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Subject:
From:
Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 18 Apr 2000 19:56:03 EDT
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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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