Gassa
You wrote
"I have said it here many times before that I hold
some of the so called victims responsible"
Perhaps you should explain in detail the meaning of
this bizzarre statement. Are you saying you hold the
Late Koro Sisay(R.I.P) responsible for his OWN death.
Are you also saying that you hold the victims of the
April 9/10 Massarce responsible for their own death?
Maybe, it would better if you single out ONE victim
that you regard responsible for his own woes and
explain Why?
We all admit that APRC has done a lot in terms of
development projects, but this cannot be equated with
its present Human Rights Record. This is certainly an
issue which you will not accept. Perhaps, the
situation would be different, if you become a victim
of APRC's Human Rights Record. By the way, I am so
puzzled about your latest posting on the Ombudsman
Report, here I shall stay mute until the report is
published for public consumption. From my observation,
this Ombudsman Report will do little to solve the
gross dismissal of public servants, SINCE such
dismissals are normally made acting upon directives
from the Office of the President. According to the
Ombudsman Act, the Ombudsman cannot investigate into
any act of maladminstration committed by the
President. So the situation is this if you were
supposed to be sacked By President Jammeh or by Gamtel
acting upon orders received by the President, then
this business of resorting to the Ombudsman is
fruitless.
Gassa
With regards to your claim of internet sites at
Government, I still maintain my stance, there are very
very few government departments that can claim access
to such facility. By the way, if a Government
Department cannot claim access to a photocopying
machine, then surely an internet access is just a
luxury. Coming to your comments on the Immigration
Department; lets no joke about the state of the office
equipment at the Immigration Department; no lighting,
poor office furniture, un-hygienic Lavatory, sums up
the whole situation at Leman Street. If Yahya Jammeh
is higly acclaimed for dshing Pajeros, Etc, etc, then
surely the Immigration Department is need of these so
called gifts.
--- Y C Jow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Gassama:
>
> I think you are oversimplifying the matter by using
> a certain group of
> politicians who according to you, politick without
> inciting or being negative
> to buttress your general thrust. What you have done
> here is express your
> disdain for the UDP's method of campaigning and
> politics without really
> saying so or giving examples. You might be better
> served to reinforce your
> theme with examples.
>
> If I may probe deeper into your line of thought by
> using your last
> correspondence relating to this topic as reference,
> we can imply that you
> really blame the UDP and supporters for being
> harassed and in many instances,
> tortured by the govt. forces, NIA etc. But have you
> for one minute, also
> given thought to the fact that in many instances,
> the powers that be violated
> the UDP's constitutional right to gather and
> politick? Did the victims
> deserve the treatment meted out to them in these
> instances? Reports from the
> human right's watchdogs (who BTW have a
> representative in The Gambia),
> clearly state the security forces were in the wrong
> most of the time when UDP
> supporters and party leadership were harassed. We
> have also all read and
> even seen videotaped dispositions by the victims on
> how these men were
> stripped of their clothes and mercilessly tortured.
> In recent weeks, I have
> sent some of these documented cases from Amnesty
> International, where the
> reason for their mistreatment is also explained, to
> the list. In most of
> these documented instances, the only reason these
> men were treatment was
> because of their affiliation with the UDP. How do
> you reconcile your stance
> vis the AI reports of the treatment meted out to
> the UDP?
>
> It is also important to note that other politicians
> have also been abused by
> the regime, albeit to a smaller scale. But a case
> can be made that the only
> reason these parties did not suffer as much as the
> UDP, is simply because the
> size of the parties and thus their smaller support
> base. In essence, the UDP
> is more of a political threat and thus a reason the
> many instances when
> their human rights were violated. In response to
> your statement about them
> responding to a knife at their throats with death
> threats, why does any
> political party have to deal with a "knife at their
> throats" while exercising
> its constitutional right to oppose the sitting
> regime? Is this what you
> would call an even remotely decent democratic
> process? What implications
> does this environment have for political advancement
> or change in The Gambia?
>
> The main reason I think you are oversimplifying is
> because there are many
> other documented cases of horrible violations which
> have noting to do with
> the UDP. Brave members of the press have also had
> their human rights greatly
> violated by the regime. Even members of the foreign
> press have been
> arrested, detained and in some instances deported
> back to their countries of
> origin. The endless violations against members of
> the press were also
> included in the AI report I forwarded here. The
> violations were extensive yet
> you still claim to not recognize the problem. Why?
> In fact, not only has
> the president threatened the press with his "6ft
> deep" warning, but there are
> decrees in place which are aimed at muzzling freedom
> of the press.
>
> What about the many hundreds of school children who
> were either beaten,
> detained and tortured or killed during the ill-fated
> April 10th and 11th
> protests. IMO, this stands as probably the greatest
> atrocity committed
> against the people of The Gambia since independence?
> It took the current
> regime only 5 years to achieve this dubious
> distinction of killing and
> torturing more Gambians in one place than any other
> regime?
>
> One must also take into account both the
> extrajudicial killings as well as
> the detention without trial of purported plotters or
> opponents of the regime.
> Just to mention a few cases, Dumo and others have
> been in jail for what
> seems like an eternity without a solid case against
> them. In the same vein,
> human rights watchdog groups have deplored the state
> of Mile 2 prison where
> most of the political prisoners are being kept.
> Furthermore, both the
> massacre at depot, when a group of young soldiers
> were slaughtered, has been
> explained here by former top officers in the army.
> Both Ebou Jallow and Ebou
> Colley have told us about the deaths of many
> including, Lt. Saye and Korro
> Ceesay. These are extremely disturbing allegations.
>
> The list of human rights abuses is very long,
> disturbing and in some
> instances, very tragic. I cannot even do justice to
> the suffering Gambians
> have experienced at the hands of this regime, but I
> think any decent Gambian
> should at the least accept that wrings have been
> perpetrated by this regime.
> No one deserves to be tortured, killed unduly or
> illegally arrested. I would
> suggest that you and your fellow sycophants come
> clean in accepting the dirty
> record of the sitting regime as it pertains to human
> rights..
>
>
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