Mr. Saidy and members of the Gambia-L, I honestly have to say that the
situation in The Gambia is too unstable for anyone to be comfortable.
Massive allegations of corruption that the government is unable to refute,
human rights abuses, harassment of the press, covering up of information and
now this?  At this rate, we are headed straight for the quagmire that
countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia are unable to escape.

There has been talk of reconciliation as well as an open dialogue with the
government.  But I fail to see how we can negotiate with a government whose
leader has no education, vision or respect for his people, and who, by virtue
of his ties with teh military, has started a chain of events that even he,
the supposed great savior, will be unable to control.  We cannot simply
"accept" the "grave situation" that is beginning to unfold without a fight.
Furthermore, we cannot negotiate with an "illegal" government because their
ties with the military make these two separate entities interchangeable. The
military uses their close ties with the government as a justification to
harass the people of the country, while the government uses the military to
defend their ill gotten gains by subduing the average Gambian.  What we have
here is what I would call a symbiotic but parasitic relationship between the
military and the government.  One of these two entities/organizations is
going to suffer at the expense of the other.  As evidenced by the recent
mutiny of army officers in Farafenni and Yundum, and the attempted heist of
the money in our central armory, the military is beginning to show signs that
their tolerance for the government is waning quickly.  It is my opinion, that
the military will emerge unscathed from this twisted relationship, since this
has always been the case in Africa.  A military takeover usually results in
years of other coups and counter coups.  And the future of The Gambia will be
no different from all the other ill fated African countries that have been
destroyed by years of military involvement in government.

For this reason, I honestly believe that it is too late to negotiate with the
government.  The only agenda on the table should be an ultimatum; Yahyah
Jammeh leaving the country immediately (he has done too much damage too our
country) and the military returning to the barracks.  Once these two goals
are achieved, we can move forward with the next step of reconciling our
fractionated population that has been so abused and misled over the past 6
years.

Yus

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