Dear Mr.Jagne,
I am thrilled at your derivatives if that is my exact sentiment summased.
I saw the tapes on the Sierra Leone war.The whole scenery left me numb
perplexed and teary just like that tape CRY FREEDOM. Indeed the modern
African child has the right to sob.
In my search for why, i ask some friends why diamonds are so expensive as
oppose to human lives.
But for the arrangement of the carbon atoms it is graphite at its very
best.This i believe is the stuff found in charcoal.
You will thing that the lives of our children will mean more.
I am sure they do.But it is very hard to explain this even to oneself
especially to the future.
Mr Jammehs trip to Sierra Leon could be very hard to explain as a
humantarian jesture given this complex.
After the fact what is a couple of thousand Leones to a child handicapped by
adult miscommunication....hardly anything.
Could this and other atrocities been avioded only God knows, what we know as
surviviors is that we can prevent such gross mistakes by
learning to compromise and work as brothers in opposition, for the common
good.
I do believe that the common losses we all assume in the end of a war is our
biggest opponent to tarkle.What i am trying to say is
we should one and all picture this kind of results and collectively
fight our personal urges to fight and do it in our power to make
peace.
I do commend this jesture by the un.Whilest the united nations is
in some very real respects our only hope in some national matters
they cannot due to certain consraints always bail us out.
I do believe that it is not too much for a people to ask that
their representatives be urthentic and to a certain degree give them their
basic human rights in exchange for the recognition of being
their representatives.
Dont some of us think that the whole group should be made aware
of the transactions done in their name?
How is it possible in such a tiny nation that we drop so deep in dept and
not a single soul can account for the loan collected there in?
How can there be such a high degree of human rights violations side by side
with this degree of public silence?
You will think that the uthenticity of our leader will be determined by us
as a nation.Will the united nations in all fairness assist in a free and
fair election in THE Gambia,one of the smallest African
nations? Or will they accept anyone who show up? Will Yaya Jammeh
graciously allow international observers in a free and fair election?
I think that real bravery is allowing justice to prevail.
Yaya had, coupled with four other Gambians what it took to overthrow
an overwhelmingly elected leader,he has the heart to unleased life bullets
at his younger brothers ,to imprison his friends,put in
jeoapady his comrades life but what remains to be seen is his courage to
face himself and let the majority of Gambians determine their own
destiny.But the uncertainties of such a daring move given what went down in
the last six years maybe too frightening even for the 'invisible soldier'!
Not only has "His Invisiblity" constantly cut off electricity and raise the
price the record highest in the world,now does he
see to it that we cannot talk on the phone by messing with the wires?
Everyone almost thought that Gamtel will be spared.


                                     karl



>From: Sigga jagne <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: FWD: UN accuses Gambia of Exporting"blood"diamonds
>Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2000 16:56:51 -0800
>
>Well, its about time the international community start
>seeing Jammeh for what he really is.  Remember the
>letter I got from the Brittish officials which said
>that they decided to renew military assistance to the
>Gambia because of its peacekeeping efforts in Sierra
>Leone, well I guess now the Brits will know that the
>real motive behind Jammeh's Sierra Leone efforts, is
>far from being a peace keeping one.
>
>--- Sidi M Sanneh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Culled from the Independent Newspaper of 26-28
> > December,2000
> >
> > UN ACCUSES GAMBIA OF EXPORTING "BLOOD" DIAMONDS
> > Calls for first-ever international embargo against
> > Jammeh regime
> >
> > The Gambia has been accused by the United Nations of
> > exporting "blood"
> > diamonds to the international market dealing in the
> > commodity. The UN has
> > since called for sanctions against The Gambia and
> > Liberia the two countries
> > mentioned in a damning UN report on the role of
> > diamonds in funding
> > worsening conflicts in the sub-region and elsewhere
> > in Africa.  The report
> > catalogues a host of African countries including The
> > Gambia as facilitators
> > of the trade inb diamonds from conflict zones like
> > Sierra Leone whose
> > diamond has been banned (except those fromthe Sierra
> > Leone government).
> >
> > The report prepared by a five-man panel was taken to
> > the United Nations
> > Security Counciul where diplomats had begun drawing
> > upmeasures against The
> > Gambia andLiberia.  The expert panel established by
> > the Security Coucil to
> > investigate the link between the illicit diamond
> > sales and arms traficking
> > called for an "immediate embargo on trade in
> > diamonds from the Gambia".
> >
> > The report indicates that "although the Gambia has
> > no diamond mines and no
> > reputation as a diamond-dealing nation, it has
> > become a significant
> > exporter,with most of the gems believed to be
> > obtainable in Sierra Leone".
> > If the embargo against The Gambia is enforced it
> > will be the first
> > internatiuonal move against the six-year old
> > government.
> >
> > Meanwhile, according to the GRTS the Secretary of
> > State for Finance and
> > Economic Affairs Famara Jatta and the Secretary of
> > State for Trade, Industry
> > and Employment Musa Sillah have denied the link
> > between The Gambia and the
> > export of diamonds.  The GRTS quoted them,as saying
> > that the country's
> > export review does not recveal any export of
> > diamonds.  The state officials
> > reportedly told GRTS that statistics in the UN
> > report may have come from
> > countries where diamonds are sold.  "It would
> > therefore be unfair for the
> > United Nations to impose any form of embargo on The
> > Gambia" one of them was
> > quoted as emphasising.
> >
> > Although no report has been made yet concerning
> > arrests of individuals
> > connected with trafficking of diamonds across the
> > Gambian border, there has
> > been international suspicion that The Gambia was
> > candestinely involved in
> > the export of what has now been condemned as "blood"
> > diamonds,the source of
> > which was undisclosed at the time.
> >
> > Meanwhile, bolstered by the scathing UN report,the
> > United States and Britain
> > are said to be considering sanctions on Liberia's
> > diamond exports and
> > aircraft because of what CNN and Reuters News Agency
> >  say is its
> > "gems-for-guns" trade with RUF rebels in Sierra
> > Leone.
> >
> > The report also blames Burkina Faso for "playing a
> > major role in smuggling
> > banned arms to the RUF" and suggested that the UN
> > investigate the country's
> > last five years of weapons traffic. It also
> > recommends that the
> > tradingactivities of several African nations
> > bemonitored.  Ghana, Mali and
> > Namibia are among six African countries making up
> > the UN "watch list" of
> > suspect-countries.
> >
> > END
> >
> >
>_________________________________________________________________________
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>
>                        ALSO
>
>"NOTHING IS UNACHIEVABLE, THE ONLY QUESTION IS, WHETHER ONE IS WILLING TO
>DO WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE WHAT IS DESIRED"
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