Hi folks,

I am writing to seek help in preparing a position paper that will be used to
work toward a peaceful end of the Jammeh government.  You might recall that
earlier this week, I informed the list that I was fortunate to meet
Wisconsin's Senator Russell Feingold, a member of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, and also the Ranking Member of that Committee's Africa
Sub-Committee.

To recap, I briefed Senator Feingold about the tragic events of April 10 and
11 in The Gambia, the worldwide outrage the events evoked in the Gambian and
peace-loving community, and mentioned to him that we would be needing help
from him and other people that are working globally on issues of human
rights and democracy.  He referred me to his Aide, whom I also gave more
detail about the various demonstrations and petitions that Gambians the
world over were working on, and longer-term objectives to ensure that such
mayhem does not happen in The Gambia again.

I told Senator Feingold's Aide that we are working on building a coalition
of groups, and ultimately an umbrella organization to spear-head efforts at
redressing the recent killings in The Gambia, but more importantly, to work
toward a Gambia that's free, democratic, and open.  I told him that we will
be preparing a paper that details the facts of the case against President
Jammeh, and would include proposals for a peaceful end of the Jammeh
government, as well as a mechanism for achieving that end.

Well, I'm glad to report that Senator Feingold's office has sustained their
interest in the case.  It was just this morning (Friday, April 21) that I
received a call from one of the Senator's Aides in Washington, DC,  to
follow-up on my meeting with the Senator.  I had an extensive chat with her,
and informed her that we were still working on getting an umbrella
organization together, and also preparing a position paper to send them.  In
the mean time, I referred her to the Gambia-L archives for her to review the
reactions that recent killings have been generating.

I also gave the Senator's Aide an overview of some of the longer-term
solutions that I have been suggesting.  In particular, I informed her that
ultimately, President Jammeh has to agree to a peaceful handover of power to
a transitional national unity government, and an agreement to tell us the
truth about the fates of the many people who lost their lives in
circumstances that are as yet, not fully explained; at least satisfactorily.
In exchange, President Jammeh and his officials will be offered amnesty from
prosecution, as well as a lifetime pensions.  Furthermore, the victims
families would be compensated by the Gambia government, with a view toward
alleviating any hardship they might suffer because of the untimely deaths of
their loved ones.

May I emphasize that the above ideas are not set in stone.  Indeed, they are
just that, ideas to be debated and refined (maybe even rejected) on the
basis of a open dialog on what's best for our nation.  Toward this end, I
would like to ask those interested and able to help in the preparation of a
position paper that will be structured as follows:

1. Introduction
    - Background information about The Gambia
    - The April 10 and 11 killings
    - An overview of the paper, and the issues it addresses
2. A Historical Analysis of the Jammeh Administration
    2.1. Government
    - The AFPRC Government
    - Transition to civilian rule
    - The Second Republic so far
2.2. Economic and Development Policies
    - Economic policies of the Jammeh administration
    - Analysis of budgetary allocations under Jammeh - spending on civilian
and development programs, compared to military expenditure
    - Analysis of spending trends
    - Sources of government financing under Jammeh: taxes and excises,
internal debt (treasury bills, bonds); external debts (bilateral
governmental and private)
2.3. Democracy, Human Rights, and Press Freedom
    - Political activity under Jammeh
    - Jammeh's human rights record
    - Press freedom under Jammmeh
2.4. Foreign Policy
    - Sub-regional policy - Senegal/Guinea Bissau/West Africa
    - Regional and International Issues
2.5. Military Affairs
    - A history of the Gambian military
    - The role of the military and security agencies in The Gambia politics
    - Military high-handedness, and excesses against civilians
3. Proposal for a Peaceful Handover of Power
    - Proposal for a peaceful transfer of power from President Jammeh to a
transitional government of national unity
    - Framework for implementing the proposal
    - NOTE:  (I can draft this part, and send it out along with other parts
to Gambia-L for comments and suggestions for improving it)
4. Alternative Actions if the Proposal is not Accepted
    - I can draft this also
5. Help Needed from the International Community
    - I can draft this also
6. Conclusions

I told Senator Feingold's Aide that I will send her the paper by the end of
next week.  For this reason, I would appreciate it if we can work double
time on this to get it out to the Senator's Office.  I'm hoping that a
number of Gambia-L subscribers have in the past written papers or articles
addressing many if not all of the issues I mentioned above.  Thus, it should
be a matter of revising and summarizing these papers, and merging them with
contributions from others to yield us something we can work with.  Matter of
fact, I found (via the Gambia-L archives) the US State Dept. report,
published earlier this year, on human rights in The Gambia.  It's worth a
read, and still available online at:

http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/gambia.html

For your information, I'll be more than happy to edit whatever material is
sent me, and collate them into a logical and consistent whole.  I will then
forward the draft to the list for people to comment on it, and sign-on
before we send it out.

That's about it for now.  Please feel free to contact me directly at
[log in to unmask] if you have any questions.  Have a great weekend, and best
wishes.

Katim

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