Culled from the Independent


Opposition coalition react to mass arrest, IEC

The United Democratic Party have made a strong protest against what they
described as politically-motivated harassment and arrest of their supporters
by APRC youth wingers and the security forces.

They also accused the IEC of overseeing a flawed election process. We
reproduce below the full text of a UDP press release to that effect.
Gambians have just gone through the process of electing their president who
will be responsible for the country's administration in the next five years.
The Gambian people deserve to be congratulated for the show of maturity
during the polls. The elections itself started with voter registration and
culminated in the counting of the votes followed by the announcement of the
results.

The Independent Electoral Commissions handling of the registration exercise
was inept and corrupt. There was the indiscriminate use issuing of voters
cards to anyone who presented a national identity card. Registering officers
did not question or investigate the qualification of claimants.
Consequently, many non-Gambians who were clandestinely issued with national
identity cards secured voters cards to the detriment of bona fide Gambian
citizens.

Revising courts were in some cases constituted as a matter of formality.
Some of the magistrates who presided over the revising courts were not only
incompetent but corrupt. APRC's Baba Jobe and the Youth Action Group
effectively controlled the proceeding in the Mansakonko revising court and
determined the outcome of any objection.

The opposition United Democratic Party's protest to the Chief Justice and
head of the Judiciary produced no results. The UDP Coalition had a series of
meetings with Mr. Gabriel Roberts the Chairman of the IEC on the issue of
non-Gambians who had been registered.

At one of these meetings we pointed out to Mr. Roberts that the late
distribution of the Head Registers was due to extra registrations, which
took place after the close of the official registration period and which the
IEC was actively concealing. We had material evidence that the IEC had
actually registered Non-Gambians. A voter's card belonging to a Senegalese
was produced at the meeting held on 16th October 2001 at the Kairaba Beach
Hotel between the IEC, the International Observer Group, the press and
political parties. It was only after strong and persistent protest that the
Chairman of the IEC decided to distribute the Head Register on the 16th
October 2001, just two days before the elections.

The conduct of the IEC during this period did not only show inefficiency but
questionable impartiality as we came to discover that the ruling APRC had
the Head Registers issued to them before the other opposition parties at
least in Upper Fulladu West. The UDP Coalition parties also made a strong
protest against allowing people whose names are not in the head register to
vote. The IEC consequently took a decision that those names are not in the
register on the eve of the elections by Mr. Gabriel Roberts who appeared to
the working under the directives of the APRC.

The decision to allow those in possession of voters card but whose names do
not appear on the register of voters was not only a betrayal and reneging on
what was agreed to by the IEC and other stake holders but a flagrant
violation of section 66 of the Elections Decree 1996. It is worth noting
that the IEC registered 7464 people in the Niani constituency but 7877 voted
in that constituency, 413 more than the registered voters.

This point supports our assertion that the IEC had actually carried out
extra registration and these extra registered voters were distributed to
various constituencies throughout the country in order to give the APRC an
unfair advantage over the opposition parties. With all the irregularities
stated above the UDP led Coalition conceded victory to the APRC Presidential
candidate all in the spirit of peace and stability of The Gambia.

However, we wish to draw, formally, to the attention of all government
authorities, the leadership of the APRC and the diplomatic community of the
escalating level of harassment, intimidation and physical assault, which the
supporters of the UDP/PPP/GPP Coalition have been subjected to since the
declaration of the results of the Presidential elections on the 19th October
2001.

There were organised attacks by APRC militants on the homes of Lamin Waa
Juwara, the Organisation secretary of the UDP and Alhaji Dembo Jatta, the
campaign co-ordinator for Western Division, the family houses of Omar Amadou
Jallow (OJ) at Serrekunda Honourable, Dembo Bojang at Bakau causing
extensive damage for which the police have not effected a single arrest.
Paradoxically, the police and the NIA have arrested and detained UDP/PPP/GPP
supporters, including those who serve as agents at the presidential
election, all over the country for no reason other than them being known
opponents of the APRC.

Contrary to what the Inspector General of Police disseminated on the
airwaves and the print media, within less than 48 hours of the declaration
of the election results no less than 60 of our supporters have been arrested
by or at the behest of the APRC Youth Wingers and are presently under police
or NIA detention at Janjanbureh, Soma, Bakau, Kairaba Station, Brikama
Banjul and elsewhere. Dr. Momodou Lamin Manneh was forcefully arrested by
the NIA shortly after he left the UDP/PPP/GPP flag bearer's residence on
Kairaba Avenue on the afternoon of 22 October 2001, severely beaten up and
driven away to the NIA detention centre. The UDP/GPP/PPP flag bearer has
himself made personal efforts to reach the Army Chief of Staff and the
Inspector General of Police all of whom did not appear to know about Dr.
Manneh's arrest.

These are sinister, grave and unknown phenomenon in Gambian politics, which
threaten to open up a dangerous spiral of violence to an otherwise healthy
political campaign, which had effectively been concluded when the main
opposition party UDP/PPP/GPP publicly and graciously conceded to the APRC
presidential candidates on the 19th October 2001.

We trust that the authorities and the leadership of the APRC will
immediately stop these provocations of our supporters and ensure that the
due process of the law is followed in the arrest and or detention of any
suspect without political pressure or bias but strictly within the codes and
ethics of good policing.

This is the only way forward to maintaining peace and stability in The
Gambia. The failure or lack of efforts of the government to this end must be
interpreted that these attacks, harassments, molestations and unjustified
arrests meet with its tacit approval.





_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

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