Again, I am at a lost about just where PDOIS is coming from. PDOIS is still
bent on undermining the effectiveness of the Briefing Session the Movement
organized. I personally have vowed not to sit by and watch that happen. And
I think that the Movement should also defend its integrity and the integrity
of the Opposition leaders that attended the Briefing at the Movement's
invitation. I am not a member of the Movement because I do not live in
Britain. I wholeheartedly support the Movement because I believe what you
are doing is very noble and patriotic. I also fervently believe that PDOIS
is very hostile towards the Movement  and what the Movement achieved at the
London Briefing. I have read over and over again all of PDOIS' publications
about the Briefing. Frankly, up to today, I cannot explain why PDOIS is
doing what it is doing. Why does PDOIS want to belittle the significance of
the Briefing?

PDOIS should come out plain and name the politicians that said that their
sole purpose for attending the Briefing was because of their concern about
the massacre of April 10 and 11, 2000. PDOIS should name the politicians
that want to make political capital out of the heinous happenings of April
10 and 11, 2000. These are serious allegations that need to be
substantiated. It is not enough to hide behind vague terms like "Some people
are spreading the information that people who attended the London briefing
of a British MP were there because of their concern for the Gambian youths
who were murdered on 10th and 11th April 2000".

Attendees at the Meeting went there to highlight the appalling human rights
record of Yaya and his gang. That appalling human rights record includes the
massacre of children as young as three in broad day light. Up to this day,
the people that perpetrated that heinous act are roaming the streets of
Banjul scot-free. Yes, the participants at the Briefing are concerned about
the plight of the children and their families. That does not however mean
that that concern alone was why people participated at the Briefing. Their
participation at the Briefing also does not mean that people that did not
participate are not concerned about the plight of our children. This
Briefing is bigger than that.

Apart from PDOIS, no one is suggesting that a British parliamentarian can
solve the problems of our students in The Gambia. But is PDOIS going to
discount any support that British Parliamentarian can give to our students?
Why is PDOIS avoiding the issue about the resumption of military aid to the
callous regime we have back home? Why not talk about the real purpose of the
meeting rather than engaging in these silly gimmicks to caricature the
meeting. First the meeting was about Decree 89 and the restoration of
Jawara. When we debunked that myth, then it was about calling for sanctions
(calls that according to Joseph Joof and PDOIS, could learn callers in jail
for treason). Now it is about the April massacre. PDOIS' purpose for
reducing the purport of the Briefing to such characterizations, is all an
attempt to show that the Briefing was not a worthwhile exercise because it
cannot solve the problems it sought to take care of. Well, this is a futile
exercise on PDOIS' part. In the first place, no one touted the British
parliamentarians as the saviors of the Gambian people. We in the Diaspora
are matured enough to understand that pressures from all quarters is what
makes a difference in these kinds of political chaos. It is ridiculous to
believe that PDOIS or any of the political parties back home can on their
own solve of problems. If that was the case, we would not have a thug like
Yaya holding the whole country at ransom all these years. We will appreciate
help from any quarter. We will not endeavor to knock down the noble efforts
of citizens that are trying to contribute their little part to the struggle.
It is very condescending and arrogant for PDOIS to reduce the role of the
Diaspora in this struggle to mere financiers of political parties back home.
We have a larger role to play.

As I said before, PDOIS in taking this combative posture towards the
Movement and its Briefing, is trying very hard to undermine its tremendous
achievements over the years. Through their statements, PDOIS is exposing a
lot of inconsistencies because they are trying to defend the indefensible.
They castigate people for trying to make political capital out of the plight
of our children in the aftermath of the April massacre, and in the same
article they parade all the things they did and are doing for the victims of
the massacre. What political party is trying to seek people's goodwill by
boasting about good things it did? PDOIS appears to castigate politicians
for attending the London Briefing because of those politicians' concern for
the victims of the April massacre and at the same time PDOIS is calling on
all decent Gambians to "ensure concerted effort to see that justice is done
or have the regime exposed and isolated". This does not make sense. What
PDOIS is calling for in the last sentence of their piece, is exactly what
the Movement was trying to do on February 28, 2001. It is illogical for
PDOIS to say what it is saying in the above quoted sentence and then turn
around and accuse people that want to expose Yaya's appalling human rights
record as political opportunists that want to capitalize from the plight of
our children. It is wrong for PDOIS to describe the trip to Britain as "an
act of desperate folly" for the political leaders that traveled to Britain.
These people went to "expose and isolate" the regime. Their trip might not
solve all our problems, but it sure does not hurt the struggle. On the other
hand, PDOIS constant efforts to try and undermine the noble efforts of the
Movement, is what is undermining the struggle.

