These African presidents/criminals should be ashamed of themselves, especially Wade. Folks, this is why I continue to echo that we cannot look to Senegal for the liberation of Gambia from the criminal that is Yaya Jammeh. Wade has courted Jammeh ever since he came to the scene at the expense of Gambians. A couple of years ago he called Yaya a lover of democracy. Now, he's coming to take a seat as Tony makes a mockery of Gambians. Folks are hungry, sick, and dying, yet Tony saw it fit to feed the world. Gambians should not play a role in their humiliation by Jammeh. Gambians should stay away from the crime scene that is the July 22 buffoonery. Please read on. 6 presidents expected to attend July 22 celebrations By Malick Mboob Jul 19, 2004, 09:09 Email this article Printer friendly page The Daily Observer has been reliable informed that six African heads of state will attend the 10th anniversary celebrations of the 22 July 1994 revolution. Amadou Scattred Janneh, the secretary of state for Information and a member of the publicity committee for the event, disclosed that an official of the rank of prime minister from Taiwan, the vice president of the Comoros Island, South Africa’s foreign minister, the speaker of the Ethiopian parliament and the chairman of the AU Commission are also expected to attend the celebrations. The heads of state confirmed are Abdoulaye Wade from Senegal, Blaise Campaoré of Burkina Faso, Henrique Rosa of Guinea Bissau, Pedro Pires of Cape Verde, Ould Sid Ahmed Taya of Mauritania and Amadou Toumani Touré of Mali. The visiting heads and their entourages are expected to start arriving on Tuesday, July 20. The main July 22 day celebration is scheduled to take place at the Independence Stadium, Bakau, and will feature a march past by the security forces and schoolchildren as well as cultural performances by troupes from The Gambia and the sub-region. President Yahya Jammeh is expected to deliver a keynote speech. Traditionally, the Juy 22 day public celebrations take place at the Arch 22 in Banjul, but these tenth anniversary celebrations are billed to be marked in a grand style. The activities began in earnest on Wednesday, July 14 with a wrestling contest in Kanilai and will end on July 31 with celebrations in the Kombos, Basse and Kanilai. The programme of activities for the two-week official celebration period will include a 9-nation football tournament, international wrestling competitions, exhibitions, a women’s solidarity march, opening and laying of foundation stones of infrastructural projects. Opposition politicians have criticised the "lavish" celebrations. A local newspaper reported that at least D80m has been set aside to be splashed on the event. When asked how much government will spend on the celebrations, SoS Janneh explained: "We are not irresponsible to be spending such an amount for the celebrations. It is not remotely close to that. If we make such an amount and spend all in the celebrations, how can we explain that to the IMF and the WB?" He however could not give a figure and referred our reporter to contact the Finance & Economic Affairs secretary, M Bala-Gaye who is the July 22 finance committee chairman. He was however unavailable for immediate comment. Sports secretary, Samba Faal, confirmed to this paper yesterday afternoon that six under-17 national football squads have so far arrived. They are Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea Conakry. He said teams from South Africa, Tunisia and Ghana are expected to arrive today. -- Chi Jaama Joe Sambou ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~