Jabou and G-L Community:
I could not agree more with your statements about debating Yahya Jammeh.
He is justifying and defending that which can not be justified or
defended.  To speak of reconciliation at this stage of the game, in my
view, is cheap and self-serving.  Why?

Because over a year ago, this forum sent Yahya Jammeh a position paper
entitled "It is Time to Heal: Toward Truth Telling, National
Reconciliation and Justice in The Gambia."  This position paper spelled
out our collective desire and hope for genuine reconciliation and
justice in The Gambia. He, nor his government responded.  The
Independent ran an abridged version of the paper and invited a response
from him or his representative, but to no avail.

If Yahya Jammeh had paid attention to some of the recommendations we
made, the country would not be in the mess it is today and just maybe,
the killings of April 10 and 11 would have been avoided.

If Yahya Jammeh wants genuine reconciliation,  he must admit to the
crimes he and/or his cohorts committed,( Korro Ceesay, Sadibou Hydara,
April 10 and 11 Massacres), hold a national conference and let Gambians
decide the rules of the political game and hold free and fair
presidential elections in October 2001.

This is where to begin if Yahya Jammeh is really interested in
reconciliation.

Abdoulaye
No justice, no peace!


To talk about reconciliation without owning up to your crimes or crimes
committed under you, is simply empty talk. The TRC in South Africa was
one in which criminals admitted to the commission of crimes.




You and most members of the L

Jabou Joh wrote:
>
> You know, his tirades about forgiveness, and that cheap threat about the NIA
> getting Ebrima's sources soon  were dead giveaways.
>
> I think the only thing we need to hear from Yaya are confessions to the long
> list of crimes he has committed against us, and where he is hiding the loot
> he has embezelled from the Gambian people and nothing else.He knows he can do
> it now, or he will do it sooner or later, so me thinks this is desperation.
>
>  My guess is that any so called debate with him will be nothing more than
> justifications for his many atrocities, and there is no way that he can
> possibly justify these to any sane person. Besides, with the kind of logic
> and confused merry go round he has displayed in his speeches, I don't think
> we will be able to follow his debate as we will probably not be able to make
> heads or tails of them. A good example to show that you cannot ever  make
> truth out of lies.
>
> It will be just  another series of exchanges like we have seen with the Essa
> Bokarr Sey's and his other cronies who are forever trying to tell us that the
> man has good reasons for killing and maiming Gambians and for looting our
> national coffers and using his office as a stepping stone to build personal
> wealth at the expense of the Gambian people.They will also swear to you that
> he is a nice guy. Perhaps some people do not understand the definition of
> nice.
>
> How in heavens name can anyone possibly hope to debate about justifying these
> crimes? However, it is only a person with a limited intelligence that will
> actually engage in such atrocities and then actually believe that they can
> get away with it, or be forgiven for them. I imagine it is this same limited
> intelligence that leads him to believe that he can convinve anyone  that his
> crimes are justifiable.
>
> Also, why would the head honcho himself who sees himself as invincible and
> capable of geting away with anything want to debate such lowly folks as us? I
> thought he would just keep on compiling his black list of Gambians who stand
> for the truth and justice, and the very act tells us clearly which camp he
> belongs in? Could it be that he is finally getting the revelation that he is
> not invincible after all, and that the walls are fast closing in on him?
> Hmmm. Let Yaya face the truth, he had a golden chance and blew it. The power
> went to his head and he plump forgot all the promises he made and all the
> reasons he gave for staging a coup. How vehemently some of us supported him
> in the bedining, but he blew it. He iw well aware that today is as different
> from those first days of his government as night is from day, and certainly a
> far cry from the story someone told me about the first time after the coup
> that he attended Jumu'ah prayers, and the people stood and cheered. I bet he
> is afraid to go t oJumu'ah prayers these days.
> Enough of the attempt to pull the wool over our eyes. To borrow a line from
> an old Helen Reddy song, we know too much to sit back and pretend.
>
> Jabou Joh
>
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