As Controversy Shadows Coalition Talks Assan Musa in Self-Defence



The Independent (Banjul)

August 20, 2001
Posted to the web August 20, 2001

Banjul, the Gambia

Assan Musa Camara the founder of the erstwhile Gambia Peoples' Party (GPP)
has defended his decision to endorse a UDP-led coalition with Ousainou
Darboe as its presidential candidate.

Mr. Camara told The Independent in a telephone interview Friday that the
United Democratic Party (UDP) has been the only opposition organisation to
have polled more than 100, 000 votes in any Gambian election. He said going
by the country's political history opposition parties of the past have never
gained enough broad-based votes to surpass or rival the UDP's performance in
the last presidential and National Assembly elections.

Mr. Camara who admitted that it would be impossible for his party to be
rehabilitated after seven years of inactivity believes that it was more
appropriate to endorse a Darboe-led opposition coalition by virtue of the
UDP's broad-based appeal.

However, Mr. Camara a former vice president under the PPP administration
emphasised that his endorsement should not be misconstrued as ruling out
anyone else from exercising their rights to seek elective office not least
Sheriff Dibba a public figure who he said has the right to his opinion on
issues of national significance.

Mr. Camara explained that after the disagreement during the inter-party
meeting at the YMCA, he had entreated Mr. Dibba to stay, "but he insisted on
leaving". He was also at pains to emphasize that Sheriff Dibba's pullout
from the meeting should not be interpreted as a pullout from the coalition.
"Mr. Dibba never pulled out from the coalition. He had agreed to the
principle of a coalition all the way and that is indicative of his
position," Mr. Camara said.

In response to the "enemies" of the coalition, Mr. Camara said it was
unfounded to suggest that the coalition has failed. Asked whether the
coalition controversy caused by the leadership crisis would not create a
setback for their chances, Mr. Camara remarked, "there was no controversy
and there was no failure. That never happened."

Meanwhile Omar Jallow alias OJ has maintained that "Dibba said categorically
that he was going ahead to contest for the presidency if he was not allowed
to lead the coalition." OJ also confirmed that Mr. Camara had tried to
convince him (Dibba) unsuccessfully to partake in the meeting.

OJ also sought to clarify that the original advocates of the coalition had
invited the National Reconciliation Party and PDOIS to every meeting aimed
at determining the modalities for a coalition. He said Mr. Camara had gone
to the headquarters of the PDOIS and the NRP with letters formally inviting
them to the meeting at the YMCA. According to him during the meeting a PDOIS
member had called to say that they had not received any formal invitation
for the meeting. "Time is of the essence. For us to be procrastinating is
unacceptable at this point," he said.

On ex-President Jawara's return OJ said "we have not fixed a date, the
security situation has to be put in place." He said if the APRC are
confident that Jawara has been discredited "why should they still fear him?"
In response to unconfirmed reports that the former Gambian leader is
consulting sub-regional leaders for his possible return, OJ said he was not
aware of that.

On the coalition, OJ said "we are very confident that the coalition would do
some serious electoral damage to the APRC and end the reign of terror and
the downward trend of the economy."

Meanwhile, in an interview with Citizen FM on Friday, the Majority Leader in
the National Assembly and a senior member of the APRC Tamsir Jallow had
expressed the hope that his party was going to win both the presidential and
National Assembly elections because the opposition was in disarray caused by
a leadership crisis. He said it has proven almost impossible for the
opposition parties to come together under one umbrella, which he said did
not come as a surprise to him. He maintained that he could not have
envisaged the opposition parties sharing the same platform, and speaking the
same language. "They have different ideologies and programmes as far as
governance is concerned, and I cannot see them reconciling those
differences," he remarked.

Responding to a question whether the APRC would accept defeat at the polls,
Mr. Jallow said the APRC would not lose. He however denied that the
opposition parties were denied equal access to the public media. He said
equal access to the public media already exists because according to him the
opposition is favoured by newspapers in the country. However, he said as
incumbents, the APRC have an advantage, which he said is the case all over
the world. He said the APRC was however not making excessive use of that
advantage, but instead he said most of what was being reported in the public
media were government activities rather than APRC activities.


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