Dear F,
Since you say that all or most of the things I have listed in my post are
distorted, and since you must have the correct version, perhaps you can
enlighten us as to what the actual facts are and what is distorted.
No F, I did not present a one sided view. You see, on one side is the Jammeh
government and everything that has transpired since they came to power, and
which as I stated is clearly documented by both the U.S State Department in
their annual report on human rights, as well as Amnesty International and
other human rights organizations as well as recorded for posterity in the
hearts and minds of those Gambians whose loved ones are the victims of these
atorcities,soperhaps all of these entities are also just fabricating things.
The way to address the murder allegations for instance F, is to investigate
these cases and hold a trial for the whole World to see, and i cannot imagine
why an innocent well meaning government where freedom reigns as you assure us
sister, would not want to do that, can you? Especially if faced with the
twisted misinformation peddled on the L, surely, the government would want to
vindicate themselves in the eyes of the World, and have everything to gain by
so doing.
If not, then an easy way would be to hold a press conference and give the
World the details backed by concrete evidence to show that all of the
allegations as listed are distorted, and to give the true untwisted accounts.
All that transpired on the L was that there were ongoing, rampant human
rights violations and unchecked looting of our economy and we registered our
outrage as citizens and disseminated this information to the World. End of
story. This is the way we know how to fight back, and an effective weapon it
is indeed as all of you know very well, otherwise you would not give the L
any attention if it were as insignificant and as unrealiable a source as you
say. if however we are liers who twist the truth, all you have to is govern
in a transparent manner and ingnore us.
Now if the Jammeh government can step forward and first, render an
explanation as to why these allegations have never been satisfactorily
addressed, and then either conduct investigations to prove the controrary to
what is being alleged to us and the rest of the World, or provide the
necesary evidence to prove that we have fabricated these allegations or
twisted them, then the burden of proof rests on the Jammeh government and
ONLY THEY need to do a retrospective .
We are merely citizens who are outraged by the injustices we are witnessing
while being told that we are lying. I for one would love to be proven wrong
because frankly speaking, these things constitute our worse nightmares that
we never envisioned happening in our country.
You have listed the usual infrastructure citations as parameters of progress
under the Jammeh government, and the fact that he did win the elections.
The things you list as achievements, namely, hospitals, schools, roads,
airport, women-empowerment, bridges, girls' education, freedom of speech,
freedom of newspapers, etc. etc. etc are the day to day business that any
government conducts on behalf of it's citizenry, it is harldy the parameters
by which major achievements are measured, nor can these be used as
justification for the ongoing trampling of the rights f the people at every
turn and the looting of our national resources.
They are services paid for with the hard earned taxes paid by the people,
and since this goverment partakes of a majority of these monies for their
personal pleasure and enrichment above and beyond what is allowable as
espenses in the service of government, i am glad that some of it has been
actually put to good use for the people.
You reported that your President has entended an olive branch to the people,
our challenge is for him to come forward and addres the issues we raised as a
gesture that he means what he said. That is all, so why are you upset when we
ask for this fi your offer was genuine?
Even as i write this, i have just received an email as below:
quote
Jabou,
I would like to thank you for your posting. I'd sent a private mail to
Elhajj complimenting him on his response to Fatoumatta Jahumpa and his
frankness when the news came from the BBC's Focus on Africa that arrests
have commenced. One Mohammed Sillah who heads a
Coalition of Human Rights organisations in The Gambia was interviewed and he
was bitterly complaining about these arrests which are being done by both
the NIA and July 22 thugs. They visited Waa Juwara's premises yesterday,
according to Mr. Sillah, and vandalised his house. Shyngle Nyassi was also
attacked and his two children abducted;thank God, they were released. It was
not clear from the interview whether they were harmed or not. According to
the same interview, the thugs were out in the Kombos insulting mandingoes,
harrassing them for not voting for Yahya. This is untrue. Infact, if
anything, it was Yahya who benefitted more than any of the Presidential
candidates in the predominantly mandingo constituencies. Why inject tribal
politics into an election already won by Yahya?
end quote.
So my dear sister, we are merely outlining for you and your president the
things he has to do to convince the World that his administration has indeed
turned over a new leaf, instead of engaging in just another cat amd mouse
game of empty words, and as the World is already witnessing, you are already
coming back and accusing the members of the L as twisters of logic after your
post promising an olive branch and addresing the issues raised, and the
machinery of thuggery is already at work to continue to unleash fear, terror
and retribution on the people even before the dust settles on this newly
elected administration that put on such a grande show for the eyes of the
international community.
Please prove us wrong, and deliver on the promises that no one forced your
president to make, that is all we are asking.
Jabou Joh
In a message dated 10/21/2001 4:06:18 PM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
>
>
> Sister Jabou et al,
>
> National Reconciliation means two Opposing sides re-examining where they
> went wrong, doing extensive introspection and coming up with conclusions as
> to where they went wrong. In your case, you are abrograting wrong only to
> one side. By refusing to acknowledge that you have been seriously off
> tangent on Gambia-L, you make me wonder if you understand what it means for
> the President to be re-elected with the tremendous amount of odds that some
> of you stacked up against his chances.
>
> My sister, I will only urge you and others like you on Gambia-L to analyse
> the Elections Results where the nearest opponent to my beloved leader
> lagged at least 20% behind in number of votes casts. If all what you listed
> down in your email below is true(virtually ALL of it is distorted), then
> something must be wrong with Gambians to re-elect the President. Since I
> know that nothing is wrong with Gambians today, I am going to conclude that
> something is seriously wrong with you and others who refuse to do
> introspection and are insisting on peddling the distorted analysis.
>
> To those questioning the credibility of the President's 20% lead victory, I
> urge you and others to visit the Jammeh2001 website and listen to the
> telephone conversation words of Sheriff Dibba and Ousainou Darboe at:-
>
> http://www.jammeh2001.org/telecongrats/index.html
>
> Keep in mind that Sheriff Dibba is a veteran in Gambian Politics.
>
> If I start to list down all the reasons why the people of the Gambia
> refused to buy into tribalism and resisted all the tremendous pressure
> placed on them from external forces and went ahead to re-elect President
> Jammeh, I will not go to bed tonight. And I really have to take a rest.
>
> So, I will leave those of you with a conscience to ponder with your inner
> souls about the hospitals, schools, roads, airport, women-empowerment,
> bridges, girls' education, freedom of speech, freedom of newspapers, etc.
> etc. etc. that all happened in seven years. I will leave you with the
> glowing World reports that show increase in the Socio-Economic Indices. I
> will leave you to compare the Human Rights Agencies reports on The Gambia
> with others in the subregion. The President is not perfect and he is
> currently doing introspection on himself and the last seven years. But
> those who continue to act as if they were right all along and pointing
> fingers at the people of the Gambia as fools and morons should remember
> that four fingers are pointing right back at them.
>
> Good Night,
> Fatou.
>
>
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