wow, that's some pretty strong language and threats. does the aprc really
think that this will help their plight in the international community or in
gambia.

jabou joh

n a message dated 10/15/01 10:19:54 AM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> President Warns Armed Opposition Elements
>
>
>
> The Independent
>
> October 15, 2001
> Posted to the web October 15, 2001
>
> Lamin Dibba
> Banjul, the Gambia
>
> President Jammeh has made a thinly veiled threat to members of the
> opposition who wield dangerous weapons during and after the election, saying
> they will be shot on sight.
>
> In the first public speech since his return from a trail blazing campaign
> tour of the countryside, President Jammeh told Brikamarians Friday that his
> administration would apply zero-tolerance to elements of the opposition who
> take to the streets armed with cutlasses and other weapons capable of
> disrupting the pre and post election period.
>
> "You will be shot to death" he said apparently referring to supporters of
> his main challenger Ousainou Darboe who have been blamed by the APRC for
> sporadic skirmishes that resulted in injuries and material damage.
>
> The president said he was aware that opposition elements have bought
> cutlasses in readiness to disrupt the election. But he warned that
> heavy-handedness would be applied to deal with anybody seen holding a
> cutlass and other weapons.
>
> In an angry tone the president also came down hard on the perpetrators of
> the election dog ritual in Brikama three weeks ago, saying that if
> discovered they would "suffer from a very bitter lesson than they have ever
> experienced in their lives".
>
> President Jammeh berated Brikamarians for allowing the sacrifice of a dog in
> their town to influence the outcome of the October 18 polls, which he was
> sure of winning. "Where on earth have you heard of a dog sacrifice the
> marabout who advised you to kill a dog for the election has fooled you" he
> pointed out, underlining his disappointment with the people of Bojang Kunda
> for what he called their hypocrisy and double standard. A dead dog was found
> wrapped in a white satin sheet along a busy street straddling the Fire
> station, apparently killed as sacrifice for the election. It drew an angry
> protest from thirty starkly naked women who cursed and swore against the
> perpetrators of the ritual killing. The nature of the protest also caused
> shock and disbelief among not only Brikamarians but Gambians in the Greater
> Banjul Area.
>
> President Jammeh bluntly dismissed the Bojang kunda kabilo of Brikama as
> averse to progress by undermining themselves and identifying with the
> opposition. "You the indigenous people of Brikama cannot fool me. You do not
> want progress. You said I rescued you from buying water, but you will buy
> it" he posited, straining in anger.
>
> President Jammeh also pointed out that the coalition was launched in Brikama
> "and you were clapping for them I know you all".
>
> He outlined that the free education enjoyed by the daughters of some Western
> Division residents excludes daughters of members of the opposition and
> criticized what he referred to as the double standard of the beneficiaries
> and warned them to be mindful of the imminent consequences.
>
> In his contribution, Yankuba Touray the APRC campaign mobiliser took a
> brutal swipe at the ruling party's main challenger Ousainou Darboe, saying
> he was the fool of the millennium "because his father Numukunda Darboe was
> jailed to death by the PPP regime".
>
> Mr. Touray argued that if Darboe was not a fool why did he associate himself
> with those responsible for unlawfully jailing his father to death.
>
> Mr. Touray was also unsparing on Dembo Jatta a PPP politician from Kombo
> Central who he said had disguised as a woman to escape the clutches of the
> 1994 coupists. "Even if he plaits his hair and put on ear rings with the
> latest ladies fashion he will be arrested and jailed" Touray remarked.
>
> Sifia Hydara an APRC lady councilor disclosed that the women of Brikama have
> vowed to stake their lives for Jammeh's victory in the election. She said a
> flood of people have joined them in their "crusade to flush" the opposition
> out of Brikama forever. "Anybody who for reasons known to them do not want
> to see President Jammeh and his government should die and get to hell" she
> said.
>
>
>

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>