Sainey, thanks for this forward.  Folks, from this catalogue of bad
governance, it seems as Kumba and Yaya have been exchanging notes, for
barring a very few exceptions, their score cards are similar.  Thus, a
similar faith may befall Yaya too.

As for ECOWAS and the AU, they have a conflict of interest in this matter.
Where were they when Bissau was bleeding from this tyrant?  How come they
did not intervened when folks were not paid for 9 months and counting;
Judges fired and not replaced; constitution manipulated and suspended;
elections cancelled; hunger and starvation of the masses, where were they?
They knew and saw that Yala was drowning Bissau, yet, they had a hands off
attitude under the guise of soverignty.  Now, all of a sudden they are
speaking against the people of Bissau, who are applauding this change.  Whom
should we believe, the AU, ECOWAS, and Anan, or the people of Bissau?  If
the people of Bissau support this change, then I am with them.  Besides, was
it not the same Army that stopped General Manneh from toppling Yala?

What ECOWAS, AU, and the UN needs to do is to pressure the General to
conduct fresh elections that are free and fair and restore the constitution
as the law of the land, and not reimpose a dictator and tyrant on a tired
nation.  This brings me to our own dictator and tyrant, Yaya Jammeh.  I for
one will applaud the Gambian Army if they should put Yaya out of his misery
and to conduct free and fair elections.  When Chauchesku (splling may be
off) was murdered by his people, did the EU condemn the people for getting
rid of the Lunatic of Romania?  No, so what is this nonsense with the ECOWAS
and the AU?  They cannot let their club members rule with impunity and then
come to their aid with threats of sanctions, under the guise of democracy.
If they were worth their salt, they would have sanctioned Yala and his type
that flood that club.  As I write, a good half in the AU and ECOWAS members
are tyrants and dictators in their own right, so, where is their
independence on this issue?  If the people of Bissau want to bring members
of civilized society to get a fresh start at normalcy, why would a bunch of
sitting tyrants and dictators tell them otherwise?  All I can say is Yaya
better take note.  The people entrusted the right to govern Bissau on Yala
with the expectation for him to deliver.  However, the people also reserve
the right to revoke that previledge when the president does not deliver and
worse, metamophorsed into a monster.  They wanted elections, and three times
Yala disenfranchised them, and club members said zilch.  Has ECOWAS said a
word about slippery slope slide of the Bissau economy for the past three
years?  So, where is their authority derived from?  On Gambia, what has
ECOWAS, AU, and UN said or done when the students were murdered?  How about
Koro Ceesay's murder?  What about Oil Scandal One and two?  How about the
Blood Diamond dealing of Yaya?  The rising hunger in the country and the
pillage of the Central Bank coffers by Yaya and his goons?  All these they
said zilch.  Now, you think Gambians are goint to listen a bunch tyrants
themselves tell Gambians what's good for them.  Guineans diserve better and
I am on the side of the people on this one.

Yes, Coups are historiaclly bad for Africa, but we cannot hide behind
"legally elected" to hold a nation hostage and these tyrants and criminals
need to understand that there are consequences for their behavior.  Don't
undermine the constitution or use it to tyranize the people and then want to
hide behind it to justify your unconstitutional reign of terror.  Because
God knows if it were Gambia I shall applaud a take over in a New York
minute.  This is not democracy in theory, but in practice and that is how
the rest of the world became independent.

