Mr. Sallah,
Thank you for your response about my personal opinion on the
political situation in our country. First and foremost, I am happy to
commend your party leader for his generosity to Wuli constituency as well as
his brilliant argument in parliament on issues which are very important to
Gambian people. I also seize this opportunity to personally thank you for a
recent declaration by you that about the possibility of liaison with other
parties should a runoff be necessary. I commend you for that and I hope
other opposition will followsuit. Whilst I agree with you on that I think we
should not count on that possibility too much instead we could look into the
possibilities of a united opposition now rather than later.
I believe you will agree with me that my debate is not based on political
innuendo as you have stated earlier and I do not intend to drag you on to
make any statement because that opportunity has come and gone when your
party was mute condemning the violence. I stand by my statement that there
are three opposition parties in the Gambia -NRP, PDOIS and UDP. We do not
need official declaration by the UDP about what I said. The events clearly
spoke for themselves about what is in the government's mind regarding the
UDP. Why has the UDP been a constant thorn in the flesh of this
administration? I am surely not an official member of the UDP but the
persistent injustice they have been facing daily is purely political because
of continuous revelations of misdeeds of the government in the
administration of our country. You will not disagree the fact that the UDP
is the largest opposition party in the Gambia and the government saw this
as a threat. You as an opposition party must make sure that a change Gambian
people are clamoring for will come without
violence regardless of who wins the forthcoming elections.
In order to discourage political ambushes henceforth every peace
loving individual including PDOIS as a political party must condemn all
forms of
political violence. Silence will not only encourage it but escalate it
further. If your party's position is known on political ambushes and
mid-night kidnappings perhaps people who do it will calculate the public
reaction and think again,that effort must be led by the
opposition. I believe that eventhough the case is in the courts, we can talk
about the merits of the case without rendering any prejudice to the case
also the position of the UDP and your party are clearly different so they
did the right thing by "holding their breathe" because they are the
so-called defendant to the case. The Gambian people are closely watching and
listening and I am sure they will judge all political parties according to
issues which are very important to them-the marketing of their produce,
restoration of honesty and credibility in the civil service including the
judicial arm of the Gambia just to name a few.
Halifa, you may argue that the April 10 and 11 massacres and the attack in
Basse are totally different scenarios but you failed to understand that the
security forces of bloody April and the defunct July 22nd mobsters are all
working towards a common goal i.e. the preservation of a rogue regime that
is bent on engendering fear in the heart of all who dare dissent with them.
To substantiate that statement, were you not aware of the arrest of a UDP
national assembly member for Kiang East ? for allegedly expressing his
opinion about the tragic deaths. At the same time following that incident
you wrote an open letter onbehalf of your party expressing your general
concern of the crisis therefore I don't think there has been any better
occasion than this to do what is a right thing to do.
Mori Kebba Jammeh
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Mori
----- Original Message -----
From: foroyaa <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2000 9:21 AM
Subject: Re: THE UDP LEADER AND 24 OTHERS
> Mori Kebba,
>
> We thank you for agreeing that there is need for some form national
response
> to what happened in Basse. However, I cannot understand what you mean when
> you asserted that "....calls for dialogue will never be answered if the
> current trend continues on the ground i.e. selected attacks on one
> political party whilst there are more than one in the country.That issue
> must be addressed first. If the other political parties believe that they
> are being attacked because they are more hard on the government then calls
> for national reconciliation and conferences will never take off the
ground."
>
> I am not aware that this is the position of any political party in this
> country. If you know more than we do, would you please indicate which
party
> holds the view that it is being attacked because it is harder on the
> government than others.
>
> Frankly speaking, Mori Kebba, statements like this do not help in
promoting
> an atmosphere for dialogue. If you are not a member of the UDP executive,
> you should not make insinuations that appear like comments emerging from
> them.
>
> Since the incident occurred, we believe PDOIS has given all the solidarity
> that could be given by a political party in this country. We do more than
we
> publish, and we hope that we will be allowed to continue to do what we are
> capable of doing in the way we think it should be done in good faith and
in
> the public interest.
>
> Secondly, you ask whether I was questioning the credibility of the UDP
when
> I mentioned that they claimed that they were ambushed. It has been said,
in
> no uncertain terms, that this matter is in the courts. Even the UDP
members
> are holding their breathe on the facts in preparation for their defence. I
> hope you will respect the language we utilise in order not to prejudice
the
> case.
>
> Lastly, you talked about swift condemnations of the high-handedness of the
> security forces during the April 10 and 11 incident. I hope you would have
> realised by now that we are not talking about security forces using
> high-handedness against opposition forces and killing one of them in
Basse.
> This is a totally different scenario.
>
> Mori Kebba, it is claimed that Alieu Njie's body was seriously mutilated.
> What condemnation do you expect from me that would accord with a sense of
> respect for human life irrespective of political differences? The country
is
> undergoing very difficult circumstances, and we are not at all relying on
> partisan sentiments to handle all the antagonistic contradictions.
Moreover,
> we have not created these contradictions. We simply find ourselves having
to
> deal with them in the best way we know how.
>
> The only way that it could have been proven that we are being favoured is
> for the State to be handed over to us on a silver platter. I do not think
> any sane person exists who believes that that is the objective of the APRC
> Government. Different parties have their different methods of politics.
What
> all honest Gambians should do is to respect each party's style of politics
> and still call on all to create an environment where each will pursue the
> support of the people according to their own style and design.
>
> It will be most helpful if I am not dragged into divisive issues at this
> stage. I have opened up for you to ask any question to avoid any
> misunderstanding. I hope you will exploit that opportunity before making
any
> insinuations.
>
> Greetings.
>
> Halifa Sallah
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Mori Kebba Jammeh <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, June 30, 2000 12:33 AM
> Subject: Re: THE UDP LEADER AND 24 OTHERS
>
>
> > Halifa Sallah,
> > Thank you very much indeed in responding to my inquires about your
party's
> > position on the recent events in the Gambia.
> >
> > First of all, I can't agree more with you on the need for national
> political
> > conference in the Gambia especially in light of the forthcoming local,
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
>
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