Abdoulaye Saine: Thanks a lot for the brief piece on Professors Arnold Hughes and John Wise. As Omar Drammeh once said on the L, there are bad whites, but, equally, there are good whites. And certainly, both John Wiseman and Arnold Hughes are good guys and genuine friends of the Gambia, in my view. Over the years, they wrote quite a lot on the Gambia. In fact, the University of Birmingham's Centre of West African Studies, under Arnold Hughes, had developed an unusual expertise on the Gambia. However, the truth of the matter is that while I was in the Gambia, I didn't know about these scholarly materials on the Gambia until I came here. And certainly, when I came over here and saw these works on the Gambia, I was truly shocked to have discovered the amount of work Arnold Hughes in particular, has done on the Gambia, from the late 60s to now. I was equally surprised to have even discovered that one of the leading books/materials/sources on Pan Africanism, for a very long time now, is actually written by our own Dr Jabez Ayo Langley, who I understand, now teaches at Howard University. In fact, his book/material is still a leading authority on the subject of Pan Africanism, I understand. Also, given Professor Abdoulaye Bathilly's age, I was really shocked when Arnold told me, that he had taught Bathilly when he, Bathilly, was doing his PH.D at the Centre many, many years ago. Today, professor Bathilly of Senegal is one of the most respected bi-lingual historian in Africa. And yes, Arnold's book on the Gambia, entitled: "The Gambia: Studies in Society and Politics" (1991) 'remains ground breaking' as you wrote. I also concur with you that his account of the 1981 coup was superb, and, as you indicated, remains the best I also have seen. In the book, he even predicted a subsequent coup (after 1981), in the wake of the formation of a new Gambian army!! He had demonstrated good prescience by asking whether the new Army, created to protect Jawara, would not be the very tool that would be used to topple Sir Dawda. His works on the defunct Senegambia confederation were also very brilliant/impressive! John Wiseman was also doing a tremendously good work on the Gambia. In fact, he was coordinating the activities of the Gambian Studies' Association, formed in the UK, after the 1989 Round Table Conference on the Gambia, held here in Birmingham. John Wiseman has also done very impressive works on the Jammeh coup. And speaking of democratization in Africa, there is a book Professor Wiseman gave me entitled "Democratization", written by him, in which he was describing the kinds/types of regimes/governments we now have in Africa. I do not know whether you have seen this one, but it is an excellent book, I must say. In fact, in the book, he too referred to the form of government in the Gambia as "Liberalized Authoritarianism". Arnold's retirement and John Wiseman's malignant cancer of the neck is really a blow to Gambian Studies in particular, and African studies in general. As you said, let's keep them in our prayers, so that they would be here with us for a longer period. By the way, Dr Ebrima Sall, if you have read this piece, I'll be grateful if you could tell Dr Fatma Denton, now in Dakar, that Dr John Wiseman has been diagnosed with a malignant cancer of the neck. He is already losing his speech and in fact it is very difficult to hear him when talks. Omar Drammeh: Yes, I was able to get a lot of materials on the Soyinka/Mazrui debate from the early 1990s to now. In fact, I even got an old copy of the Democrat newspaper which had covered the debate in those days, in Northern Nigeria. I might as well go ahead and just do the piece for the L. In fact, if you see one of Wole Soyinka's letters to Ali Mazrui, you'll even accuse him (Wole) of racism when he referred to himself as a "black African with no hang ups", thus implying that Ali Mazrui was not a pure African!! Ali Mazrui certainly has some Arab connection, but is that relevant? More on it later. Omar, Nigerian politics is very complex indeed. When I first came to the UK, to do a training at the BBC, I developed a very good friendship with Kadaria Ahmed, who is a producer with Focus on Africa and Network Africa. Kadaria, by the way, is a Muslim and a Hausa Fulani by tribe. Obviously, she is from the Northern part of Nigeria. I said to her one day, that I thought Shola Odunfa in Lagos was one of the best BBC correspondents in Africa. She said to me: "my boss, Robin White, also feels the same, but for me I'll reserve my opinion. She asked me: "Ebrima, do you really understand Nigerian politics and society?" And, in reply, I said: "No" (at the time). She said to me that as a Northerner and a Hausa, she could see some pro-south or pro Yoruba bias at times, in Shola's report. Shola, by the way, is a Yoruba from the south. So when I came to the UK this time around, and found time to study Nigerian politics and society, I began to understand what is really going on in Nigeria. And my respect for some of their scholars started to diminish, now knowing what their agenda is for that great country. Anyway, I am glad to report that Kadaria did break Hausa customs/norms by marrying a Yoruba Muslim. Her husband also broke Yoruba customs by marrying Kadaria, a Hausa fulani; and in fact that was even news on Network Africa. Network Africa had to interview Kadaria Ahmed about their marriage, because it was unusual: a Yoruba/Hausa marriage. And she did give her reasons for doing what she did. Football: Babayoro is finally back in England, after being trapped in Kaduna, during the recent Muslim/Christian riots, in Northern Nigeria. Chelsea did not, in the end, fine him, as originally threatened. George Weah said the other day, that he loved London and that he was very happy indeed at Chelsea. He is still on loan at Chelsea, but Chelsea hopes to sign him at the end of the season if they can convince AC Milan. You know the West End of London, where Chelsea is based, is very tempting: always described as one of the best capitals in the world. So I'll not be surprised if Weah chooses to stay at Chelsea. The David Beckam/Alex Fergusson well publicised dispute is a long and interesting story. I'll tell you more about it, hopefully, by tomorrow. David Beckham, it seems, is now in a state of quandary: On one hand, he wants to satisfy his wife and son, and on the other hand, he also has to fulfill his duties as a player of Manchester United. Victoria Adams, his wife, now wants to live in London; and in fact already they have bought a house near Arsenal, in North London. One of the most respected sport writers here, Harry Harris of the Daily Mirror, said on TV, the other day, that Beckham is definitely leaving Manchester United, sooner rather than later, because his wife Victoria desperately wants to move to London, or even abroad - perhaps Italy or Spain. According to Harry Harris, Arsenal - and not Tottenham - is Bechkam's choice. Anyway, let's see how it goes!! Omar, since you are a betting man, have you seen the latest odds on the European Championship? According to bookies Ladbrokes and William Hill, Holland are favourites to win the trophy, followed by Italy, Spain, France, Germany and England. What do you think? You can get 7/2 Holland winning the cup. England are the outsiders, but their odds have been cut down a little bit, because their match against Argentina was not bad at all. By the way, who, in your view, would win the European Cup? Ebrima ceesay ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------