Chi Jaama

Joe Sambou


>From: "Baba Galleh Jallow" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Fwd: Coup d'Etat In Guinea Bissau/Sainey Faye]
>Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 11:41:26 -0400 (EDT)
>
>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject: [>-<] Re: Coup d'Etat In Guinea Bissau/Sainey Faye
>From: "Baba Galleh Jallow" <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Mon, September 15, 2003 10:02 pm
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>
>[ This e-mail is posted to Gambia|Post e-Gathering by "Baba Galleh
>Jallow" <[log in to unmask]> ]
>
>
>
>Mr. Faye,
>
>Your coleague's explanation of the situation in Guinea Bissau is
>excellent. Thanks for forwarding it. I just want to repeat what wise men
>of history have said: He who makes peaceful change impossible makes
>violent change inevitable. For, as Joe Sambou would say, change is the
>law of life.
>
>The Bissau coup should serve as a warning to dictators around Africa who
>feel that they can do anything and everything and get away with it.
>Thanks.
>
>Baba
>
>
>
>
> > From: sainey faye <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: 2003/09/15 Mon PM 05:27:15 EDT
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: [>-<] Coup d'Etat In Guinea Bissau ---  What's next? By Sainey
> >  Faye
> >
> > The following observation has been made and sent by a colleague:
>
>So far
> > there has not been any visible resistance to the coup. This  seemed to
> > be a "text book" coup, carried out with precision and serious
> > preparations. We have been hearing about a possible coup for a while.
> > There were a couple of attempts, but not by the armed forces
> > leadership.  This one was conceived, decided and implemented by them.
> > Apparently, not  one shot was fired.
> >
> > We'll report more later, but for now just a brief update.
> >
> > 1) The deposed president was taken to the house he lived in prior to
> > being elected president in 2000. His prime minister and ministers were
> > also allowed to go home. They all are guarded by State security, (which
> >  is code for house arrest);
> > 2) The air port and borders have been reopened; cars are now allowed to
> >  circulate again and the 7:00 pm curfew imposed last night has been
> > lifted. Most People have gone back to work, (although initially another
> >  general strike was to begin today);
> > 3) The State is presently led by the "Military Committee for
> > Restitution  of Constitutional Democracy". As mentioned in our email
> > yesterday, they  are led by the Army Chief of Staff, (Verissimo Seabra
> > Correia), who like  most military leaders here, was trained by the
> > PAIGC as a young man  during the National Liberation Struggle. They
> > convoked a meeting this  morning with the civil society,
> > (representatives from all political  parties, trade unions, religious
> > and youth groups). The objective is to  decide on the transitional
> > government and to form a transitional  council, (to serve as the
> > legislature). Verissimo will serve as interim  president until
> > elections, (which were initially scheduled for 12 Oct,  but once again
> > postponed -prior to the coup);
> > 4) There have been very few condemnations from the international
> > community, (e.g. UN, Portugal, AU), but no threats like in the case of
> > the coup in San Tome & Principe last July. In fact, it actually seems
> > as  though most agree that Kumba Iala needed to be overthrown. That's
> > definitely the mood inside of Bissau.
> > 5) ECOWAS sent a delegation that just arrived to meet with the Military
> >  Committee for Restitution of Constitutional Democracy. After their
> > meeting, we'll have a better feel for what may be in store in the near
> > future. If they make threats, then the AU, UN, et al will make threats.
> >  If there are no threats from ECOWAS, (as we anticipate), then the
> > transitional government and council will be sworn in and lead a
> > transition to multi-party elections.
> >
> > You may be wondering how could all this happen without resistance?  A)
> > The party that Kumba Iala formed, (PRS) became divided between those in
> > the State and those in the Party headquarters. Politically speaking,
> >  Kumba became isolated from his party. The brother whose president of
> > the  PRS, (Alamara Nhasse) was Prime Minister until last December,
> > (2002). He  was sacked and replaced by a simple PRS militant, (Mario
> > Pires, who was  already Kumba's flunky working in the presidency). The
> > law says that the  president of the party that gets the most votes
> > serves as prime  minister. Mario Pires has been campaigning in the name
> > of the PRS as the  head of the candidates list, without any leadership
> > position or  coordination with the PRS, and doing it with State money;
> > B) There is no functioning constitution, because Kumba refused to
> > promulgate it;
> > C) Public workers, (which are the overwhelming majority of workers),
> > have not been paid for more than nine (9) months; Everyone knows that
> > they have been using the worker's money for their party's elections
> > campaign.
> > D) The National People's Assembly, (ANP), was dissolved by Kumba Iala
> > last November with promises of special legislative elections within 90
> > days. Almost a year later, they still have not been held, thus Kumba
> > has  been ruling by decrees, with no legislature, no input from his
> > party and  a stacked judicial branch that was illegally appointed; E)
> > Kumba has appointed and sacked four different Prime Ministers in the
> >  last three years, with almost monthly changes of ministers;
> > F) He has been seriously censoring the news organs, including arresting
> >  journalist and closing down radio stations;
> > G) The infrastructure is at its worst - water shortages and no
> > electricity etc...;
> > H) The school terms were not complete for the past two (2) years.
> > School  is supposed to begin in Oct and end in last June or early July,
> > but for  the past two years, it has began in January or February and
> > then  suffered teachers' strike after strike, due to non payment of
> > their  salaries. Thus this year most of them didn't actually end...
> > they just  closed;
> > I) The soldiers that were thought to be Kumba's base in the armed
> > forces  are the ones who orchestrated the coup. We heard that they
> > invited Kumba  to a meeting. It was at the meeting that the armed
> > forces informed him  that they were destituting the State organs and he
> > would no longer be  president.
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
> >
>
>
>
>
>OUR TOP STORIES:
>[1]Gambia's customs and excise department poorly managed
>CLICK HERE> http://www.gambiapost.net/newspaper
>[2]Gambia's justice Hassan Jallow to head Rwandan Tribunal
>CLICK HERE> http://www.gambiapost.net/newspaper/law1.htm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>OUR TOP STORIES:
>[1]Gambia's customs and excise department poorly managed
>CLICK HERE> http://www.gambiapost.net/newspaper
>[2]Gambia's justice Hassan Jallow to head Rwandan Tribunal
>CLICK HERE> http://www.gambiapost.net/newspaper/law1.htm
>
>
>

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