Ebrima,
Thank you for sharing this article with us,this shows to a great extend the
sad atmosphere in our country.A young Gambian who spent a great much of his
time in USA ,doing hard studies with the main intention of going back home
to serve his country and people,suddenly found himself to either  go back
home and spent 23 hours a day in a cell or give up his ambition of taking
part in running a youth programme for the most deprived in our country(with
Bokaloho),give Gambian people the possibility of developing their
minds,through good TV programmes.No this is not the type of honest minded
people the Jammeh regime is looking for,so it was a good decision he made.We
will need him in a better Gambia.

For Freedom
Saiks
----- Original Message -----
From: Ebrima Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2000 3:24 AM
Subject: Re: Dumo Saho Petition


> Kabirr:
>
> Please, do add my name to the Dumo Saho latest petition. By the way, I was
> going through "The Black World Today" Web Page, and came across this
> article, by chance. Dumo Saho's name is mentioned in it. Anyway, I am
> forwarding it for your perusal.
>
> Brother Tijan Jobarteh: I hope the Journalist (Charisse Waugh) who wrote
the
> story below, did not misquote you. Well, I know you are more than
> capable/competent to clarify issues if need be. Cheers!
>
> Ebrima Ceesay
> Birmingham, UK.
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>
>
> Crackdowns in The Gambia
>
>
> By Charisse L. Waugh
>
>
> At the conclusion of President Clinton's trip to Africa last month, he
> conferred with Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, about issues concerning
> the Northern African region.  It was a familiar photo op:  An American
> President and his Egyptian counterpart in grave conversation.  Nothing
about
> Clinton's activities in Africa was unfamiliar though, at least not to
anyone
> who has read a newspaper, watched a nightly newscast or a public
television
> documentary here in the last few years.
>
> Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Burundi, the main subjects of those programs,
> were also the focus of Clinton's diplomatic exercise on the world's second
> largest continent.  There are other African countries, however, which have
> escaped the radar of the western press.  But they too are experiencing a
> reversal of their human rights, social and economic fortunes.
>
> The Gambia is one such country.  So tenuous is the human rights situation
> there, that as Clinton and his entourage were traveling to Africa, a
senior
> producer at The Gambia's state run television station was heading to the
> U.S. seeking refuge from possible arrest by the Gambia's National
> Intelligence Agency.
>
> Tijan Jobarteh, a U.S. educated journalist who has served as the senior
> producer at Gambia Television Services for the past six years was
attending
> a communications conference in South Africa when he received word that a
> colleague with whom he had founded a community center in the Gambia had
been
> arrested with seven others and charged with treason.  It was the latest in
a
> number of events which last month prompted Representative John Lewis of
> Georgia to prepare a written condemnation of the country's increasingly
> brutal and authoritarian government.
>
> Last April, 13 high school students were shot dead by the police while
> participating in a peaceful demonstration against the death of a
13-year-old
> boy who died in March while in the custody of fire officers.  According to
> Gambian press reports, the official autopsy showed that the boy had
> apparently been beaten to death.  Also prompting the student protests was
> the rape in early February of a young girl allegedly by uniformed officers
> at a sporting event in front of witnesses.  No arrests have been made.
>
> Crackdowns on the press have become arbitrary and frequent.  Last month a
> popular radio station was firebombed, and its proprietor injured.  No one
> has claimed responsibility for that assault, but it came a few days after
> President Yah Yah Jammeh, in a speech to youth, threatened the state radio
> for its broadcasts.
>
> "I don't want to be associated with the government anymore," says
Jobarteh.
> "The security forces have been given carte blanche to do what they want.
> The President is creating another ton-ton macoute," claims the 40 year old
> journalist in reference to the Gambia's National Intelligence Agency's
> resemblance to the notorious security forces who showered death over the
> country of Haiti during the Duvalier regime.
>
> Until now, The Gambia has enjoyed reasonably positive press in the U.S.
Its
> most controversial coverage being the question of whether Alex Haley's
> "Roots" in which Haley claimed Gambian ancestry was authentic or not.
>
> Last June, an op-ed article appeared in the Journal of Commerce praising
the
> Gambia's 35-year-old President for "representing hope for a brighter
future
> and an end to the social ethnic and religious scourges that have kept
> problem-ridden African off the global agenda."  The editorial was
> subsequently entered into the congressional record by three
African-American
> congressmen who visited The Gambia in 1999.  Representative Bennie
Thompson
> of Mississippi was part of that entourage along with Representative James
> Clyburn of South Carolina and Earl Hilliard, a congressman from Alabama.
