Well, its about time the international community start
seeing Jammeh for what he really is.  Remember the
letter I got from the Brittish officials which said
that they decided to renew military assistance to the
Gambia because of its peacekeeping efforts in Sierra
Leone, well I guess now the Brits will know that the
real motive behind Jammeh's Sierra Leone efforts, is
far from being a peace keeping one.

--- Sidi M Sanneh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Culled from the Independent Newspaper of 26-28
> December,2000
>
> UN ACCUSES GAMBIA OF EXPORTING "BLOOD" DIAMONDS
> Calls for first-ever international embargo against
> Jammeh regime
>
> The Gambia has been accused by the United Nations of
> exporting "blood"
> diamonds to the international market dealing in the
> commodity. The UN has
> since called for sanctions against The Gambia and
> Liberia the two countries
> mentioned in a damning UN report on the role of
> diamonds in funding
> worsening conflicts in the sub-region and elsewhere
> in Africa.  The report
> catalogues a host of African countries including The
> Gambia as facilitators
> of the trade inb diamonds from conflict zones like
> Sierra Leone whose
> diamond has been banned (except those fromthe Sierra
> Leone government).
>
> The report prepared by a five-man panel was taken to
> the United Nations
> Security Counciul where diplomats had begun drawing
> upmeasures against The
> Gambia andLiberia.  The expert panel established by
> the Security Coucil to
> investigate the link between the illicit diamond
> sales and arms traficking
> called for an "immediate embargo on trade in
> diamonds from the Gambia".
>
> The report indicates that "although the Gambia has
> no diamond mines and no
> reputation as a diamond-dealing nation, it has
> become a significant
> exporter,with most of the gems believed to be
> obtainable in Sierra Leone".
> If the embargo against The Gambia is enforced it
> will be the first
> internatiuonal move against the six-year old
> government.
>
> Meanwhile, according to the GRTS the Secretary of
> State for Finance and
> Economic Affairs Famara Jatta and the Secretary of
> State for Trade, Industry
> and Employment Musa Sillah have denied the link
> between The Gambia and the
> export of diamonds.  The GRTS quoted them,as saying
> that the country's
> export review does not recveal any export of
> diamonds.  The state officials
> reportedly told GRTS that statistics in the UN
> report may have come from
> countries where diamonds are sold.  "It would
> therefore be unfair for the
> United Nations to impose any form of embargo on The
> Gambia" one of them was
> quoted as emphasising.
>
> Although no report has been made yet concerning
> arrests of individuals
> connected with trafficking of diamonds across the
> Gambian border, there has
> been international suspicion that The Gambia was
> candestinely involved in
> the export of what has now been condemned as "blood"
> diamonds,the source of
> which was undisclosed at the time.
>
> Meanwhile, bolstered by the scathing UN report,the
> United States and Britain
> are said to be considering sanctions on Liberia's
> diamond exports and
> aircraft because of what CNN and Reuters News Agency
>  say is its
> "gems-for-guns" trade with RUF rebels in Sierra
> Leone.
>
> The report also blames Burkina Faso for "playing a
> major role in smuggling
> banned arms to the RUF" and suggested that the UN
> investigate the country's
> last five years of weapons traffic. It also
> recommends that the
> tradingactivities of several African nations
> bemonitored.  Ghana, Mali and
> Namibia are among six African countries making up
> the UN "watch list" of
> suspect-countries.
>
> END
>
>
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