Hello, excuse me for my pessimism, but this is one reason why we can't
always expect the UN to come to our aid! Look at the kind of people they
send to observe elections? The guy they sent as an "observer", was part of
a dictatorial regime himself, if I'm reading the article correctly. So we
expect this guy to say that Jammeh nad done anything wrong? "Democracy in
the developed world is something that should be handled with care"? What is
that about? "aHandled with care", like "maybe we shouldn't give the peole
democracy becuase this is Africa and thigns are different here"! You know,
I read that somewhere, and I can't remember who said it, but it was
something to that affect, that democracy in Africa, was somehow different
than democracies elsewhere. I'd like for someone to explain that to me!
So are we saying that for some reason, Africans don't deserve to have
functioning governments, institutions, and have the rule of law prevail, and
actually have their human rights and dignity respected!? Oh, but who am I
anyway, I'm supposedly a non-Gambian and don't know what I'm talking about.
Maybe this guy from the UN knows something I don't. But this is just sad.
If the UN gives legitimacy to this election, well, what can we say now?
Anyway, I don't know what else to say that has not already been said.
Ginny
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 11:32 AM
Subject: Fwd: UN Envoy Makes Excuses for Gambian Strongman
> From the pages of The Gambia Journal.
>
> UN Envoy Makes Excuses for Gambian Strongman, Whitewashing Fraud- and
> Threat-Filled Election By Inner City Press at the UN
> Oct 9, 2006, 10:35
>
> Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
> UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- In the Gambian election last month,
> thousands of non-Gambians from Senegal were brought in to vote by
> President Yahya Jammeh, it was admitted Friday by Kofi Annan's envoy to
> the
> election, former Nigerian General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
> Gen. Abubakar acknowledged the criticism by Gambian
> opposition groups and the Commonwealth observers of security personnel
> voting while in uniform, but stated that this is permitted by the Gambian
> Constitution. Jammeh recently said, "If I want to ban any newspaper, I
> will."
>
> Asked by Inner City Press about Yahya Jammeh's changes to the
> constitution, Gen. Abubakar said that people are entitled to their own
> opinions. Democracy, he said, is in the development world a "sensitive
> matter" that must be "done with caution." He state that the elections
> had gone "very well... I was there on election day and from what I saw
> it was peaceful."
>
> Interviewed by Inner City Press on the 35th floor of the UN
> Headquarters on Friday, just after he briefed Kofi Annan, Gen. Abubakar
> was
> dismissive of reports of Jammeh's crackdown on the press, including his
> reported involvement in the killing of the editor of The Point newspaper.
> Jammeh's
> denial in that case was that "I don't believe in killing people, I
> believe in
> locking you up for the rest of your life."
>
> Asked by Inner City Press about these and other Jammeh
> quotes, Gen. Abubaker was dismissive. "Jammeh can say he'll rule for
> the next thirty or forty years, but he could be voted out," Gen. Abubaker
> said.
>
> Yahya Jammeh took power in 1998 in The Gambia, a country of
> 1.5 million people surrounded on three sides by Senegal. Industries
> include peanut farming and some tourism. In an interview with Inner
> City Press on September 21, 2006, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
> Frazer said that the Jammeh regime is reaching out for help to China,
> Iran and Venezuela. Friday Inner City Press asked UN Envoy Gen.
> Abubaker about this. Gen. Abubaker responded by quoting Jammeh, if you
> don't have to be my friend, you can't stop me from having other friends.
>
> Asked by Inner City Press what his recommendations are, and
> what the UN will do, Gen. Abubaker first listed the need for better
> training of journalists. Perhaps a stop to the killing of journalists
> and editors would help. One wonders why Kofi Annan selected this
> Nigerian general, who ruled after Sani Abacha, as the UN envoy to the
> preordained re-election of Yahya Jammeh.
>
> After changing the constitution to allow himself to run for a third term,
> and after
> threatening districts that voted against him with losing development
> aid, he won garnered 67% of votes, to Oussainou Darboe's 27%, with
> voter turnout below 60%. This includes the votes of non-Gambians
> brought in from Senegal's still-troubled Casamance region, an influx
> that Gen. Abubaker put at "only" four thousand.
>
> When asked if there was outside influence on the Gambian
> election, Gen. Abubaker said no, despite his statement about thousands
> of non-Gambians voting. "It wouldn't have changed the result," Gen.
> Abubaker said. Apparently, nothing would have.
>
> いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
> Web interface
> at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
>
> To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:
> http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
> To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
> [log in to unmask]
> いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい
いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい
|