Greetings,

I was about to post a few things I had noted down when Kabir sent his mail, which contained some of the things I had written down. So I'll try to add one or two points and some humble thoughts.

I think the petition should first give a brief explanation of what it's all about. It should explain, in a few sentences, how these people have been kidnapped and held in custody for weeks without access to a lawyer or family visits. The families did not and still do not know about their whereabouts either. Anika's
explanation of what happened during Dumo's kidnapping can be briefly cited. Preceding cases and their devastating consequences/end should be briefly cited too .

It should then proceed to explain that only after being challenged in court did the NIA accept holding these people in custody; the legality of their arrest is being discussed in court. The Chief of Police is asking for their further detention.

In my opinion, we who will sign the petition can then condemn the act as one constituting a breach to fundamental human rights, the Gambian Constitution and the African Charter of Human Rights; undermines the rule of law and stability.

We can then ask those who will be receiving the petition to join us in making the demands which will follow, to The Gambia Government............Apart from the demands listed by Pasamba and Kabir the following can be considered:

- In future, people suspected of havin committed crimes should be arrested in a lawful manner and not abducted;
- Families of those arrested should be notified immediately about where they are detained and how to contact them;

From the incoming information it appears that at least seven people have been detained in an unlawful manner in connection with this all edged "Coup plot". The petition should therefore cover all of them, singling out Dumo perhaps as someone who came back to make a difference to peoples' lives through Bokaloho


Finally, I believe we should learn from our past experience. This time around we should have an easy and quick way of collecting signatures. I would suggest that all those who wish to sign the petition simply send a message to, for example Kabir ( I wouldn't mind taking this up too), with the subject "dumo petition"
or something similar. Kabir or whoever collects the signatures can append them to the petition and post it to the list for verification before we dispatch it to the various organisations, and I'll add, the Press at home and abroad as well as all the websites run by Gambians who would not mind. Again I have to think of
the "Free Gambia Website". Sometime in April, a good list of organisations was sent to the List. We can surely make use of it again. In any case, we have to act quickly and efficiently.

When we finish dealing with this petition, we should start working on the one which was written to the IEC rightaway. I'll comment on that later. For now, I'd only like to say that in the final analysis, the ultimate goal should be to get rid of this Government and replace it with one which will empower the Gambian
people and have their interest at heart. We should therefore make it a priority to vote in the next presidential election, among other things. More on that later.

Let's keep the fire burning! It is good to write and express opinions, but it's even better to take action collectively. So let's act!

Alpha Robinson

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