Culled from the Independent newspaper.
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During the visit to The Gambia of the Commonwealth Secretary General Don
McKinnon from February 19 to 21, some former politicians held a meeting with
him to discuss their continuous ban from taking active part in politics by
Decree 89 which was introduced in 1995.

Representatives of the Peoples' Progressive Party (PPP), National Convention
Party (NCP) and Gambia Peoples' Party (GPP) attended the meeting, which took
place at the Kairaba Beach Hotel Wednesday.

After the meeting, Omar Jallow (OJ), one of the delegates, said their
discussions with the Secretary General centred on the human rights
conditions in the country and "the state of fear and alien culture" imposed
on the country by the Jammeh regime. He said the three banned parties
decided to come together to contest their "unlawful banning" when he said
none of them was ever brought before a court of law.

Femi Peters, one of those who attended the meeting said the information
given by the government to the Secretary General was not always correct.
"Jammeh never inherited the Sahara Desert but instead there were structures
and institutions in place which gave him the opportunity to overthrow a
democratically-elected government," he remarked.

The three parties also issued a joint statement on their position, which we
reproduce below:

Joint statement by political parties affected by Decree 89

The action of imposing a ban on a category of political personalities as
well as the banning of the Peoples' Progressive Party (PPP), the National
Convention Party (NCP) and The Gambia Peoples' Party (GPP) by the present
AFPRC/APRC regime in power was the subject of consultations between those
affected by the ban and the Commonwealth Secretary General.

It should be recalled that Decrees 89, promulgated by the Armed Forces
Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) excluded all persons who previously
served as ministers of government from 1965 to 22nd July 1994, the date of
the military overthrow of the democratic and civilian regime under the
government formed by the Peoples' Progressive Party.

The objective then, was to provide minimum challenge to the ruling military,
who were determined to hand over to themselves after conducting general
elections in 1996 and 1997.

The self-succession, which was the outcome of those general elections, is
what constitutes the present APRC government with Chairman Jammeh becoming
president and head of state.

Since those elections discriminated against a certain section of political
interest groups of the nation, the international community including the
Commonwealth was quick to react by refusing to accept the elections as free,
fair and transparent. The non-endorsement of the 1996/97 general elections
results has had greater implications for our country's programme for
development and co-operation. Within the context of Decree 89, the APRC
Government is yet to give the justification for the imposed ban on the
politicians and their political parties.

The international community, with the Commonwealth taking the lead has
repeatedly called for the lifting of the ban imposed by Decree 89. Since the
Decree like several others, which were promulgated during military rule are
both, infamous and inconsistent with the constitutional provisions that
guarantee certain basic and fundamental civic rights and liberties of
Gambians. The continued enforcement of this ban is therefore a total
defiance of the call for greater democracy and justice by the Commonwealth,
the United Nations, human rights organisations and progressive governments.
This negative stance is a clear signal that the present government, which is
an offspring of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC), is in
effect paying lip service to democracy and good governance.

It is in view of this deteriorating political environment, that we consider
looking at various options of bringing back on track the process of
democratisation that has been distorted and derailed. It is however our
strong conviction that the Commonwealth should take a lead role in pursuing
whatever option that is recommended for a speedy return to a viable system
of democratic governance. As partners in the development process, the
Gambian people who are bound by history to the Commonwealth and a series of
international legal conventions would not expect an indifferent posture to
the plight of their sufferings. Indeed, the Commonwealth is not expected to
countenance discriminatory laws and inimical military decrees aimed at
oppressing the citizens of any of its member countries. The welfare of
Commonwealth citizens is of fundamental importance to the organisation and
we have witnessed various actions against Apartheid South Africa, Rhodesia
(Zimbabwe) and most recently against military oppression on some
Commonwealth members countries in West Africa and Asia. The Commonwealth is
right to stand firm against dictators and tyrants who through oppressive
decrees and legislation continue to subjugate their own defenseless
citizens.

The governments of Commonwealth member countries should therefore strive to
promote the welfare of their citizens rather than seeking ways and means of
propagating oppression through discrimination and exclusion as is currently
happening in The Gambia. The independence and sovereignty of a country
depends a lot on the status of the citizens of that particular state and it
is our view that where a government seeks to hide behind such concepts as
"national sovereignty," "principle of non-interference" in the affairs of an
independent and sovereign state inorder to perpetrate the most repressive
actions and crimes against its nationals, the community of free nations have
the same right and obligation to act in defence of those being oppressed. It
is in this spirit that we are calling on the Commonwealth to take concrete
action on the AFRPC/APRC government so that freedom, justice and fair play
can be fully restored in our political relationship.

We urge the Secretary General and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group
(CMAG) to take a critical look at the persistent attempts of the present
APRC government to suppress the concept of political pluralism and the
exclusion of key personalities who have always been in the forefront of
party politics in The Gambia.




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