One of the latest articles implies that youths are fleeing the country at an
alarming rate because of the current political atmosphere.However,even
whereas one is obliged to respect the views of others in a democratic
"plateau",please see the undermentioned statistics that were gathered in the
pre-jammeh era on Gambians living abroad.Hopefully it serves a purpose for
those who are yearning for objective reporting.
a)Upto 1994-12,000 (or more Gambians were living in the Catalyna area)of
Spain.Please verify with guys like Murad Beizid of the continent bank
because he once travelled there on a honeymoon with his former
wife.Therefore,(based on sources from some Gambians who approached the
guy,in order to be able to use his bank for transfering monies to their
families),after seeing their large number(which was indeed only a section
of the whole)he thought that it was wise for the then gvt.to open up a bank
in that area.Senegal did that in the early eighties.
b)Upto 1994-80,000(or more Gambians were living in Atlanta,Maryland
etc).These statistics were recieved from files that were compiled during the
x regime.
C)Upto 1994-7,000(or more Gambians were living in France)these statistics
were received from files that were gathered during former ambassador Babou
jobe's time.He was appointed by Jawara and not Jammeh.
d)Upto 1994-5,000(or more Gambians were living in Germany and
Switzerland,however,the statistics according to the files that were
inherited after the 94 coup),showed that the figure couldn't be exact
because some of these Gambians were criss-crossing the Swiss-German border,
thus it was difficult to establish exact figures for each country.
e)Upto 1994 the number of Gambians who lived in London could either be the
same as the one in Atlanta etc; or a little bit less.However, one uncle M O
Njie an old timer in London(who is renowned for compiling historical facts
and has been guiding a lot of researchers in the past) can help us with an
estimated figure, as the files in London couldn't show us something
"valuable" compared to what was gathered in other areas.
F)On Sweden,Norway,etc also there are a lot of Gambians,thus as these
countries' mapping falls under London it implies that the same scanty
information that was found there, affects them as well.
The current figures will be posted here when recieved as far as London's
jurisdiction is concerned.
NB:I wonder if the list of Gambians abroad"ie:those who left during the
Jammeh era for political reasons will be more than the figures that were
computerised during the x regime's era.
NB:It will be difficult to establish such figures(if it is based on
political reasons),because the likelihood is that some of those who're
claiming to have left the Gambia only to run away from Jammeh's rule, might
have as well left when Jammeh himself was a school boy.
The only possible way we can establish a correct list on that,is to register
all those passports that have visas on them. Visas that were issued after
the coup.
Infact not all visas are related to political assylum,(some are for
different purposes in the beginning) but they end up under the political
assylum circuit once THE OWNER REACHES abroad,for reasons that some of us
fully understand as this happens in the hustling field.This is not only done
by Gambians Eastern europeans also do it!
Hopefully these days some of you are following the CNN story on the ship
load of refugees being refused to anchor in Australia.
Not all political assylums are "blamable" either 'cause some are genuine.SO
THE ISSUE HERE IS NOT WHO WENT OUT BECAUSE OF JAMMEH BUT ITS RATHER WHO USED
JAMMEH'S NAME TO FLEE FOR PERSONAL REASONS OR TO PROLONG HIS OR HER
STAY,WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THOSE WHO HAVE GENUINE POLITICAL ASSYLUM.Because
the genuine part of an application cannot be determined unilaterally by the
country that the presumed refugee hails from.The recieving country in most
cases bears the upper hand in this, likewise the UNHCR also plays an
independent role here, that must be respected by both Gvts.
Please note that my agument intends to correct certain points in some of
the articles that are PUTTING THE blame of the mass exodus of Gambians on
the Jammeh regime alone.
Who ever feels that i am wrong or has more accurate statistics than mine can
come on board.My only warning to those is that; these statistics were
established during the x regime's era.
YEROMAMA PULORI GALO HAAWA.
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
