Mr. Jallow,

I agree with you that a bi-partisan effort should be made to set in motion a conciliatory process towards a peaceful transition. But unlike you, I see eye to eye with Mr. Omar Joof that it is indeed the APRC regime that has made the cost of exiting quite exhorbitant. Dramatic policy failures, betrayal of its own governing mantra (the Great PAT, probity, accountabilty, transparency - now weary and retired slogans!), violent infringement of the Constitutional Rights of Gambia, abrogation of the rule of law, and many other violations that produced the most erratic mode of governance in Gambia's post independence history. (To enumerate the APRC's failures is sufficient work for ten Ph.d thesis).
True, the official opposition needs urgently to put its acts together, and so far it has been a huge disapointment to Gambia. The situation can hardly get bleaker, when Mr. Waa Juwara, who is key to a solid coalition, is placed incommunicado by the NIA.
President Jammeh thus must take the initiative to unlock the current impasse. Not only must he immediately release all political detainees, including Dumo Saho, Waa Juwara and everyone else, as a goodwill gesture. But he needs to call a national conference involving the opposition and representatives of civic society to address the very grave situation. 
Mr. Joof is right in that an APRC exit can hardly be smooth. Yet that is precisely the reason why we should campaign that it need not be as difficult as they think. Coming down the pedestal is usually very easy when the first tentative steps are taken. Let us deliberately remember the huge apartheid engine.

Cheers,
Momodou Sidibeh


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ebou Jallow" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: FWD:Coup rumours upset Gambia


> Mr. Sidibeh,
> 
> I have not been reading my emails regularly but I do recollect Sister
> Jabou posting a comprehensive concern urging for some coordinated
> effort.  Naturally, the rumors of instability in the Gambia that are
> peddled around the net is quite disturbing, and compounding the problem
> with empty threats, rhetoric of vengeance and political posturing shall
> only regenerate impasses to a peaceful resolution. I believe that a
> coordinated effort will be a good start provided that a condition is
> acknowledged in the process i.e. a bi-partisan (the opposition and
> APRC) that will engage President Jammeh in a conciliatory dialogue.
> Democracy can never work its magic in a country where the incumbency
> has to fight for its survival or perish.  The opposition parties in the
> Gambia have succeeded in making the cost of electoral defeat too high
> for Jammeh to afford, and democracy can never flourish in such a
> political culture.  It is true, and I am privy to this concrete fact
> that the Senegalese government was aiding and abetting instability in
> order to use that as a pretext to invade the Gambia, and install a
> puppet government.   Jammeh is very well aware of this and perhaps it
> is the reason for the recent shakeup nation-wide.
> Freedom is the very essence of any human being including Jammeh
> himself.  Only a very sincere and compassionate communication in truth
> can appeal to that essence thus creating a resolution to the current
> problems in the country.   The history of the civil rights movement and
> Martin L. King Jr. in the US can be an illustrious example to emulate.
> 
> 
> Ebou
> 
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