UDP Delegation Ends US Visit
The Independent (Banjul)
June 25, 2001
Posted to the web June 25, 2001
Banjul
A UDP delegation led by party leader Ousainou Darboe recently ended a
three-week visit to the United States.
A statement from the party says Mr. Darboe and his delegation met and had
fruitful discussions with hundreds of Gambians in America. The party held
rallies in areas with a high concentration of Gambians such as New York
City, Atlanta, Raleigh and the Washington DC area. The delegation said they
left the United States 'with a strong sense of satisfaction that Gambians in
America are gravely concerned over our country’s state of affairs.’
In addition to holding rallies with the Gambian community, the UDP
delegation said they met several top US government officials with whom they
had wide-ranging and fruitful discussions on the political state of affairs
in The Gambia. Among the top US officials they met was the influential New
Jersey Democratic Congressman Donald Payne, who 'pledged to use his good
offices to help the Gambian people in their quest for freedom and democracy
and said he would try to visit the country either before or during the
upcoming presidential elections and would push for the presence of
international election monitors,’ the UDP statement said.
The delegation also met senior staff at the House Committee on Foreign
Relations who, the party says, 'pledged to push for greater scrutiny of the
Jammeh regime and in particular on events leading up to the elections.’
In a letter to Mr. Ousainou Darboe, Congressman William J. Jefferson
affirmed the American government’s commitment to support the democratic
process in The Gambia and elsewhere. The Congressman wrote: 'It is indeed
regrettable that the Gambian Government’s human rights record worsened in
2000 as evidenced in the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human
Rights for the year 2000. Reportedly, the Government continues egregious
violations of constitutionally guaranteed protections and the courts are
subject to executive branch pressure, particularly at the lower levels, and
opposition parties continue to be groundlessly restricted.’ Congressman
Jefferson went on to urge 'respect for the Constitution of The Gambia and
the integrity of process. I support free, fair and transparent elections
witnessed by independent election observers in The Gambia.’ He concluded by
calling for political tolerance and civility on all sides.
'We prepared and submitted to the US government and officials a detailed
brief in which we outlined our concerns regarding the undemocratic conduct
of the Jammeh regime,’ a UDP official told The Independent.
In this brief, a copy of which was sent to The Independent, the UDP details
the arrest, detention, and harassment of its members over the years, the
Basse incident, the killing of student demonstrators by security forces in
April 2000, the Indemnity Act, the recent constitutional amendments, the
sacking of IEC chairman Bishop Tilewa Johnson, the continued presence in the
country’s statute books of military decrees such as the NIA decree 45, press
decrees 70/71 and political bans decree 89, among other things. The
statement called on the United States government and the international
community 'to use all means available to ensure that conditions for free and
fair elections prevail in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for
October 2001.’
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