Hi everyone:
 
It is simply mind boggling that Gambia’s government would send a letter of 
protest to the UN concerning the travel ban imposed on BaaBaa ‘black sheep’ 
Jobe by the UN Security Council. Furthermore, the fact that this letter came 
from the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was signed by Dr. 
Sedat Jobe is ample evidence that this man has compromised every single ounce 
of integrity which he once had for the sake of a job with the present regime. 
Terms like ‘intellectual prostitute,’ and names like ‘vermin’ are 
definitely not far fetched when used to describe this man.
 
The content of the letter itself is complete garbage and it's recipients 
should immediately crumple it and place in the garbage bin where it 
rightfully belongs.  In the letter, the government harps that following the 
report on the blood diamond trade, which implicated BaaBaa as a participant 
in this business responsible for a mind boggling amount of human suffering 
and wretchedness in the sub-region, a letter was sent to the Security Council 
inviting the UN investigators to visit The Gambia to do more investigating 
but no response was forthcoming. 

What did the shortsighted idiots expect?  How much investigating did the UN 
investigators need to do when all the evidence needed to implicate these 
murderers and ‘profiteers of human misery’ could be easily unearthed by 
following paper trails and also by carrying out investigations in countries 
like Sierra Leone and Liberia where the diamonds originate from?  Simply put, 
it is absolutely ludicrous that the government would expect that a visit to 
Banjul would unearth evidence to prove the innocence of BaaBaa after an 
exhaustive investigation had already been carried out by the UN investigators!

The letter goes on to further state that the government is surprised that 
BaaBaa's passport number nor date of birth was included in the report, as was 
the case with the other implicated persons.  Again, the government is playing 
ignorant here when this is obviously not the case.  This man is a well known 
terrorist who many Gambians, myself included, did not know prior to the 
ascent of the APRC regimes.  As in the case of most international terrorists, 
his background and identity are extremely shady. Birth dates, places of 
births and passport and numbers are subjective with these types of people, 
and those who compiled the final report concerning this issue were probably 
wise in not trying to pigeonhole him with a particular identity.  After all, 
what sense would it make to use a passport number in an attempt to identify 
an Abu Nidal or Bin Laden?!  A physical description of these types of folk 
would suffice and I am sure a picture of BaaBaa is at the immigration desk of 
most international airports.  

Though most will acknowledge that this report is truly a farce, the most 
laughable part of this letter is the section which claims that the UN Sec 
Council is undemocratic one.  Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!  
Mind you, this is a regime which has, up to this point, violated every 
democratic fundamental known to man.  The violations are so numerous it would 
perhaps be a futile exercise to try to list them here, but we all know the 
deal concerning these so no need to elaborate.  In an attempt to give 
themselves credence, the letter gives examples of pacts and treaties which 
the government signed.  But the UN, by now, should be well aware that being a 
participant in regional initiatives does not make absolve a country or regime 
of violations of democratic principles, such as the ones the APRC has been 
involved in over the past seven years.  

To conclude, I would like to say that this government has committed a serious 
error with this protest letter simply because it was further gravely tarnish 
their image in the eyes of the respectable international community.  Instead, 
of just making a request for the evidence for the travel ban, they 
alternatively chose to portray this man as an upstanding member of Gambian 
society as well as part and parcel of this regime.  This will simply hurt the 
regime and I can just imagine the esteemed persons on the security council 
licking their chops and even further scrutinizing this regime.  It surely 
will not enhance the reputation of this so-called swashbuckling swordsman who 
so amused the UN the last time he was in NY.

In regard to the implications this ban will have, I believe that the Gambian 
people need be thankful to the UN Security Council for 'shackling' this 
international terrorist.  I also believe that many different spins can be 
placed on this latest development.  For a lack of time, I shall hopefully 
tackle these topics over the weekend and maybe a post will be forthcoming by 
midweek.

Yus   

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