To be or not to be,this is the question! (William Shakespear); "  unite 
or perish "(Mr. Sallah); ".. unite and be colonized "(President 
Dr.YAJJ...).

  While the idea of a United Africa may be fantastic, it is unrealistic 
under our current state of affairs. To think that  a United State of 
Africa (3000 by 3000 miles, 50 countries, superimposed over 1000 nations 
-ethnic/religious/cultural groups) can be achieved where a country  like 
TheGambia (15 by 300  miles 10 ethnic groups) failed to materialize 
suggests our experts leading the show are either naive or dishonest. 
Even more mind buggling is to believe that this generation of Africa's 
leaders (majority coupists/President for life) will over time listen to 
Addis Abeba.

Maybe my cousin in Sare Mankamang Kunda should be told to ignore these 
so called debates for now.


Malanding Jaiteh



Halifa Reacts to Jammeh's View on the Formation of a Continental Govt.
Monday 30th July 2007

Following President Dr. Alhagie Yahya Jammeh's contention on the 
formation of an African union government in an interview
he granted GRTS recently, Mr. Halifa Sallah, a former Gambian 
parliamentarian in the Pan-African parliament, a bigwig in the 
opposition camp,
has given his reaction to Jammeh's assessment of the issue.

Speaking at a press conference last week, Mr Sallah described the just 
concluded African Summit in Ghana as a success, adding that the objective
of the summit was to engender a grand debate on the feasibility of 
establishing an African Union government and founding a United States of 
Africa.

According to Mr. Sallah, The Gambia had a study prepared in May 2006 
entitled, "Study on an African Union government: Towards a United States 
of Africa,"
and that it was the duty of the APRC government to review the document, 
adopt a position and present it in Ghana.

A government, he went on, has no moral authority to criticise a proposal 
that it considers to be more viable, adding that a head of state could 
even give
reasons why a union government and a United States of Africa are 
unachievable.

"If The Gambia government does not have a position paper, it should set 
up a multi disciplinary force to formulate one before the next AU 
Summit, otherwise it would be left behind.

"African unity is an idea whose time has come. We must unite or perish 
individually. This was true yesterday but it is more so today than ever 
before,
" he said, adding that even President Jammeh acknowledges that African 
leaders are not given the importance they deserve.

He recollected Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's avowed belief that no African micro 
state had a future outside of a United States of Africa.

On issues regarding NEPAD, Halifa said the document deals with general 
concepts and contains valuable ideas, which could form a subject
for brainstorming on Africa's problems. "What they are discovering is 
that NEPAD contains pledges and not programmes. What is significant is 
how to transform the pledges into programmes," he noted.

He went on to add that this requires a comprehensive study of the 
development needs of all African countries and the identification of 
areas of complementarily
 which requires continental programmes and projects to facilitate 
development.

"There is no need to write NEPAD off. What is needed is its 
restructuring and reorientation so that it will be under the assembly 
and commission rather than a special group of heads of state," he concluded.

It could be recalled that in a television interview occasioned by the 
13th anniversary of the July 22nd Revolution, President Jammeh lamented 
what
he called the marginalisation of African leaders. He in the same vein 
dismissed the AU Summit in Accra, describing any hopes of forming an 
African
union government as a forlorn hope and an insult to Africa. He also 
questioned the viability of the Africa Peer Review mechanism.



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	The case of where love has gone?
Date: 	Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:00:37 -0400
From: 	Malanding Jaiteh <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: 	The Gambia and related-issues mailing list 
<[log in to unmask]>
To: 	[log in to unmask]



FYI


Malanding

Courtesy of thepoint.gm


Jammeh Negatives African Union Government
Wednesday 25th July 2007

The president of the republic of The Gambia, Dr. Alhagi Yahya A.J.J. 
Jammeh, has reiterated his total opposition to the efforts of some 
African leaders to form a continental government, describing it as a 
joke and an insult to Africa.


Speaking in a television interview over the weekend, President Jammeh 
said that there could only be a union government when one is independent.

"How many countries in Africa are really independent today? We cannot 
have a United States of Africa when people cannot move from one country 
to the other," he asserted, adding the policies of those calling for the 
integration are all anti-African.

According to President Jammeh, Africa's problem is not about creating a 
union government but to bring about unity and solve the common problems 
that constitute a real fix for every African. The problems, he went on, 
are poverty, disease and violence.

The Gambian leader noted that there could not be a union government when 
some members of the African Union are members of the Arab League, a 
situation which, he opined, might lead to problems when a union 
government is put in place.

"Why don't we put up our resources together to create a fund where we 
will be free from the IMF and the World Bank so that we have an African 
Monetary Fund where all African countries can benefit," Jammeh queried.

Africa, President Jammeh added, needs real unity where the problem of 
one country becomes the problem of all others. "Somebody wants to be an 
emperor for Africa but one thing is very clear. Gambia will not be 
colonized twice," he noted.

He was however quick to add that such a government could never be 
brought about by the heads but that it has to be engineered by the 
people at the grassroots level.

He noted that this is only possible if the people know each other, 
relate and interact freely as Africans.

Turning to the West, President Jammeh said instead of putting an end to 
Africa's wars, the G8 saw a golden opportunity to fuel wars in Africa by 
saying that African leaders must judge each other. "In their peer review 
mechanism in the West, are there the same violations of human rights?" 
he queried.

The Gambian leader concluded by charging that Africans and Asians are 
being killed on a daily basis and no investigation is carried out just 
because they are black or brown and not Europeans.



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