envisioned happening in our country.
> >
> > You have listed the usual infrastructure citations as parameters of
> progress
> > under the Jammeh government, and the fact that he did win the elections.
> > The things you list as achievements, namely, hospitals, schools, roads,
> > airport, women-empowerment, bridges, girls' education, freedom of speech,
> > freedom of newspapers, etc. etc. etc are the day to day business that
> any
> > government conducts on behalf of it's citizenry, it is harldy the
> parameters
> > by which major achievements are measured, nor can these be used as
> > justification for the ongoing trampling of the rights f the people at
> every
> > turn and the looting of our national resources.
> > They are services paid for with the hard earned taxes paid by the
> people,
> > and since this goverment partakes of a majority of these monies for their
> > personal pleasure and enrichment above and beyond what is allowable as
> > espenses in the service of government, i am glad that some of it has been
> > actually put to good use for the people.
> >
> > You reported that your President has entended an olive branch to the
> people,
> > our challenge is for him to come forward and addres the issues we raised
> as a
> > gesture that he means what he said. That is all, so why are you upset
> when we
> > ask for this fi your offer was genuine?
> >
> > Even as i write this, i have just received an email as below:
> >
> > quote
> >
> > Jabou,
> >
> > I would like to thank you for your posting. I'd sent a private mail to
> > Elhajj complimenting him on his response to Fatoumatta Jahumpa and his
> > frankness when the news came from the BBC's Focus on Africa that arrests
> > have commenced. One Mohammed Sillah who heads a
> > Coalition of Human Rights organisations in The Gambia was interviewed and
> he
> > was bitterly complaining about these arrests which are being done by both
> > the NIA and July 22 thugs. They visited Waa Juwara's premises yesterday,
> > according to Mr. Sillah, and vandalised his house. Shyngle Nyassi was also
>
> > attacked and his two children abducted;thank God, they were released. It
> was
> > not clear from the interview whether they were harmed or not. According
> to
> > the same interview, the thugs were out in the Kombos insulting
> mandingoes,
> > harrassing them for not voting for Yahya. This is untrue. Infact, if
> > anything, it was Yahya who benefitted more than any of the Presidential
> > candidates in the predominantly mandingo constituencies. Why inject
> tribal
> > politics into an election already won by Yahya?
> >
> > end quote.
> >
> > So my dear sister, we are merely outlining for you and your president the
> > things he has to do to convince the World that his administration has
> indeed
> > turned over a new leaf, instead of engaging in just another cat amd mouse
> > game of empty words, and as the World is already witnessing, you are
> already
> > coming back and accusing the members of the L as twisters of logic after
> your
> > post promising an olive branch and addresing the issues raised, and the
> > machinery of thuggery is already at work to continue to unleash fear,
> terror
> > and retribution on the people even before the dust settles on this newly
> > elected administration that put on such a grande show for the eyes of the
> > international community.
> > Please prove us wrong, and deliver on the promises that no one forced
> your
> > president to make, that is all we are asking.
> >
> > Jabou Joh
> >
> > In a message dated 10/21/2001 4:06:18 PM Central Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask]
> > writes:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Sister Jabou et al,
> > >
> > > National Reconciliation means two Opposing sides re-examining where
> they
> > > went wrong, doing extensive introspection and coming up with
> conclusions as
> > > to where they went wrong. In your case, you are abrograting wrong only
> to
> > > one side. By refusing to acknowledge that you have been seriously off
> > > tangent on Gambia-L, you make me wonder if you understand what it means
> for
> > > the President to be re-elected with the tremendous amount of odds that
> some
> > > of you stacked up against his chances.
> > >
> > > My sister, I will only urge you and others like you on Gambia-L to
> analyse
> > > the Elections Results where the nearest opponent to my beloved leader
> > > lagged at least 20% behind in number of votes casts. If all what you
> listed
> > > down in your email below is true(virtually ALL of it is distorted),
> then
> > > something must be wrong with Gambians to re-elect the President. Since
> I
> > > know that nothing is wrong with Gambians today, I am going to conclude
> that
> > > something is seriously wrong with you and others who refuse to do
> > > introspection and are insisting on peddling the distorted analysis.
> > >
> > > To those questioning the credibility of the President's 20% lead
> victory, I
> > > urge you and others to visit the Jammeh2001 website and listen to the
> > > telephone conversation words of Sheriff Dibba and Ousainou Darboe at:-
> > >
> > > http://www.jammeh2001.org/telecongrats/index.html
> > >
> > > Keep in mind that Sheriff Dibba is a veteran in Gambian Politics.
> > >
> > > If I start to list down all the reasons why the people of the Gambia
> > > refused to buy into tribalism and resisted all the tremendous pressure
> > > placed on them from external forces and went ahead to re-elect
> President
> > > Jammeh, I will not go to bed tonight. And I really have to take a rest.
> > >
> > > So, I will leave those of you with a conscience to ponder with your
> inner
> > > souls about the hospitals, schools, roads, airport, women-empowerment,
> > > bridges, girls' education, freedom of speech, freedom of newspapers,
> etc.
> > > etc. etc. that all happened in seven years. I will leave you with the
> > > glowing World reports that show increase in the Socio-Economic Indices.
> I
> > > will leave you to compare the Human Rights Agencies reports on The
> Gambia
> > > with others in the subregion. The President is not perfect and he is
> > > currently doing introspection on himself and the last seven years. But
> > > those who continue to act as if they were right all along and pointing
> > > fingers at the people of the Gambia as fools and morons should remember
> > > that four fingers are pointing right back at them.
> > >
> > > Good Night,
> > > Fatou.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>
> >
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