Edi, this post may also help you understand my position and reason for
questioning the US Embassy statement.  If you recalled, I also did mention
the US Human Rights report on the Gambia and how it does not correlate to
the bilateral assistance mentioned in the communiqué.  Now, take the below
forward by Yus and put it side by side with the communiqué and please let me
know what you think.  Thanks for your consideration in this matter.

Chi Jaama

Joe sambou


>From: "Yusupha  C. Jow" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Human Rights Report Indicts Govt Once Again
>Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 13:19:37 EST
>
>Let the truth be told.
>
>-Yus
>
>
>Human rights country document released US report indicts Gambia Gov’t
>again
>
>
>The US State Department has released its annual Country Report on human
>rights practices in The Gambia renewing its criticism of what it called
>more
>human rights violations by the Jammeh regime despite the return to
>democracy.
>It also observes that a number of decrees still exist that run contrary to
>the spirit of the constitution, giving sweeping powers to some state
>functionaries to arrest and detain individuals for more than 72 hours
>without
>the writ of habeas corpus. The State Department document lists a number of
>human rights violations, which it asserts were left unchecked and
>unresolved
>in 2000, leading to a hostile political environment that denied democratic
>freedoms to individuals deemed as opponents of the regime. The report says
>the country’s human rights situation, which was “generally poor and
>serious”, remains a damning indictment of a government claiming a
>restoration
>of democracy and the rule of law under President Yahya Jammeh. According to
>the report members of the security forces committed serious human rights
>abuses, which in most cases are not prosecuted or their perpetrators
>punished. The report lists a number of unexplained deaths and the failures
>of
>the government to pursue investigations into them. This included the
>shooting
>at a checkpoint in Omorto of Faburama Manneh and Bakary Ceesay by soldiers,
>suspecting drug trafficking. It also includes the killing of Hussein Wasni
>a
>Lebanese visitor on 30th October along the Kombo coastal high way after he
>allegedly failed to stop at an army checkpoint and Ousman Ceesay a United
>Democratic Party supporter who died from a shot at Tallinding following
>clashes between supporters of the ruling party and those of the main
>opposition on the last day of the presidential campaign. The US report
>further adds that, security forces continue to torture and carry out other
>cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on civilians and
>security
>detainees especially at the Denton Bridge. It adds that several opposition
>supporters claimed that they were tortured whiles they were detained by
>security officers The report also indicates the beating of John Senesi a
>Sierra Leonean teacher along Kairaba Avenue by soldiers on February 16th,
>the
>beating of Brian Secka of Sukuta by a police officer named Bojang on April
>14th, the beating of Pa Moo Sallah, Ousman Sowe, and Sang Gaswell (athletes
>of KMC) in Basse by Paramilitary officers in Basse after a volley ball
>match
>during the NAYCONF among others, The report further detailed that since the
>return of the country to civilian rule, the government of The Gambia has
>not
>formally revoked military decrees enacted prior to the enactment of the
>1997
>constitution that gives the NIA and the Secretary of State for the Interior
>broad powers to detain individuals indefinitely without charge “in the
>interest of national security”. These decrees the report says, seem to be
>inconsistent with the constitution but have not been subjected to judicial
>challenge. The report observes that although the government has stated that
>it no longer enforce these decrees, in some instances it disregards
>constitutional requirements that stipulate that detainees be brought before
>a
>court within 72 hours. The report also claims that detainees were often
>released after the 72 hours and instructed to report to the police stations
>or NIA headquarters periodically until the case proceeds to the courts. On
>prison conditions, the report states that the International Committee of
>the
>Red Cross (ICRC) who visited the prisons found improving conditions, but
>also
>noted that the psychological conditions at the Mile Two, Jeshwang and
>Janjanbureh prisons were “hard” in that maximum security prisoners were
>confined to small, individual cells for 21 hours a day and were allowed few
>family visits. It also points out that there were credible reports of
>beatings and malnourishment of detainees. Local jails it adds continued to
>experience overcrowding, with inmates including detainees awaiting charges
>or
>those charged awaiting trial, occasionally sleeping on the floor, provided
>with mats or blankets. It catalogues that the police are reluctant to
>terminate fistfights between prisoners until the dispute is settled
>violently, and many of the prisoners are injured. Harassment of journalists
>The report states that journalists were harassed by security forces and the
>police some such incidents being the harassment of Salieu Mbowe a freelance
>journalist by police officers at his home in Latrikunda on February 28, the
>beating of Alieu Badara Mansaray by officers of the Bundung Police station
>on
>May 27, the sacking of Peter Gomez a broadcaster at GRTS on January 5, the
>arrest of Modou Thomas, Bakary Manneh and Namory Trawally who were covering
>the NAYCONF in Basse on June 11, the arrest of George Christensen of Radio
>1
>FM and Baboucarr Gaye on October 23 and 29 on the pretext of financial
>irregularities regarding the operation of their stations, and the closure
>of
>Citizen FM.The report would be serialized in our subsequent editions.
>
>
>
>
>
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