Hi folks,

Thanks for all your e-mail messages.  From what I've been able to glean from
the postings on the issue of Dumo and other victims of the most recent wave
of arrests and kidnappings, we have the following assignments:

1.  Alpha Robinson - Draft the petition
2.  Amadu Kabir Njie - Compile the list of signatures
3.  Jabou Joh & others - help distribute the petitions
4.  Others (myself included) will supply other information and contacts
needed to write the petition (or press release) and/or (help) distribute it.

Please let us know if the above division of labor is out of order.

Also, given that those under detention will be in court tomorrow (Tues.,
July 18), I suggest we wait until we hear word from the court before we send
out a petition.  We might even end up not drafting one (if they are released
unconditionally), unless we want to go ahead anyway to release one to the
effect that such cat and mouse games must stop.

I came across additional sites this evening, and I think they might come in
handy.  First, is the British Dept. for International Development's
"Developments" magazine site, which has a variety of links to a variety of
international development sites.  Here is the address:

    http://www.developments.org.uk/data/links.htm

The second is the Washington Office on Africa's list of key Congressional
Committees, Administration Officials, and Congress Members related to, or
interested in African affairs.  This would be especially valuable for those
of US in the DC area, because the phone numbers listed are within their
local calling area.  Here is the address:

    http://www.woaafrica.org/keycongress.htm

I should also mention that I received an e-mail from Yankuba Njie (Pope)
earlier this evening about setting up the Free Gambia Web site.  One of the
issues we need to resolve is where exactly the site will be.  Dr. Amadou
Janneh donated the freegambia.org domain name, and Yankuba also has
mygambia.org name registered.  Each of these is associated to a server, and
we just need to decide which one to go with.  I wrote to Dr. Janneh a week
or so ago, about the freegambia.org site, but haven't heard from him.  I'll
try contacting him again within the week, and coordinate with Yankuba about
getting the site up.  We'll probably come up with a work-in-progress kind of
site, and increase the available features as time goes on.

I found Foroyaa posting the Gambia's true debt burden informative, and
sobering.  It was also welcome for the fact that it mentioned Debt Relief
International (DRI), and the national debt strategy seminar they helped
organize in The Gambia.  I was able to dig up their contact info, and I
think they should also be on our mailing list.  If they are prescribing how
The Gambia should manage her debt, the medicine should, and must include a
thorough accounting for all public monies alleged to have been swindled by
government officials, including President Jammeh himself.  It will be
ridiculous to expect the bulk of the poor Gambian peasantry to shoulder a
debt burden of over 5 billion Dalasis, while President Jammeh is refusing to
answer to allegations of corruption on his part.  Before I forget, here's
the address for DRI:

Matthew Martin
Director
Debt Relief International
77 Baker Street
London W1M 1AH
United Kingdom
tel 44 171 935 70 02
fax 44 171 935 80 09
email [log in to unmask]

Those of us (Saiks, Ndey Jobarteh, Ebrima, & Co.) in London should take note
of the above, in the event we need to contact DRI.

I guess that's about it for now.  Given that we are scattered across many
time zones, I guess those of us in Europe and The Gambia will deal with this
first, and we can then pick it up later on Tuesday.  Have a great week, and
best wishes.

Katim

----- Original Message -----
From: Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Dumo


> Basically, I agree with all the suggestions of what to include in the
> petition, and especially Alpha's suggestion to include all those detained
> along with Dumo, as well as mention previous cases.
> I will further suggest that we also look at dissemminating this petition
to
> some of the newspapers Worldwide because if the general populace in
different

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