Folks, this story sounds very familiar to what upholds in the Gambia.
African dictatorships at its best.  Please read on.

Opposition Leader Arrested

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

October 17, 2003
Posted to the web October 17, 2003

Bujumbura

Burundian security officers arrested on Friday the leader of a wing of the
pro-Tutsi Union pour le progrès national (UPRONA) political party, Charles
Mukasi, a day after he was placed under house arrest.

Mukasi is head of the UPRONA faction opposed to the 2000 Arusha accord for
peace and reconciliation.


Before his arrest, he had said that he had received a warrant from the
Presidential Police (the government intelligence services) on Thursday,
accusing him of "sedition and refusal to appear before the court".

"I write and publish my work for consumption by my readers, nobody has told
me that I have written inciting things," he said. "I have always organised
public meetings, I do not hide myself, I clearly give my opinions, I fight
for the restoration of a state of law in Burundi, this is not a secret."

Terming the arrest illegal, Mukasi's lawyer, Gabriel Sinarinzi, said: "The
people who arrested Mukasi violated the law, first, they broke the door to
his house before arresting him and, secondly, Mukasi is in the custody of
the Presidential Police and nobody is allowed to see him."

Sinarinzi said the government was using sedition charges to oppress
opposition leaders. "This is an arbitrary detention, I demand permission to
contact my client," he said.

Mukasi had in the past been arrested several times in connection with his
opposition of the transitional government set up on November 2001 under the
Arusha accord.

He has accused the current leadership in Burundi of perpetuating a culture
of impunity, and has condemned the recent power sharing agreement reached
between the government and the main rebel movement, the Conseil national
pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie
(CNDD-FDD) led by Pierre Nkurunziza.

"Talking about 50 percent of Hutus and 50 percent of Tutsis in the army
creates division in an institution which must remain unified to protect the
nation, we need a national army and not an army based on ethnicity," Mukasi
said.

_________________________________________________________________
Concerned that messages may bounce because your Hotmail account has exceeded
its 2MB storage limit? Get Hotmail Extra Storage!
http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~