No Tolerance for Religious Fundamentalism, Homosexuality in this Country - Jammeh
Monday 7th November 2005

President Yahya Jammeh has emphasised that religious fundamentalism and homosexuality would not be tolerated by his government.
The president made these remarks on Thursday when Muslim elders in Banjul and heads of different denominations paid their usual courtesy call on him at State House, shortly after Eid prayers marking the end of the Holy month of Ramadan.

Addressing Muslim elders, the Gambian leader said he was very pleased with their kind words and prayers for the country, adding that as the Holy month of Ramadan ends, people should forgive each other.

The President, who spoke at length, gave detailed explanations of the recent border problem between The Gambia and Senegal, intimating that the problem started as a result of false allegations leveled against The Gambia by unpatriotic countrymen.

“The Gambia–Senegal border issue was initiated in The Gambia by some Gambians who will never rule this country,” the President said, adding that they (the initiators) went and told all kinds of false allegations against The Gambia to the Senegalese authorities.

“If I did not use my five senses, we would have been fighting with Senegal by now,” the Gambian leader pointed out.

He said it was not only the ferry tariff that brought all these problems, but also the opposition. He claimed that the opposition has given so many false information to the authorities in Senegal, which could create big problem between the two neighbours.

“I am not against opposition, but an opposition whose intention is to bring trouble in this country will not be allowed here,” the Gambian leader noted, adding that “because they know that next year is elections and there is no chance for them to win, so the only thing they can do is to try to create conflicts between Senegal and The Gambia , and then later will say ‘let us get rid of Yahya Jammeh so that we can have peace’.”

The opposition, President Jammeh continued, even told the Senegalese authorities that his state guards are all rebels from Casamance, and claimed that we even kill Senegalese in The Gambia.

“The opposition even claimed that Gambian soldiers sent on peace-keeping mission in Dafur, Sudan and that half of them are rebels from Casamance,” the President said.

President Jammeh said the Gambian Army can be regarded as the best army in the world, so he sees no reason why he should he go for rebels in Casamance.

He added that the opposition even went further to say that one of the outspoken rebel leaders, Salifu Sarjo, at times spends the night at State House in Banjul and even in Kanilai and further noted that he later killed Salifu Sarjo, but to his surprise Mr Sarjo recently spoke on Sud-FM in Dakar.

“You see all these are false allegations leveled against me and my government by the opposition and I want you Muslim elders to know what has happened, so that when I start dealing with them, I don’t want anybody to come and beg for sympathy,” the Gambian leader noted.

He said further that it is not only the opposition, but there are some civil servants and some Gambians abroad who misinformed the Senegalese authorities, adding he would soon start giving them their ‘Salibo’, meaning he would punish them “without hesitation.”

Commenting on Eid prayers, the President urged the Gambia Supreme Islamic Council to have a code of conduct so that whoever fails to honour it should be dealt with.

He stressed the need for Muslims in The Gambia to always observe Eid prayers in unison, and therefore called on the Supreme Islamic Council to make sure that the whole country observe such occasions the same day.

The Gambian leader pointed out that government would not allow differences in the observance of such religious feasts.

The president therefore immediately instructed the Secretary of State for Local Government and Lands to inform all divisional commissioners to write to all villages and towns who fail to pray on this day that action can be taken against them, because as he put it, “too much freedom is not good.”

Speaking earlier, the vice-president, Isatou Njie-Saidy, the Secretary of State for Religious Affairs Samba Faal, and the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Yankuba Touray, all called for peace and stability in the country.

The speaker of the National Assembly, Sheriff Mustapha Dibba, urged the Supreme Islamic Council to call for a national conference in order to trash out such differences among Gambians.

The president of the Supreme Islamic Council, Alhaji Banding Drammeh, reported that half of the country did not pray on Thursday, as they claimed not sighting the moon with their own eyes.





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