Sanusi, thanks for your contributions. See, yesterday when I responded to
Dr. Saine, I had not even read Gambian newspapers (written by Gambians on
the ground) reporting illegal NIA activities in Brikama at a seminar
organized by UDP. I got more pissed off after reading that. Newspapers were
reporting that UDP was ready to stage the seminar come what may. According
to the reports, people were being intimidated to prevent UDP from meeting at
the original site they wanted to meet. So, NIA is still alive and kicking.
Did we hear self-appointed reporters from Gambia reporting about NIA’s
shenanigans in Brikama which was happening right before their very eyes?
That is what is relevant and newsworthy. Who cares whether a certain doctor
went to Gambia and was not abducted by the NIA? In the first place he should
NEVER be abducted. Therefore, in actuality if he is not abducted, that
should not be news. That is no testimony that the NIA is NOT disregarding
civil contracts and government licenses and taking the law into their own
hands (running a police state). People should be honest in their reporting
especially when we are dealing with life and dead issues. As we speak, we
have political prisoners in the country. Any Gambian can find his back in
jail any minute for bogus accusations of plotting to overthrow Yaya. Tell me
that that is NOT a police state. All these people know that Gambians are
sitting on egg-shells. The whole country is held hostage by these thugs. Why
attempt to deny that obvious fact? Why do you think an educated fellow like
Dominic Mendy would be abducted by the NIA, get railroaded through the
courts, and all he did was come out in the public and say that he supports
the government 100%. You believe that kind of person to be a genuine APRC
supporter, then I can sell you a bridge.

You are right to point out that had the UDP participated in the
Parliamentary elections there would have been more reports of NIA/APRC
atrocities. Then you will also have APRC sycophants blaming the Opposition.
Did we not see reports of Halifa Sallah supporters being attacked in
Serrekunda? No one made that an issue. Was it PDOIS’ fault that they were
attacked? The constant here is APRC thugs attack people they think threaten
their power. Do you know how many civil servants get dismissed and do not
get their plight reported on the newspapers on G_L? That is what we are
talking about when we talk about a police state. People live in a state of
fear in that country because they see what happened to people like Dumo et
al and our children on April 10 and 11, 2000 (to name a few).

I thank you again for your contributions.
KB



>From: Sanusi Owens <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Dr. Abdoulaye Saine
>Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 17:15:11 +0000
>
>  --- Abdoulaye Saine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Suffice  to say that Jammeh is genuinely popular here
>and the  police-state atmosphere  I expected is not
>the case.  Gambians, despite,  economic hardship are
>still  very kind and loving.  A lot of private
>construction  is taking place and the  coastal road
>network, among others, is impressive.
>
>
>Folks
>
>This in no way indicates anything to bother us about.
>The likes of KB and Others should be reminded of the
>fact that it is VERY VERY easy for someone to come
>here and say all is well due to the  "dormant
>activities" of the NIA and other security forces. I
>was in the Gambia for almost 6 weeks. During that
>period, I heard of little incidents of unlawful
>arrests and detention(Notwithstanding Dumo's detention
>at Mile II) However, I still felt that that the
>situation would have been different if UDP had decided
>to participate in the National Assembly Elections.  As
>a result, I am relucatnt to think that the
>police-state atmosphere doesn't exist in the Gambia.
>It does have its period, Dr Saine would have realised
>it if he visited the Gambia during the campaign period
>of the Presidential Elections


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