The government has lost all the very little remaining legitimacy it had left.
 This is the last straw.  First, they kill unarmed students and infants, and
now they blatantly intimidate and kill members of the opposition by using
violent tactics.  In my humble opinion, there is no more negotiating to be
done.  They have to go!!!

All the politicians and faux intellectuals should take a hint from this.  The
precedents that tyrannical regimes in Africa have left is loud and clear.  No
one has ever successfully negotiated with a tyrannical African leader and
achieved any positive outcomes. In short, it has been clearly shown, beyond
any shadow of a doubt, that negotiation tactics do not work with these type
of leaders and regimes.  A brilliantly written letter from the L or any
Gambian movement to the APRC regime simply will neither change things nor
make any kind of dent on the conscience of the insane and "drunk with power"
butcher of Kanilai and his cohorts.

Don't get me wrong.  I think the Gambia-L community has done a wonderful job,
especially after the tragic events of late.  But when one considers this
latest event, it becomes obvious that there has to be a slight change in the
strategy we have already adopted. If the Gambian people allow the
perpetrators of this crime to wriggle out of this quagmire with a slap on the
wrist, we will again, like many times in the past, be doing a serious
disservice to ourselves.  In addition to being ousted, the leaders of this
regime have to get the death penalty or life in jail.  The aiders and
abettors of the regime, like the director of information or propaganda
secretary, Tombong Goebbels, should also face serious sanctions.

Then we have the double dealing and two faced politicians that fill their
stomachs courtesy of the present regime yet they turn around and act like
they are outraged by what is going on.  They sit in their air conditioned
offices and write brilliant and technically twisted articles that the average
person has no clue about.  To make things worse, these brilliant pieces do
not actually address any issues at hand.  Always missing from these pieces is
an outright condemnation of the regime. We need action and not letters. I ask
you, G-Lers, of what use are these faux politicians and intellectuals to us?
You might disagree, but I think that such people have become corrupted and
are out of touch with the reality of the average Gambian.  But there is an
even more problematic issue here.  These faux people are actually
collaborating with the government.  Their intention is to divert our
attention from what really matters, the immediate and unconditional surrender
of the dictator and his cronies.  Beware of the wolves in sheep clothing!!!

So what alternate strategies do we have? One would be to drop a few strategic
bombs on either the state house in Kanilai and the few barracks around the
country followed by an armed struggle.  Or perhaps to bring down his plane
with a heat seeking stinger missile.  Once the head of the monster that is
the present regime is severed, there might be an unconditional surrender.
The danger here is that the monster might have several heads and therefore
this strategy might backfire.  There is also the possibility that our people
might suffer terribly.  I would therefore urge all outraged citizens to
exercise restraint when it comes to violence.


To conclude, the strategy we should adopt is to lobby the international
community to impose more sanctions on The Gambia.  Essentially, we have to
adopt a strategy that will choke the supply that feeds the beast.  No more
peanut trade, no more tourist industry and no more loans until the government
resigns and surrenders unconditionally.  Some might say that this strategy is
self defeating because our people will suffer from it.  I counter by saying
that our people have suffered terribly already.  They do not reap the
benefits of any of the business activities of our government, and please
don't tell me about the 50 goats that Yahya gave to some village in Foni.
Therefore, my belief is that the sanctions will not really hurt the average
Gambian, but they will surely hurt the fat cats at the top.  Yahya will
actually have to dip into Mobutu's hidden gold to maintain his aircraft.

So, why don't we expand on the great strategy we have in place?  Instead of
telling the international community how it is, let us also urge them to
impose heavy and unconditional sanctions on the government of The Gambia.

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