Mori Kebba, I believe the objective of communication is to be understood. The more we exchange memoranda, the more you seem to misunderstand our position. You raised the question about the National Assembly Member for Kiang East as follows: ".... were you not aware of the arrest of a UDP national assembly member for Kiang East ? for allegedly expressing his opinion about the tragic deaths. At the same time following that incident you wrote an open letter on behalf of your party expressing your general concern of the crisis therefore I don't think there has been any better occasion than this to do what is a right thing to do." Then I wrote: "When our Central Committee met, Sidia Jatta was mandated to raise the issue with his colleagues in the National Assembly so that a meeting of the committee responsible for the welfare of National Assembly Members would be convened and the Secretary of State for National Assembly affairs to be contacted to immediately work for the release of the member of the National Assembly, failing which he would have recommended to be mandated as Secretary to the Parliamentary Association to alert all Parliamentary Associations they are affiliated with so that immediate action would be taken to call for the release of the National Assembly Member". " We could tell you what happened to this initiative, but that would implicate others. You may write to Mr. Kemeseng Jammeh and ask him what happened to this initiative". It is abundantly clear from this that the initiative I referred to is the one to free the National Assembly Member for Kiang East from detention. I cannot understand how you could miss this point and went on to make the following statement: "Again how will talking implicate others when you are suggesting for Kemeseng Jammeh divulge to me the initiative that was followed. Who will it exactly implicate?" Where have I suggested for Kemeseng Jammeh to divulge anything regarding developments in Basse or allegations against Darboe? What is abundantly clear is that I was implying that the initiative for the National Assembly to take a stand on the detention of the Kiang East Member of the National Assembly was frustrated by those who should have been very keen to take a stand so that such a practice will not reoccur again. I hope you have come to accept that you are clearly wrong in implying that we did nothing when the Kiang East Member of the National Assembly was arrested. Please acknowledge this if you want me to take you as an honest, concerned Gambian. Secondly, we wrote: "Your comment is not a fair one. We still believe that you do not know what exactly happened between Gambisara and Numuyel nor do you fully comprehend what happened after the Chamoi bridge. We still insist that the matter has become a legal one and it will be most unfair to the UDP to dwell on the substance. I would not mind sending you a personal memorandum to explain the substance and leave you to analyse whether we should take the approach that you expect us to take." In your response, you wrote: "With due respect Mr. Sallah, from the day of the attack, we had an avalanche of credible reports by members of this reputable forum and from other international news organizations. My opinion then, was based on those reports as well as reports by some of my personal sources about the incident. I have never heard you refuting the credibility of a single report at that time. So to assert that "I do not know what exactly happened between Gambisara and Numuyel nor do I fully comprehend what happened after the Chamoi bridge" is a great misrepresentation of reality. "Mr. Sallah, I must hasten to tell you that any personal memorandum you may want to send to me will only be admissible in public domain." This is very interesting, Mori Kebba. I guess it is as a result of your full understanding of what happened in Basse which led you to draw the following conclusion: "But what is important in the first place is whether the case against the UDP and 24 others has any basis, they act in self defense and I hope the prosecutors will see it in that light." May I inform you that Radio 1FM had an interview with Darboe and the claim is that none of the members of his entourage killed Alieu Njie. You are talking about self defence. Have you consulted Darboe's lawyers before coming to your conclusion? You still cannot see why we maintain that certain comments could be prejudicial to the case. Anyway, you have a right to stick to your opinion. Any day that you want a report of our own review of what transpired between Gambissara and Numuyel and the eventual catastrophe after Chamoi, we will be more than glad to brief you. It will be your prerogative to post that in the L if you so desire. Greetings. Halifa Sallah. ----- Original Message ----- From: Mori Kebba Jammeh <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 12:01 AM Subject: Re: THE UDP LEADER AND 24 OTHERS > Halifa Sallah, > > Thank you for your response. I quote you "We still believe that you do not > know what exactly happened between Gambisara and Numuyel nor do you fully > comprehend what happened after the Chamoi bridge. We still insist that the > matter has become a legal one and it will be most unfair to the UDP to dwell > on the substance ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------