The Point Published Saturday, 15 April, 2000
We Want Peace, But...
The statements by Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy and Interior Secretary
Ousman Badjie called for an analysis.
In the case of the Secretary for the Interior, his statements over the Radio
and the TV are different. According to the Radio Gambia report, Badjie
stated that the security forces only used rubber bullets and tear gas. In
the interview over the TV, he stated that they used blanc ammunition, tear
gas, batons.
Now, rubber bullets at close range kill, so the use of rubber bullets could
have caused death.
Badjie also said intelligence information revealed that armed civilians were
within the ranks of the demonstrators. If that was the case, then how many
members of the security forces were shot by these people? Better still, were
any of the armed men identified or arrested since they were located by
intelligence operatives?
Now, we would not bother to join the speculation on the suggested identity
of such people, which is rampant in town, for want of proof. But we need to
know whether the intelligence men, that identified them, just stood by and
allowed them to go scot free thereby failing in their real national security
responsibility.
If that was the case, then those are the real threat to national security,
and not the students!
If those people were on the scene and located, they should have been the
primary concern and focus of the security, and a special group should have
been assigned the role to round them up.
Our sister, the Vice President said the shooting started from within the
demonstrators. In both Badjie's and Njie-Saidy's accounts, the point made
seems to indicate that these people were firing at the forces. Mrs.
Njie-Sady's account clearly denotes that the shooting started from their
end. The question is - was it because these people were firing at them, that
the security retaliated using live ammunition in addition to the rubber
bullets?
And were any gunmen hit, as was the case with several students? Or are we to
believe that the gunmen (apparently enemies of the law, as former detainees,
as said last night on TV and potential enemies of the state which jailed
them) shot at the students while moving among them, and none of the student
attempted to run away from them?
Or for those shot, were they shot from the back and, if so, what explains
the reported frontal injuries suffered by the victims.
Is it a case of being between two fires - with the obvious picture for all
to visualise.
It is an open secret that these two statements and pronoucements did not go
down well with the public, as verified in transport vehicles, public
gatherings (funerals), markets and mosques surroundings.
As we said in our last issue, the failure to avert the tragedy lies squarely
on the shoulders of the government, and it has to assume full responsibility
for what happened.
Hundreds of onloookers saw who did what. The truth must be accepted and
said. When a young man is brought to a police station for stealing, his
parents bear the brunt of insults and abuses from the police who place the
responsibility for such a disposition on their shoulders, although they did
not actually commit the felony themselves (No amalgamation please, a
constitutional right for demonstration is diffferent from stealing).
The same applies in this case - the government is the mother and father of
the security forces.
If the government, through its agents fails to protect lives, properties and
maintain peace and security at one point in time, it must be courageous
enough to accept that it is unable to govern; thus it must assume full
responsibility for any situation that arises.
The need for peace and stability must be understood by government as a
sincere effort to address the concerns and aspirations of the people.
If concerns are not addressed, if issues are not resolved, and if no
apparent moves are made openly to allow everybody and aggrieved parties to
see that the principles of good governance and the rule of law are observed,
resentment, discord and clashes are bound to happen.
In order words, it is the government that should lay the foundation for
peace and stability in the first place, by creating the necessary conducive
environment.
On media objectivity, let us tell our sister and her colleagues that just by
associating her in this piece, we are abiding by the requirement for
journalistic objectivity.
By hinting that a number of people should resign, we did not exclude our
sister nor our brother Badjie: meaning that the principles of objectivity
were observed. The objectivity of the journalist entails that he/she
distances herself from the people or events he/she is observing (people
here, are people you normally know and interact with).
And we cannot be accused of not having condemned in the most vehement terms
the destruction of properties.
We re-iterate our call for all responsibilities to be situated through a
credible independent enquiry, for, that, and only that, could appease the
wounded people. We subscribe to Peace with a capital P, but not to the
"Peace by Force" slogan that some of the security forces were heard shouting
to the boys and girls. For "peace by force" can only be the best recipe for
disruption of the peace, for conflict and instablity!
Concerning the abuses "stupid, crazy Deyda" and the death threats, we
respond that as documented, in 1994, when it was "hotter" and more dangerous
as early as September, we offered our life to The Gambia. The situation is
still the same, for as a journalist, we're obliged to place our
responsibility to the people above and beyond loyalty to anything else. As
for the threats:
Yes, a bullet comes with a frightening speed, pierces your skin, enters and
explodes in your body's horizontal extremity. Small boys and girls endured
it, so why not us? We are no better than them. As for the fire, it is true
that it consumes you in a horrible manner. But ....you land in Heaven. So
what?
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