As C'Wealth Ends Gambia's Suspension, Darboe Disappointed But The Independent (Banjul) September 10, 2001 Posted to the web September 10, 2001 PK Jarju Banjul, the Gambia In the wake of the Commonwealth's decision to end Gambia's suspension from the organisation last week, the United Democratic Party leader Ousainou Darboe and the APRC majority leader in the National Assembly Tamsir Jallow have reacted differently over the issue. Mr. Darboe the flag-bearer of the opposition coalition said he was disappointed over the Commonwealth's decision to revoke The Gambia's suspension at this time, arguing that The Gambia should have remained on the list of suspended countries until after the elections before ending her isolation. He added that the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, CMAG seemed to have concerned itself with the repeal of Decree 89 only while other obnoxious decrees such as Decree 45 and Decree 70 and 71 are still in force. He also said the failure to prosecute members of the security forces for mowing down students last year is a factor that ought to have been taken into consideration. Mr. Darboe added that the Commonwealth should have thoroughly assessed public opinion before making a decision to that effect. He criticized the organisation for being hasty since the generality of Gambians would not want to see an end to the suspension of The Gambia in view of the unsatisfactory climate of governance. On whether the decision is a bad judgement on the side of the Commonwealth, Mr. Darboe said 'certainly if the Commonwealth had paid attention to amendments of the constitution, which sought to weaken the Independent Electoral Commission, which guarantees free, fair and transparent elections, it would have received the signal that the government was up to no good". On why he wouldn't join the government after seven years criticizing the government's flaws without being heard by the international community, Darboe stated that he and his colleagues would never stop highlighting the weakness of the government. He said being silent or blind to the government's flaws is to accept defeat. On whether the decision by the Commonwealth was a victory for the APRC government, Mr. Darboe replied that the government should not regard it as such because it was made in haste. He believes that if the Commonwealth goes back to the drawing board it would regret its decision. However, in his reaction to the Commonwealth APRC majority leader at the National Assembly Tamsir Jallow described six years of The Gambia's suspension as unfair and unnecessary. He said the existence of Decree 89 did not provide enough reason for the organisation to suspend The Gambia. According to him the decree emanated from recommendations by the National Consultation Committee instead of the AFPRC government. He added that although in essence Decree 89 had cast a slur on our democratic tradition "it depends on what we mean by democracy which is an open-ended concept viewed by people in different perspectives". He posited that democracy has to be rooted in the culture and life of the people it serves. Mr. Jallow who believes that the end of Gambia's suspension would augur well for the APRC in its campaign at the grassroots level, however argued that it has no significant impact on the APRC, whose members are preoccupied with winning the hearts and minds of Gambians using a sound manifesto. Tamsir maintained that the relationship between The Gambia and the Commonwealth would improve for the better, adding that he could not reckon a long-running disagreement between them because of a piece of legislation, which is in the interest of Gambians. This story is published courtesy of Citizen FM Radio Station _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------