Mr Jallow, I thank you very much for being constuctive this time. I bet you are aware that I left the Gambia after April 10th/11th 2000 and went to live in exile in Senegal. While in Dakar I was hosted by RADDHO, one of the best known Human Rights organizations in Africa. Your theory based on reconciliation could not apply in the case of Senegal because, as of polling date in 2000, the P.S. had been so fragmented by Abdou Joof's act of regarding Tanor Jeng as his heir apparent, that there was virtual internal party dissent. You can imagine a situation where ex-comrades take up arms against each other and a large chunk of the party faithful were drawn away by Mustapha Niass and others who completely broke away to form their own parties. Meanwhile, the veterants in opposition were brought together by their determination to kick out the P.S. regime by all means. Some of them obviously knew the old tricks that the ancient regime used to play at elections. There was therefore an action plan as to what to do if in case Abdou Joof was declared victor. They were almost certain he could not win, for as Abdoulie Wadd said in the run-up to the second round of elections, " It was arithmetically impossible for Abdou Joof to win". General Lamin Ceesay's book which was written in the immediate post "changement/alternance" era, depicts that critical moment when Abdou Joof had to make that crucial decision of accepting defeat and making his exit in peace, or hanging on and trying to legitimize illegitimacy, and obviously facing mayhem. Unfortunately, I am not aware of an English translation, but it should be recommended reading for us as we move towards 2006. I thank you for your understanding and interest. Omar Joof. >From: Ebou Jallow <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Halifa Sallah Says President Jammeh >Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 01:02:22 -0400 > >Mr. Joof, > >Would you please explain why you think Nordam is wrong concerning the >case of Senegal...You just mentioned about being in Dakar, and about a >General's book. > >My theory (and I believe Nordam acknowledges it too) is that >reconciliatory politics allows a conducive environment for a peaceful >democratic change of leadership. This is evident in most cases of >credible democratic practice in some African countries. In other >words, the political culture in a country determines to a great extend >the outcome of any electoral process. > >Ebou > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: >http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~