Today is nine months since our children were brutally slain by Yaya's
security forces acting on Yaya's orders. Five months after the gruesome
massacre, I wrote a similar reminder in which I focused mainly on the
silence of civic leaders back home vis-a-vis the injustice that was being
meted to the victims of the massacre. Nine months down the line, we are in a
worst state than we were four months ago. The evidence that should have been
used to convict the culprits in a court of law is now virtually
non-existent. Thanks to the bogus coroner's inquest and commission of
inquiry, the government has succeeded in destroying most of the evidence in
this case. But all is not lost. When the time comes, people will come out
and categorically say that they heard Yaya himself order the shooting. This
is the day am living for. The day Yaya will be hoist like a common criminal
before a court of law to answer for his crimes. I have no doubt in mind that
the coward will kick and scream, but that day will come soon. I reiterate my
appeal to civic leaders back home to continue fighting for our children. As
we demand justice for the slain children, we should also remember the
victims with the physical and mental scars gotten from the massacre.
I also take this opportunity to appeal to the diplomats in the country
(especially the British ambassador) to show more sensitivity to the
sufferings of ordinary Gambians. A few thousand dalasis gift from Yaya to
the students can never heal the wounds that were opened April 10 and 11. A
bogus coroner's inquest and commission of inquiry report that is gathering
dust on Yaya's desk, cannot begin to assuage the grieving Gambian public.
Leaks from the commission report stating that the school children should be
blamed for their massacre are not signs of a document that aims to unite the
Gambian people. Under these circumstances, if diplomats back home cannot ask
their respective governments to condemn Yaya unequivocally, they do not
deserve to call themselves diplomats from civilized nations. It is therefore
unacceptable to the suffering Gambians for the diplomats in the country to
be reporting back to their governments that all is well in Gambia and
Gambians are happy with the current state of affairs. I do not know the
experiences of these diplomats with Africans. But I can tell them that some
of the insanity that goes on in Gambia might be the norm in other African
societies, but Gambians have NEVER experienced such callousness. It will
NEVER be normal for us to see our children massacred by the security forces
that are meant to protect them. Gambia is unrecognizable to those of us that
were born and bred there. The murders, the rapes, the abductions, the
arsons, the corruption etc. are all vices that came to us in this magnitude
after 1994. You could count the number of people that were murdered in the
country from Independence to 1994 and it will be less than fifty people; am
even leaning on the high side here. So to the diplomats, I say that we are
NOT a bunch of losers that are destined to be ruled by some callous
dictator. We are NOT lucky Yaya is not as brutal as Idi Amin. Folks, you
will be surprised to know that these are the ridiculous reasoning of some of
these so-called diplomats. What is sad is, these are the erroneous reports
they give their governments back home. That is, if their respective
government is even interested in getting a report from The Gambia. There is
no consistency in what these people do. Take the British government for
instance. Few months ago, they were rewarding the Yaya government for their
'good work' in Sierra Leone by giving Gambian soldiers scholarships to go to
Sandhurst and sending a high-powered military delegation to Gambia.
Presumably at the same time, there was a British in the UN Security Council
overseeing a report that indicated that the Yaya government was involved in
smuggling 'blood diamonds'. How can these diplomats reconcile these
conflicting positions? The only explanation I have, is that these people do
not even sit down to think about their actions. They will gladly arm a
dictator like Yaya to brutalize the Gambian citizens, so long as the idiot
is willing to put Gambian lives (instead of British lives) in jeopardy in
Sierra Leone. I would have thought that the revelations in the UN Security
Council will make the British revisit their clearly insensitive policies
towards Gambian children. Gambian contribution to these peace-keeping
missions is negligible. Coupled with that, it has been revealed that Gambia
was not keeping peace after all. For the sake of the children Yaya has
brutalized and continues to brutalize, we again appeal to the decency of the
British people to rethink their policy to arm Yaya. We also appeal to all
the diplomats to notify their respective governments that up to this day, no
justice has been given to the victims of the massacre that happened nine
months ago. There are numerous children that will forever be scarred by the
tragic massacre. There are poor Gambian families that are forced to take
care of their children that suffered gunshot wounds. Some of the children
they are taking care of should have finished school by now and become
productive citizens in a position to help their families.
KB

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