Having keen interest in human rights issues, I want to express my
concern to the erosion of human rights in our beloved nation.It's a fact
that the coming of Yaya Jammeh into power was the beginning of the
erosion of human rights records in our country. Most of these crimes are
with impunity. From the incident of April student demonstration, the
unconstitutional arrest and detention of Comrade Dumo Sarho et al,
censorship of the press with dragonian and undemocractic decree 70 and
71, destruction of the beach bars, the Basse incident, one can imagine
that we are now in the time of the butcher bird.

Our country which is refered to as the smiling coast, is now turn to the
crying coast of West Africa. The recent revelation of the commission on
the April incident have betrayed the masses.The term of reference of the
commission was manipulated. The million dollar question of who ordered
the killings of innocent children cannot be answered by the authorities.
Time and again many critical minded people blame the Government of Yaya
Jammen for having blood in their hands as fact's remain undercover. At
many a time, in international conferences our government camouflage that
there is rule of law and democracy in the Gambia but any sober minded
person knows that's far from reality.

Since July 1994, the people of these country are living in the state
fear which have serious implication to our long history of
democracy.Hardly days goes by without reports of detension and arrest of
people for expressing their views. The Government should know that the
essence of democracy is to allow opponents to express their views. With
the present trend of globilisation, it is a fact that no nation-state is
an island. The development cooperation between developed and developing
countries is base on 3-D-solution and that is debt, development and
democracy.

It is about time for APRC to shape a good image in our pathway to
sustainable human development. Today our country is engulfed with
numerous developmental crisis such as youth unemployment, poverty, high
population growth, environmental degeneration etc, meeting the
challenges of which requires democractic ethnics as international
conditionality.
BY:-Abdou Karim Sanneh

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