Thursday, January 25, 2001

                       JUWARA TO LAUNCH
                        CAMPAIGN AGAINST
                                SHARIAH

                 The national mobiliser of the opposition UDP, Lamin Waa
                 Juwara, has announced that he plans to launch a campaign
                 against the introduction of the strict Muslim law, shariah,
in The
                 Gambia.

                 In a Daily Observer interview yesterday, Mr Juwara said
                 advocates for the introduction of shariah in The Gambia "do
not
                 realise that shariah is a political system. The debate on
shariah is
                 being misrepresented by religious leaders because shariah
is a
                 political system with a distinct state organisation and
governance
                 and it is therefore not a matter for Islamic religious
leaders only
                 but also for the entire citizens of a given state.

                 If The Gambia goes shariah, it is not the imam ratib who is
going
                 to be the head of state. If there is to be shariah in this
nation, will
                 there be room for a multi-party democratic set-up? Will
Islam not
                 be mixed with politics, thereby making all our religious
leaders
                 politicians? The answers to these sorts of questions are
the
                 reasons why shariah is not feasible in The Gambia." Mr
Juwara
                 said The Gambia has more pressing problems to address than
to
                 try to "overturn our secular democratic system that has
brought
                 us peace and unity as a people with different political
fates. I do
                 not see how anybody can say that the introduction of
shariah will
                 not affect non-Muslims.

                 How is the judiciary going to work? Will we not be
permanently
                 denying Christians the right to leadership of the country?
What is
                 going to happen to this current government because it
comprised
                 of both Muslims and Christians?" Mr Juwara chastised that
"a
                 handful of Muslim leaders can never introduce shariah in
this
                 country. As a politician, I am totally opposed to the
introduction
                 of shariah in The Gambia and anybody who wants to introduce
it
                 should know that I will lead a stiff campaign against it
because as
                 a political system, I know what it entails." Mr Juwara
appealed to
                 both Muslims and non-Muslims to reject the introduction of
                 shariah "anyhow they are able to do it."

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