Hi folks,

First, please pardon me for the long silence, especially at a time when many
have been working drafting a petition calling for a stop to abductions, and
detention of people by President Jammeh's security forces.  I've been tied up
with a whole bunch of issues, notably the recently concluded Grassroots Radio
Conference, that was held in Madison toward the end of last week.  I gave a
presentation on Webcasting strategies and had to prepare a handout for it.  By
the way, the handout is online at
http://talk.fanafana.com/radio/audio-streaming.html and you can check it out if
you're interested in these things.  The conference was really interesting, and I
learned a lot.  I hope to be able to send you some observations about it later.

For now, I'd like to send a few suggestions about the petition, if it's not too
late.  It's not the end of the world if the petition is already gone out, but if
it yet to go out, we might as well try to make it the best we can.  First, I
would like to suggest that people at least provide the city, and country they
are writing from.  There are a number of people, myself included, who did not
provide their location.  For me, this would be:  Katim S. Touray, Madison, WI,
USA.

Also, I think the list should be sorted alphabetically.  This might not be big
deal, but it would make life easier for anyone who wants to find a name.  Who
knows, the Jammeh government could also find a sorted list helpful.

And then there are a number of re-writes I would suggest:

> BACKGROUND
>
> The frightening trend that has plagued our country is the spate of
> abductions that have been carried out in the recent past against both
> civilians and security personnel. These abductions usually take place in
>
> the form of masked men visiting those abducted in the middle of the
> night, forcefully taking them away from their families to undisclosed
> locations where they are held incommunicado. The abductions have
> occurred in the shadow of government difficulties such as the ambush of
> the leader and other members of the opposition United Democratic Party,
> the crude oil affair and the killing in April of unarmed school children
>
> and students demonstrating against the rape and murder of fellow school
> children.
>

1. I suggest that the above reads:

Recently, our country has been plagued by a spate of abductions of civilians and
security personnel. The abductors usually are masked men who forcibly take their
victims to undisclosed locations, and held incommunicado. These abductions have
occurred in the wake of recent developments such as a clash between government
supporters and those of the opposition United Democratic Party, allegations of
President Jammeh's involvement in a deal involving Nigerian crude oil, and the
killing, by government security forces last April, of unarmed demonstrating
students.

> A case in point is the arrest and detention of Momodou Dumo Saho who
> went back to The Gambia to start an NGO called "Boka Loho" to help in
> the country's development process. Dumo was abducted and held
> incommunicado for over four weeks. The state denied holding him in
> custody and it was only after his family's lawyers filed a suit against
> the state that he was charged with attempting to overthrow the
> Government of The Gambia, together with others. The state prosecutor,
> is currently requesting their further detention and denial of bail.
>
> These disappearances and abductions undermine the rule of law and
> stability of the country and clearly violate the civil and human rights
> of those abducted as provided under the Constitution of The Republic of
> The Gambia, the UN Charter and the African Charter on Human Rights, to
> which The Gambia is a signatory. Chapter IV, section 19 (1) of the
> Constitution of The Republic of The Gambia states: "every person shall
> have the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be
> subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention. No one shall be deprived of
>
> his or her liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such
> procedures as are established by law".
>
> (2)  "Any person who is arrested or detained shall be informed as soon
> as is reasonably practicable and in any case within three hours, in a
> language that he or she understands, of the reasons for his or her
> arrest or detention and of his or her right to consult a legal
> practitioner."
>
> (3)  "Any person who is arrested or detained -
>
>       (a)    for the purpose of bringing him or her before a court in
> execution of the order of a court; or
>
>       (b)   upon reasonable suspicion of his or her having committed, or
>
> being about to commit, a criminal offence under the law of The Gambia,
>
> and who is not released, shall be brought without undue delay before a
> court and, in any event, within seventy-two hours."
>
>

2.  I would shorten the above by leaving out references to our constitution.
Thus, everything from "Chapter IV ..." to the end of the second paragraph "...
within seventy-tow hours." should be deleted.  We have make the petition easy to
as short as possible, and easy to read.

The next paragraph starting with "The manner ..." can be merged with the
previous, after the above-suggested deletion.

> The manner in which the abductions and detentions take place; the
> failure of the state to promptly charge those detained within
> seventy-two hours, to disclose where they are being held, to allow them
> to contact a legal practitioner, their families and loved ones has now
> become a familiar pattern which raises concerns and needs to be
> addressed. Besides, dubious allegations of coup plots have led to the
> execution of the so-called "coup plotters" without trial in the recent
> past.
>

Those were the main suggestions I had to make.  I wish I could go into a number
of other issues, but I'll have to wait for a later date.  I need to get some
e-mails out of the way, so I better get going.  Have a great weekend, and best
wishes.

Katim

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