Students' Plight Enters Sixth Month, Ambassador Under Fire




The Independent (Banjul)

September 7, 2001
Posted to the web September 7, 2001

Banjul, the Gambia

Fifteen Gambians still stranded in Sudan following a problem between the
Sudanese government and West African students in the International
University of Africa have again sought to attract government attention to
their plight which they said is getting harsh and more unbearable daily.

They have since blamed Mangum Ceesay the Gambia's ambassador to Saudi Arabia
for dashing their hope to return home after he allegedly reneged on his
promise to secure plane tickets for them. Nine students said to be stranded
there are identified as Lamin Drammeh, Mohammed Lamin Kujabi, Kalifa Darboe,
Foday Sonko, Sering Jobe, Yahya Ceesay, Alasana Kanyi Salmata Jallow,
Fatmata Nyang and a two-year-old child.




The luckless Gambians who said they are being accommodated in a non-hygienic
part of a town many kilometres from the Capital Khartoum, said they were
assured by The Gambia's ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mangum Ceesay who had
visited them in July to learn firsthand about their strenuous life in Sudan
bereft of proper food or shelter. They said he had promised to evacuate them
within a few days of leaving but reneged on his promise.

They said as a result they have been thrown into a protracted period of
uncertainty as Mangum was quoted as telling them that he had never made any
promise to them. They said after three telephone calls to Mr. Ceesay
reminding him of his promise to send them air tickets without delay the
Gambian ambassador to Saudi Arabia had caused much disappointment to them.
"Every time he came up with a different story and lastly denied having
promised us anything. We are Gambians with full citizenship rights and so if
we are in problems it is the responsibility of our government to save us"
they wrote to The Independent.

"Other governments have already helped their students by sending them
special planes or air tickets like the Senegalese and Malians" they noted.

Meanwhile the students who have since abandoned classes as result of the
crisis explained that since their hold-up in Sudan in March 2001 the only
story to tell has been one of hunger, anger and frustration over the way
they are being treated, left on their own without any help. They said some
of them are already contracting illnesses caused because of living in an
unhealthy environment.

They said they along with some few Burkinabes and Guineans are the only ones
left stranded since other nationals have been evacuated in the first few
months of the crisis which began when West African students of the
International University of Africa clashed with the Sudanese security
personnel over what was described as the racially-motivated treatment of one
West African student.

Despite the lack of response from the government to calls for their
evacuation the stranded Gambian students said they still trust that the
government, has the ability to save them from further problem. Meanwhile two
other students were also stranded in Bangladesh as a result of a situation
whose details were still sketchy as we went to press.




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