The Point Published Saturday, 15 April, 2000 We Want Peace, But... The statements by Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy and Interior Secretary Ousman Badjie called for an analysis. In the case of the Secretary for the Interior, his statements over the Radio and the TV are different. According to the Radio Gambia report, Badjie stated that the security forces only used rubber bullets and tear gas. In the interview over the TV, he stated that they used blanc ammunition, tear gas, batons. Now, rubber bullets at close range kill, so the use of rubber bullets could have caused death. Badjie also said intelligence information revealed that armed civilians were within the ranks of the demonstrators. If that was the case, then how many members of the security forces were shot by these people? Better still, were any of the armed men identified or arrested since they were located by intelligence operatives? Now, we would not bother to join the speculation on the suggested identity of such people, which is rampant in town, for want of proof. But we need to know whether the intelligence men, that identified them, just stood by and allowed them to go scot free thereby failing in their real national security responsibility. If that was the case, then those are the real threat to national security, and not the students! If those people were on the scene and located, they should have been the primary concern and focus of the security, and a special group should have been assigned the role to round them up. Our sister, the Vice President said the shooting started from within the demonstrators. In both Badjie's and Njie-Saidy's accounts, the point made seems to indicate that these people were firing at the forces. Mrs. Njie-Sady's account clearly denotes that the shooting started from their end. The question is - was it because these people were firing at them, that the security retaliated using live ammunition in addition to the rubber bullets? And were any gunmen hit, as was the case with several students? Or are we to believe that the gunmen (apparently enemies of the law, as former detainees, as said last night on TV and potential enemies of the state which jailed them) shot at the students while moving among them, and none of the student attempted to run away from them? Or for those shot, were they shot from the back and, if so, what explains the reported frontal injuries suffered by the victims. Is it a case of being between two fires - with the obvious picture for all to visualise. It is an open secret that these two statements and pronoucements did not go down well with the public, as verified in transport vehicles, public gatherings (funerals), markets and mosques surroundings. As we said in our last issue, the failure to avert the tragedy lies squarely on the shoulders of the government, and it has to assume full responsibility for what happened. Hundreds of onloookers saw who did what. The truth must be accepted and said. When a young man is brought to a police station for stealing, his parents bear the brunt of insults and abuses from the police who place the responsibility for such a disposition on their shoulders, although they did not actually commit the felony themselves (No amalgamation please, a constitutional right for demonstration is diffferent from stealing). The same applies in this case - the government is the mother and father of the security forces. If the government, through its agents fails to protect lives, properties and maintain peace and security at one point in time, it must be courageous enough to accept that it is unable to govern; thus it must assume full responsibility for any situation that arises. The need for peace and stability must be understood by government as a sincere effort to address the concerns and aspirations of the people. If concerns are not addressed, if issues are not resolved, and if no apparent moves are made openly to allow everybody and aggrieved parties to see that the principles of good governance and the rule of law are observed, resentment, discord and clashes are bound to happen. In order words, it is the government that should lay the foundation for peace and stability in the first place, by creating the necessary conducive environment. On media objectivity, let us tell our sister and her colleagues that just by associating her in this piece, we are abiding by the requirement for journalistic objectivity. By hinting that a number of people should resign, we did not exclude our sister nor our brother Badjie: meaning that the principles of objectivity were observed. The objectivity of the journalist entails that he/she distances herself from the people or events he/she is observing (people here, are people you normally know and interact with). And we cannot be accused of not having condemned in the most vehement terms the destruction of properties. We re-iterate our call for all responsibilities to be situated through a credible independent enquiry, for, that, and only that, could appease the wounded people. We subscribe to Peace with a capital P, but not to the "Peace by Force" slogan that some of the security forces were heard shouting to the boys and girls. For "peace by force" can only be the best recipe for disruption of the peace, for conflict and instablity! Concerning the abuses "stupid, crazy Deyda" and the death threats, we respond that as documented, in 1994, when it was "hotter" and more dangerous as early as September, we offered our life to The Gambia. The situation is still the same, for as a journalist, we're obliged to place our responsibility to the people above and beyond loyalty to anything else. As for the threats: Yes, a bullet comes with a frightening speed, pierces your skin, enters and explodes in your body's horizontal extremity. Small boys and girls endured it, so why not us? We are no better than them. As for the fire, it is true that it consumes you in a horrible manner. But ....you land in Heaven. So what? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------