As an aside I would want to touch on PDOIS' pronouncements about the
students and the quotation from Lumumba. I know it is highly pretentious of
me to attempt to disagree with a heavyweight like Lumumba. But I find solace
in the fact that maybe had Lumumba understood the Gambian context, he would
agree with me that inciting the students in The Gambia  "to defend the
sovereignty of the people" is not the way to go at this stage. The students
did their part on April 10 and 11, 2000, and they were left in the cold by
the political leadership in the country. I regret to say this, but I have to
say that the impotence evinced by the political leadership in the country is
grossly disappointing. Here we have children massacred by government
security forces acting on the orders of a callous dictator. The least the
rest of society can do for the children is to ensure that the people that
were responsible for that heinous crime, face justice. All we got, was our
leaders being hoodwinked into subscribing to the bogus idea that a toothless
commission of inquiry and a coroner's inquest could bring justice to the
victims. It is almost a year after the massacre and we still have the
criminals responsible for the massacre roaming the streets with impunity. It
is wrong to castigate people that are trying to redress this insanity. Yes,
students have the duty to stand up and defend their sovereignty, but that
duty is more incumbent on people that tout themselves as political leaders
and want to be presidents and ministers living on taxpayers' money. If I
were PDOIS, I will not tell the students to defend the sovereignty of our
people unless I was prepared to stand side by side with them and take the
bullets of Yaya's callous security forces. I agree with PDOIS that children
should not be used as tools or fools for the political advantage of grown
men. At this juncture, political leaders and not students should be the
primary defenders of our sovereignty. Those leaders should start by ensuring
that the people that orchestrated the massacre of our children on April 10
and 11, 2000, are brought to justice.

Finally, I conclude by respectfully urging the Movement to revisit its
decision to take the high road and stay mute in the face of these constant
assaults from PDOIS. The Movement has to defend its integrity and the
integrity of the leaders that supported the Movement by attending the London
Briefing. PDOIS must not be allowed to caricature the Briefing and belittle
the participants at the Briefing simply because those people had the
patriotism and foresight it required to go all the way to London and
participate in a Briefing Session that made history and has the potential of
helping us reduce the suffering of our people.
KB



>From: Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: FWD:The April 10th and 11th and The London Meeting
>Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 13:54:49 +0100
>
>The article was culled from Burning Issues (FOROYAA) Publication
>
>****************************
>
>The April 10th and 11th and The London Meeting
>
>Some people are spreading the information that people who attended the
>London briefing of a British MP were there because of their concern for the
>Gambian youths who were murdered on 10th and 11th April 2000. FOROYAA must
>again reiterate that it witnessed what happened on 10th and 11th April. The
>editorial board considers any attempt by any political figure to utilise
>the
>criminal butchery of the young people as political bargaining chip as
>callous insensitive and criminal act.  FOROYAA's stand in battling the
>culture of impunity in matters of justice is well known. The students acted
>without any motivation from any political party.
>
>Very recently, a student was expelled from Gambia College. The student
>leaders became mediators with the administration. When there was an impasse
>the student leaders consulted the student body who agreed to have a sit
>down
>strike until their fellow student was readmitted. The student leaders went
>back to inform the administration of their plans to have sit in strike, the
>administration threatened the intervention of the security forces. The
>student leadership consulted the student body again who indicated that they
>would agree to go and sit at home until the problem was resolved since they
>did not need any violence. Finally, they agreed to solve the problem. The
>students did not need any counselling from any one. They are empowered.
>They
>know that no policemen can save them not to talk about an MP in London. A
>new Gambian student is emerging who cannot be used as a tool by anyone on
>earth.
>
>During the early political days some politicians used to take their phones
>and pretended to be calling the applause of their supporters. Now we have
>politicians claiming that they have solved the human right problem by
>attending a meeting in London. While there is nothing wrong with Gambians
>in
>exile abroad in making a case to put pressure for greater democratisation
>in
>the Gambia, it is an act of desperate folly for Gambian political leaders
>to
>go all the way to London just to take part in a briefing session with a
>British Parliamentarian and his colleagues.
>
>This is an election year. Gambians abroad can best bring about change by
>recognising the growing maturity of Gambian people and their commitment to
>take their destiny into their own hands and give resources to the political
>parties of their choice.
>As for Gambia students, we must say as Lumumba has said that it is your
>duty
>to defend the sovereignty of the people. You must be the embodiment of
>awareness, dignity and self-confidence that know no domination or
>servility.
>You must not be any body's tool or fool you must  ensure that the future of
>the Gambia is determined by your enlightened and free choice.
>
>To the detractors, let us say that FOROYAA's stand on the April 10th and
>11th incidents is quite clear. Sidia was present where the action was
>taking
>place. We opened a hot line to receive and give information. FOROYAA
>reporters witnessed the killings. FOROYAA reporters were among the first to
>testify before the Coroner to confirm the use of life bullets. No other
>journalist of any paper gave evidence.
>
>Parents of the dead children still contact  us for one reason or another.
>We
>hope that political opportunists will at least not try to capitalise on
>this
>issue for cheap political points.
>The murder of the students is a heinous crime. They were above party
>politics. They should be the concern of all human beings.
>All decent Gambians should ensure concerted effort to see that justice is
>done or have the regime exposed and isolated
>
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