Almost a month after emerging from a flawed and tainted election , the list
of nations  that have congratulated Yahya Jammeh remains limited and
unimpressive. From the government's own account it has been Senegal, Bissau ,
Libya and Taiwan. In a bid to get around this remarkably embarassing
circumstance, they have foolishly tried to pad the list of congratulations
with people like the preisdent of the Gambia college students, an NGO head
and the Gambian ambassador to Seirra Leone! This for a government who sent
every nation a presidential congratulation for everything short of  a bake
sale.From Grenada to to New Zealand Yahya has effusively issued a statement
of congratulation  almost weekly trying to cultivate legitimacy . The only
reason he does it  is the fervent hope for reciprocation . Well it is not
forthcoming and it is unlikely to because most self respecting nations know
and scrupulously adhere to the notion that true legitimacy comes from the
governed and must be honestly earned through an unsullied mandate. That is
why the EU, US, UK , UN or regional groupings such as ECOWAS or the
governements of Nigeria , Ghana and many more have withheld congratulations.
For the US, the section 504 sanctions Yahyas regime is under is unlikely to
change under the circumstances because it partly requires the State
department to certify that Gambia's government was legally elected in a free
and fair manner .The United Kingdom has a similar approach. Even if there is
an eventual statement , I do not expect it to be a declaratory policy shift.
Yahya Jammeh's government would remain in the diplomatic leper colony it
deservedly finds itself  in today. These important governments are not about
to do business with a brutal tyranical regime that is formenting civil strife
and embarking on destroying the fabric of our society.
       You can expect the Jammeh regime to employ all the amateurish
diplomacy they can muster to wiggle their way out of a tight diplomatic box
because they are sitting on an empty treasury, a collapsing economy with
liitle or no prospect for further grants or aid flows. The financial spigot
from Taiwan has dried up and Momarr Ghadaffi can't do a darn thing either.
They will try to cook the books a bit and print some more increasingly
worthless Dalasis. That would not do them any good because it would just
drive the nation closer to destitution . As the Mandinka saying goes"
presitent seizures are not an antidote to death". They are also facing  a
potential tinderbox of tens of thousands of young people that the economy
cannot provide for  who face and will continue to  experience extreme
difficulty. Even the misguided ones who ran high on the cash injected in the
campaign season and voted for these criminals will quickly settle into the
grim reality of  a bad and isolated government who has destroyed the nation's
livelihood. Lies and empty promises have a way to catch up to both
perpetrators and the gullible. Yahya and his people simply will not be able
to solve the very grave problems the nation faces.
Karamba

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>