Brother Saul: This childish behavior by the dictatorship tantamounts to paranoia. I for one will continue on the crusade until the last puppet is thrown out. This is actually an encouragement for us to retool and engage in frontal attack against the dictatorship. The moron and butcher of kaninlia has lost it. He cannot intimidate us. We are united for a common principle: a yahyaless Gambia. This dictator must go. Naphiyo, Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh ----- Original Message ----- From: saul khan To: [log in to unmask] Sent: 1/22/01 10:50:14 AM Subject: An "Enemy List? All, About two months ago, a friend in Gambia casually told me to watch my back because I'm among the people on the G-L who are being eye-marked by the NIA. I laughed it off. But yesterday, I had information from a cousin who lives in Soma that I shouldn't go to Gambia because they're waiting for me. "You kidding me" I said to myself. I thought the whole issue is silly and ridiculous. Why can't the NIA find better things to do? But, having followed up with some friends who are in the loop about such issues, it has been confirmed to me that indeed, members of the G-L who dare commit BLASPHEMY by critizing the Great One: President for 1000 years, Lt. Col, Dr., Alh. A.J.J.Jammeh will be welcome to The Gambia by a State Reception Committee courtesy of the NIA. And "yes," the friend told me, my name is on the list. So, call it an "Enemy List" or whatever, but there does exist a list of names of members of this distro who strongly disagree with the APRC govt. Per the environment back there, the fellow started going nervous on me. I tried to confirm certain members, and every single name I rattled off made their list according to him: KB, Ebrima Ceesay, Hamjatta, Ebou Colley, MLJ Conteh, Ous Bojang, Karamba Touray, etc, etc. But here is the big surprise for me: Drs. K. Touray and A. Saine have all made the list. (Big moderates as far as the G-L goes.) At that point, my boy won't say any more because someone had entered the room. To demonstrate to me that they are serious about this, he confirmed a story I have heard about two months ago concerning an Ebrima Ceesay. Apparently, some fellow with that name went to Gambia from Europe. Despite his protests and appeal for common sense, this guy was bundled into a car and taken to the NIA HQ in Banjul, where surprise - surprise, they verified that he is indeed a different Ebrima Ceesay than the Birmingham "trouble maker." Any five year boy could tell them that there are very few unique Gambian names! Evidently, the reception that the Great One got in New York last year had set off his fuse. "That was the last straw for the man," I was told in not so many words. He considers his cyber critics worse than the vocal opposition back home. My friend told me that the List is being monitored by the VERY top (emphasis -his.) You figure. I noted that it's ridiculous to hone onto what critics are saying in cyberspace which is accessible to less than 1% of Gambians, when in fact, much of what gets said here is no different than what Waa Juwara, Hamat Bah, and Halifa Sallah, etc say frequently in The Gambia. The fellow concurred. Apparently, many of the people doing these dirty jobs for the Great One are as sick of the childishness and buffoonery as we are. Having spoken to this fellow, I didn't know if I should be angry, disgusted, or cry for The Gambia. Why? Because it's no secret that expartriate Gambians including most of us on their Enemy List are the ones sustaining the Gambian economy. How can you call people who literally pump Millions of Dalasi into the Gambian economy enemies of the Gambia? If expartriate Gambians were to stop sending remittances back home for only two months, as spineless as the average Gambian is, there will be a Phillipines-like revolt that is sure to topple the APRC govt! No doubts about that? So, to have an entire agency dedicated to making enemies for the State is abominable. One would have thought that Abacha's Nigeria and it's aftermath would help temper the APRC's excesses. Evidently, no such luck! They're bent on creating more and more Nelson Mandelas, or swollen heads. Jotting our names down on some Enemy List will accomplish nothing but make us more important than we really are. I've said before, and I say it again, those of us outside Gambia can only offer moral and financial support to the opposition back home. They are the heros, not any of us outside! So, in my view, this whole exercise is yet another mis-directed policy in a long line of State-sanctioned lawlessness initiatives. For lack of time, all I can conclude is that The Gambia is in worse shape than even some of us who saw it coming in '95/96 could have foreseen. It's scary how one's dire predictions someone come to pass so soon. Personally, I do not feel frightened by being on an APRC govt. Enemy List. To the contrary, I feel enhanced by it. I believe in fairness and social justice, ethos which are an anathema to that rogue of a government. If this govt believes in transparency, what they'll do is to invite all their Gambian critics overseas to come home, go around the country and see things for themselves. Some of us will have no problems retracting, or appologizing for anything that we have accused them of that turns out to be un-true. But, this executive-sanctioned vendetta confirms for all what many have said here repeatedly: the APRC govt is an enemy of anyone who cares for truth and justice. So much for Accountability and Transparency. Let's hear the full List on Radio Gambia, and GamTV! Saul. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.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 You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Lamine Conteh --- [log in to unmask] --- EarthLink: It's your Internet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------