Mr. Yahya I want to regularly chat with you here to share some ideas about  
life and its yield for Gambia. I hope your General Secretary will afford you  
audience of my notes. I tried to reach you on several occasions but it seems 
you  are short-staffed and there is no one to receive calls for you. I will keep 
 trying as I communicate with you here and I will appreciate it if you share 
with  me and my colleagues an alternate telephone number through which we can 
share  ideas with you. I was not lucky through you email address either at 
your  website. I have sent a mutual friend to share with you some of my anxieties 
that  are reflective of the chagrin of a good number of our fellow citizens. 
I hope  you will grant her audience.
 
It has been raining here in Tennessee for the past several days and much  
colder at this elevation in Nashville than normal. I am returning to Fort  
Oglethorpe then to Atlanta where it is warmer. Georgia is currently dealing with  
water shortage and I'm sure from your time here, you can identify with their  
angst given the tri-state water wars compounded by a dirth of rainfall. The  
Chattahoochee and its tributaries originates in the highlands of North Georgia  
and South Tennessee and traverses Alabama to empty in the marshes of Florida.  
Georgians and Alabamans, with their enormous population growths, depend on  
the river and attendant lakes for their drinking water, hydro-electricity, and  
industrial growth and agriculture. The oyster farmers in Florida depend on the 
 tributaries of the Chattahoochee in good quality and volume for their 
oysters.  It is much like The river Gambia originating from the foothills of the 
Fouta  Djallon, traversing Guinea and Senegal before emptying into Gambia. The 
farmers  and people of our three countries depend on the river and its confluent 
rivers  and tributaries for our drinking water, agriculture, transportation, 
and  industry, what little there is. The river also serves to regenerate the  
ecologies of the marshes, the national Parks and forests, and the Niokolokoba  
forest in Senegal. I am impressed with the Kanilai National park whose growth 
 and sustenance also depends on the tributaries and marshes created by the 
river.  I thank you for your efforts in nurturing the park. You must however 
remain  vigilant to insure its sustenance. I understand as much as you do that 
River  Gambia's health and capacity will depend in large measure on its quality 
before  gracing Gambia as it traverses the lands and peoples of Guinea and 
Senegal. The  FAO and International hydrologic entities have been assisting you 
in policy  recommendations and communion with the GUineans and Senegalese. I 
urge you to  re-visit the agreement with Senegal brokered by the UN agency to 
build a barrage  over the river or allow them to build a tunnel under the river 
to access their  land in Cassamance. This could have enormous value for Gambia 
and river  Gambia if considered carefully. Should you wish my suggestions and 
ideas,  please feel free to contact me. My doors are always open to you.
 
These days we are dealing with a national catastrophe in the affect of  fires 
in California much like we had in Hurricane Katrina and the bridge  collapse 
in Minneapolis. I am confident you join us in prayer for expeditious  
mitigation. I must tell you I am so proud of Gambia and America that I think the  two 
countries can lead the world. I view America as God/Allah's experiment  
station. Allah has placed various peoples, ethnicities, tribes, and classes on a  
land with the requisite variety in flora and fauna and ecology, and he rests  
while he watches his creations grow. He has provided challenges, plagues, and  
bounty and he has provided the necessary information for them to harness value  
to overcome the challenges. Why I even met a gentleman here from Kanilai. I 
was  flabberghasted needless to say. Even though he was new, he encountered no  
problems in assimilating. He loves America and I intend to make his stay  
valuable to him and his family back in Gambia. It is exhilarating is it not, to  
be in the company of such hope and growth and ingenuity.
 
I know the flood of the river Gambia caught you by surprise and you were'nt  
able to do much for the people. But I think you're wiser to have witnessed 
that  flood and its devastation especially for the people and their animals 
beyond  Janjangbureh to Koina. I am confident you have put in place both emergency  
measures and nurturing measures to mitigate any such disaster in the future. 
We  were spared by Allah from the recent West Africa floods but as sure as my 
name  is Haruna, we will have another Gambia flood again. There are some basic 
 measures you can advise your meteorology and hydrology departments to enable 
 prior warning alarms to be triggered when the river's flow-rate and volume  
reaches a certain level. They should cooperate with Guinea and Senegal in that 
 endeavour. Another effort in dredging coupled with proper use of dredged  
material in regeneration of industry and ecosystems will also do wonders in  
forestalling such devastation. Last but not least, an emergency evacuation plan  
ought to put in place by your affected departments in order to lessen the 
affect  of such devastation. The flow regime of the Gambia river is also 
precarious  in areas. The islands and adjoining national parks are vulnerable to  
inundation and reconfiguration of meander. Consider berms and sluice gates which  
can enhance marsh agriculture and industry which can buffer the effect of  flow 
irregularities. According to my crude forecasts, another flood will  inundate 
the low-lying areas that guard the river, to include McCarthy  Island, the 
Kiang West national park, the neighbourhoods of Bintang and all  areas 
sandwiched by the river Gambia and the Cassamance River to include Kanilai  and 
environs. You have made tremendous incvestments in that area and I'm sure it  will be 
sad to leave them bare to mitigable inundation. The areas around  Sandougou 
bolong and the Essau area are also equally vulnerable. They must  monitor 
effluence into the river that diminishes riparian life.Any such  devastation can 
accrue either from irregular flow of the Gambia river,  unprecedented flow rate, 
or a few inches rise in the Atlantic OCean waters.  Banjul and Saint Mary 
have been naturally protected due to their Geography and  rock formations before 
now, but those are only episodic protections. Nature  continues to live and 
carve.
 
I will leave you here for now. WHen next I speak with you, I will share  some 
ideas on how we can better utilize our natural resources in our peoples to  
enhance common life in Gambia. I thank you for your esteem audience as I advise 
 you to use the information Foroyaa gathers and shares with us to enhance our 
 collective worth. DO not disregard the info for the vehicle that carries it. 
 Even though FOroyaa may be a party paper, they must be encouraged in their  
coverage of national issues. It will be to all our benefit. Just don't read 
the  propaganda material. Focus on the value of Foroyaa not its distressing  
comentary.
 
Take care my friend and God bless. Haroun al Khairawan. MQDT. Darbo. AL  
Mu'Umin. I must attend to other life matters now. My son is calling  me.   



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