My apologies to all. I forgot to mention that nay editing or additions to
this letter are welcome. For instance, I think we should address it to the
Senegalese public also.I also think we should send a copy to Amnesty
International headquarters, as well as to their Gambia Desk officer, and to
various newspapers in Senegal and the sub-region. Please give your comments
on that. I am sure the editing and additions can be done without affecting
any signatures that have already been added. Thanks.Text is below, so feel
free. I am also urging those people in Gambia to please take the time to add
their signatures.Let us save the lives of these fleeing students, it is the
least we can do.May I also mention that this is rather urgent.

Jabou Joh

<< G-L,

 Here is a copy of a letter I sent to the Senegalese government on behalf of
 the students who have fled to Senegal, and whose repatriation is being sought
 by the regime in Gambia. May I request that Mr Njai put this at the petition
 website, and may I request one and all to please go there and add your
 signature so we can send this out as soon as possible. Thanks to all.

 Jabou Joh

  To: The Government of Senegal.
  From: All Justice loving Gambians .

  Dear President Wade.

  We have been notified that the Gambia government has requested Senegal to
 repatriate the students who have fled into Senegal to save their lives from
 the murderous regime in Gambia that has already killed our  children in cold
 blood, and who are now hunting these students like wild animals.

  We call upon you as a neighbour and as a brother who has the best interest
 of the Gambian people at heart, not to turn our students over to this regime
 who will probably turture and murder them. Some of the students who have been
 detained by the Gambia Security forces have not been charged or allowed
 visits with their families, and the whereabouts of some of these students in
 the hands of the security forces have not been made known to the public or
 their families, even though the government has said that they will conduct a
 thorough and fair investigation. Time and experience has shown us that we
 cannot put any trust in the promises given by this regime.

  It is also a general concensus by all sober thinking Gambians, as well as
 all justice loving people the World over,  that the security forces opened
 fire on students when they were exercising their constitutional right to
 demonstrate against what was seen as a gross  miscarriage of justice. Two of
 their fellow students were killed and raped respectively without the
 government making any attempts to bring the culprits to justice, and this was
 the reason for the demonstration . Infact,of the two cases the students were
 protesting , the rape case was not even looked into, and in the murder case,
 the autopsy report was falsified and the perpetrators left to go scot free
 until this tragedy forced them to say that the perpetrators are now in
 custody. Time will tell if this claim is true.

   We implore you in the name of all that binds our two countries together,
 and these are many, from blood relationships  to a timeless common history,
 not to repatriate these students to what could undoubtedly be a dismal end
 for such young lives.

  The atrocity of firing live bullets into a crowd of young demonstartors was
 perpetrated on our country by the government of the day, and yet, the best
 thing they have given the Gambian people is a shameless denial, and a failure
 to face up to the responsibility of inflicting this tragedy on our once
 peaceful and peace loving country.We wish from the bottom of our hearts that
 this regime would remove itself from the backs of the Gambian people once and
 for all.

 Ours is a dictatorship where nothing happens without the blessing of our
 President, and yet, he stood before the Gambian public and pretended that he
 was not responsible for this atrocity. Why then are his enforcers hunting
 down our children in cold blood? This denial and callousness is a nightmare
 that is hovering over the heads of all Gambians the Whole World over. We are
 desolate, and in the grips of nightmares since this terrible inhumane act,
 the likes of which we never envisioned occurring in our country. We implore
 you not to worsen this nightmare for us by repatriating our children to their
 doom.

 From all indications,, it is clear that every attempt is being made to
 inflict even more pain and human rights abuses on these students with this
 endless witch hunt, and the rampant arrest of students all over the country
 since this tragedy unfolded.

  We implore you in the name of Allah almighty, as a brother and a neighbour,
 to make every attempt to save the lives of these poor Gambian students by not
 only refraining from  repatriating them, but also to do everything in your
 power to ensure their safety in Senegal.We put you in charge of their lives
 with the confidence that this trust will not be betrayed. Thank you.

  Sincerely,

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