Mr. Katim Touray,
I welcome your sincere innovative approach to solving the crisis in the
Gambia yet I find some of your propositions quite interesting:

1.  May be you are not well informed in military affairs, but your that
concept of turning the Gambia Army soldiers into 21 Century (cyber)
mercenaries is plain fantastic imagination.  Also what do you exactly mean
by "professionalizing" an already established professional Army?  I can
understand an attempt to "reorient" the Army's professional ethos through
civil-military education programs, and leglislative designs to
institutionalize civilian control of the Armed Forces as neccessary steps
towards nation building.  Yet the fundamental task of establishing peaceful,
stable and democratic civil society with the rule of law requires a much
profound and radical structural changes in Gambian soceity.  Pecuniary
benefits to the Army is not and will never be a guarrantee to end military
coups in The Gambia.
How can you practice and preach "democracy" to a population that is almost
90% illiterate with a culture anachronistic to the modern concept of
"individualism", without first an incremental cultural revolution that draws
ingeniously from their common cultural heritage?  I can assure that the
concept of "democracy" as you understand it right here in the West, is even
very alien and incomprehensible to even the political elite in the Gambia to
speak less of the majority up country.
2. To bring peace and stability in the Gambia will sure require amonsgt many
other things serious extensive civic education programs and substanstive
constitutional changes that levels the playing field and ensures the
sanctity of human rights and civil liberties.  The Gambia Army is a very
minor problem in that country.

Ebou Jallow



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