> Thompson says he did not see anything amiss during his trip.  "At that
time
> the situation had not de-stabilized," said Thompson after learning of the
> country's current troubles.  "We try not to get involved in the political
> situation of a country anyway.  We try to go in and change the quality of
> life of individuals through the use of foreign aid."  Thompson explained
> that every member of the Congressional Black Caucus has a piece of the
> "motherland" that they try to help by lobbying for aid here in the U.S.
"We
> have done this for Sierra Leone, and other countries whose governments we
> don't agree with.  Our history is very consistent with this."
>
> Jobarteh attended college in the U.S.  He earned his Bachelor's and
Master's
> in Media Studies from the New School University in New York.
>
> After completing his studies in 1994, he returned to his native Gambia.
"I
> was thinking I could contribute something positive," he says.
>
> A few months before his arrival, Jammeh, then a 29-year-old army officer,
> had seized control of the government in a coup that upheld Gambia's
> reputation for peace.  He ousted Dada Diawara the only President to serve
> since the close of British rule over 30 years ago.
>
> By 1995, Jobarteh was made a principle producer at the state run
television.
>   He immediately began trying to influence its programming, and changing
the
> format from mainly soccer games and local soap operas to more substantial
> fare.  For example, he aired a documentary on the Million Man March held
in
> Washington, D.C. in 1995.  He says: "People loved it.  They were calling
the
> station."
>
> Buoyed by the enthusiastic response, Jobarteh began scheduling documentary
> programming every Monday night during prime time.  He showed films and
> videos he had acquired from friends in New York City such as a documentary
> about Malcolm X by the African-American filmmaker St. Claire Bourne.
> Subsequent documentary subjects were Kwame Nkrumah, Frantz Fanon and other
> political and historical figures.  "I was trying to find material relevant
> to the history of Gambia and West Africa.  I knew it was successful,
because
> people expressed their opinions in newspapers and to the station itself."
>
> In December of 1996 Jobarteh was suspended indefinitely.  He believes it
was
> his programming decisions that left him vulnerable.  "They couldn't pin me
> on that though, because what I was showing mirrored their rhetoric," he
says
> referring to the two-year-old government and its youthful President who
> often praised the virtues of socialism and pan-African values.  "They knew
I
> was political, but I was professional."
>
> The official reason given by the government for the suspension, according
to
> Jobarteh, was because he refused to interrupt scheduled programming to
send
> a crew to film government officials as they were breaking ground for a new
> Insurance Institution.
>
> The country was about to elect a new President and political campaigning
was
> heavy.  Jobarteh who was in charge of coordinating all of the political
> broadcasts, says he didn't think it was fair to the other candidates to
make
> special arrangements for the government.  There were more than 20
different
> parties vying for the presidency and other offices just two years after
the
> coup.
>
> "Fundamentally, I believed we had a new democracy.  My guiding principle
was
> to give equal time to everybody.  I thought the people could decide for
> themselves."
>
> "I had been out of the country for 10 years.  How could I come home and
take
> a stand.  All the parties were new anyway."
>
> Jobarteh was eventually reinstated to his position.
>
> He was attending a conference in South Africa on children's educational
> television programming when he received an email about his colleague's,
> Momodou Dumo Sarho, abduction by the National Intelligence Agency.  He and
> Sarho were the main coordinators of a community center they had founded a
> few years ago for poor youths.  The center provided educational and
> recreational services, and recruited the country's professional class to
> volunteer as teachers and mentors.  About 60% of the youths who
participated
> were girls.  "Education for girls is very important in the Gambia," says
> Jobarteh.  "Traditionally this is the group that has been left out."
>
> Jobarteh is extremely concerned about the well being of Sarho.  "No one
has
> seen him since his arrest.  Not his lawyer or his wife.  We don't even
know
> if he is alive," Jobarteh says of the 45-year-old community activist.
>
> "Here is a man who dedicated his whole life to working for his people and
> this is what he gets.  This is very scary."
>
> Instead of returning to the Gambia from the conference in South Africa,
> Jobarteh took the advice of his family and friends who told him that he
> should "lay low."  He traveled to Sweden and then made his way to New
Jersey
> where he is temporarily living with relatives.
>
> While he is here Jobarteh plans on pursuing his Ph.D., but he intends to
> return home soon.  "I'm not fearful of my own life," he says.  "I'm
fearful
> about what is happening to my country, and what it is becoming."
>
> © 2000  The Black World Today. All Rights Reserved.
>
> _________________________________________________________________________
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