The following is culled from Burning Issues (FOROYAA) Publication **************************** London Meeting And The Treason Threat; Sundays News Hour Need to Clarify The Secretary of State for Justice did indicate that if it was another country. Those who attended the London meeting would be charged for treason for allegedly calling for sanctions to be imposed on the Gambia. According to the point newspaper PDOIS was praised for not attending. The fact of the matter is that the Secretary of State started to criticise the opposition in general for attending the meeting in London. It is Mr. D.A. Jawo who questioned whether PDOIS was there. At this point Sam Sarr indicated that that was not the case. The secretary of state took the opportunity to apologise and then proceeded to assert that PDOIS would not attend such a meeting. The fact of the matter however is that PDOIS did not attend because of the reason the Secretary of state insinuated. In fact the NCP also did not have a representative at the meeting. Femi Peters also claimed to be representing UDP and not GPP. Only Hamat Bah and Ex-President Jawara were present and could be referred to as either present or past leaders of political parties. The meeting was not designed to call for sanction. The participants were under the notion that the meeting could lead to the intervention of the British government in convincing the Gambia Government to allow the participation of all political parties, past and present in the electoral process. The meeting was certainly not a secret affair. The Gambia High Commissioner in Britian should have made representation and ask to even speak at the meeting in defence of his government. FOROYAA was aware that a letter was addressed to Sidia jatta by Mr. John McDonnal member of parliament for Hayes and Harlington inviting him to be PDOIS representative at the meeting . The heading of the letter reads "Briefing meeting to be held on Wednesday 28th February at 7:30 pm Committee Room 10 at the House of Commons. The purpose of the meeting was stated as follows: "In order to draw attention to the plight of the Gambian people I have convened this meeting to receive briefings from the opposition representatives. Hence it is clear that an MP who was concerned with the plight of Gambian refugees in his constituency felt the need to receive briefing on the situation in the Gambia so as to know what to say in Parliament. PDOIS is aware that the British High Commissioner is the envoy of the British government in the Gambia. Such envoys are fully aware of the situation in the Gambia and had made their position known in the Gambian press. Every issue of FOROYAA is read by the International Secretary of the Labour Party. Needless to say, the British government is a part of the commonwealth. A ministerial delegation from the commonwealth came on a fact finding tour. PDOIS representatives and those of other parties had met the delegations from UN and commonwealth. All the issues that were discussed at the London meeting with an MP were discussed with such influential delegations. In fact the commonwealth secretary general had met the government representatives of the opposition parties. He had made pronouncements on the issue that concern past and present political groupings. PDOIS did not see any rationale in a member of the national Assembly of the Gambia who can denounce the government in the strongest terms in the National Assembly for any issue to go all the way to Britain just to give a briefing to a British MP who will only do in parliament what the PDOIS representative does in the national Assembly. The banned political parties do not need a British MP to fight for them. PDOIS has said that they need to start the battle at home. PDOIS suggested Dibba to pick up nomination papers for the Central Baddibou seat; that if he is denied nomination papers he could then go to the supreme court for a declaration as to whether Decree 89 does not violate the right to stand for election as guaranteed by section 26 of the constitution. Such struggles are more honourable than to appear to be crying babies abroad. PDOIS considers Decree 89 to be a dragonian provision. We would not hesitate to attend any meeting to denounce all malpractices. PDOIS makes statements or takes position irrespective of praise or adverse comments. this would earn it. PDOIS however prefers reactions to its statements or position to be objective. Instead we would respect the APRC to change its ways and leave the Gambian people to decide to make their representation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------