Well Hamjatta, Jabou and Karamba, do not struggle with your emotions and
principles vis-a-vis the calling for the use of force to defend oneself
against tyranny. I espoused the same views as you did until I saw the havoc
Yaya was wrecking on the Gambian people and the hopelessness of trying to
remove him through free and fair elections. Like I said before, elections
are not won or lost on elections day. Yaya is currently sowing the seeds of
deception. He is rigging the elections right now in broad daylight.
Politicians are forbidden from reaching out to their constituents. So it is
incumbent on all would be participants in this process that is going to
further legitimize Yaya, to make sure that the elections is fought on an
even terrain. I am almost certain that none of the political parties or the
proponents of elections can guarantee that there will be free and fair
elections. Even Bill Clinton (a non-Gambian in America) said that the
previous elections were rigged and that there were no credible signs that
the next one will not be rigged. So why should we sit down and wait for the
inevitable? Even if Yaya wants to pack up and leave and does not personally
want to rig the elections, you have the Baabaa Jobes, Yankuba Tourays and
the Tombongs of this world who are so invested in this regime that they
would rather die in battle than let the government lose an election in The
Gambia. It is high time we wake up to that basic fact. It's not gonna
happen. They would not leave quietly. What happened on April 10 and 11 is by
far more outrageous than what happened to the UDP people. As I understand
it, UDP supporters were ambushed and one of the Yaya supporters got killed.
Compare this with more than 100 casualties (killed, tortured, raped, jailed
etc.). That should have been the final straw in my humble opinion. Having
said that, I still vehemently denounce the violence that was visited on the
UDP entourage. Karamba, you are darn right about the justification of self
defense. It is suicidal to turn the other cheek to the likes of Yaya and his
cohorts. Turning the other cheek and treating these animals like the
civilized folks they are not is one of the major reasons our kids got
massacred on April 10 and 11. I would like to introduce you to another
concept. The first cousin of self defense. Let us try anticipatory self
defense. Under this doctrine, you measure the capabilities of the enemy to
determine the nature of his strike. Preempt that strike by striking him
first and weakening his capabilities. So you defend yourself by anticipating
the strike. You don't wait until he strikes you and then retaliate. There
might be no tomorrow. The same concept was used by the Americans in Libya
and again when they bombed Iraqi nuclear reactors at Osiraq. By now we all
know that Yaya and his cohorts are capable of annihilating the Gambian
people in order to stay in power and just govern the few people in Kanilai.
It would be foolish for us to wait for him to do that before we pounce on
him. We recognize that Yaya must be attacked from all angles and we greatly
appreciate the tremendous job the politicians are doing both abroad and back
home under treacherous conditions. But we join you in cautioning them not to
lie down and let Yaya walk all over them. If the current climate persists,
they should boycott the elections like Toledo recently did in Peru. That
way, rather than further legitimizing Yaya, they would be isolating him and
thus making it easier for us to strike at him. We will use all the means at
our disposal to get rid of that monster so that there will never be another
massacre of innocent school children. Hamjatta, Jabou and Karamba, you are
doing the right thing. These animals do not deserve our mercy. Let us all
join hands and in our little ways continue to pressurize this callous and
tyrannical government.
KB
>From: Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Another act of state terrorism/Jabou
>Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 01:53:35 EDT
>
>Jabou,
> You have read well into the mindset of the dictatorship. Please
>continue
>the good work. Like you, I'm having equal difficulty of reconciling my
>pacifism with trying to see an end to the tyrannous and murderous regime in
>Kaninlai even it is now becoming clear that Jammeh wants war not peace. One
>thing though now clear to me is that, force should not completely be ruled
>out once ample evidence exists that he blatantly rigs the coming general
>election. We must not adopt pacifism at all cost and at all times. When we
>are left with no choice but force, then constructive force should be
>adopted
>by well meaning professionals to rescue our hijacked country.
>Have a good start to the week.
>Hamjatta Kanteh
>
>hkanteh
>
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