Gassama, thanks for this forward. On the face of this communiqué, this warming of relations between the two countries could benefit Gambia if it is not another deep pocket for the President and his cronies. Because we have witnessed such pronouncements during the seven years of the APRC and the net effect is that we are poorer as a nation and the cabal is richer than the state. This excerpt, "Embassy of the United States of America in Banjul, The Gambia, is pleased to announce that, effective March 5th, 2002, the U.S. Government has lifted the restrictions on bilateral assistance imposed against the Republic of the Gambia in 1994, as required by section 508 of the US Foreign Assistance Act", talks about assistance and not improving trade relations. Gambians need access to US markets more so than assistance. That is how we can develop and also sustain that development. I guess we need to know what section 508 describes. Also, how does this relate to the US government's recent exclusion of The Gambia from its debt reduction or cancellation program, just recently? In addition, this statement, "The United States looks forward to pursuing constructive relations with the people and the Government of Republic of The Gambia on a normal legal basis and in accordance with fundamental values, most notably, democratic freedoms, the rule of law, and human dignity", seem to suggest that the "fundamental conditions" have not yet been met, which would be consistent with the UN Human Rights report. I hope more information regarding this issue will be provided. Chi Jaama Joe Sambou >From: Jungle Sunrise <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Another Milestone reached - from The Gambia Daily Observer. >Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 09:57:53 +0000 > _________________________________________________________________ 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 To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~