Gambia-L: I was telling a Senegalese friend of mine the other day that in the wake of their victory, they still need to be more vigilant; no sleeping, no dozing off! It is usually at the height of our excitement that the thief comes in to steal our conscience. I have few comments on some of the issues mentioned in this forum. Amensty Inernational The Gambia branch of Amnesty International was formed in September 1992. Since then its membership has grown all the way to Tujereng, not without much effort. I was surprised to know that Tombong Saidy is a board member of this organization. While Amnesty does not discriminate against anybody for his political or other beliefs, it looks rather odd that Tombong will belong to an organization whose objectives are, inter alia, to: * Free all prisoners of conscience detained anywhere for their beliefs or because of their ethnic origin, sex, colour or language -- who have not used or advocated violence; * Ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners; * Abolish the death penalty, torture and other cruel treatment of prisoners; * End extrajudicial executions and “disappearances.” The present government is guilty of all the above. As the unofficial mouthpiece and ardent defender of the APRC government it would be unethical for Tombong to continue his membership with Amnesty International. For further information about Amnesty International (Gambia) you may reach them at (220)494140. Radio Liberté? I think it would be a good idea to have a radio station air the concerns of Gambians regarding the abuse of power by the APRC government. However, I doubt if any African country, Senegal the least, will want to be the host of such a station. The new leadership in Senegal may not want to ask for more trouble by openly challenging President Jammeh to hostilities. The Casamance is already too hot a cake to handle. The traditional cat and mouse game between the two countries should be stopped. And I believe Wade's pan-africanist sentiments will make him think twice about this. In my opinion, the only solution is to continue demanding for a free press and mass media tools that are equally accessible to all Gambians. When Baboucarr Gueye's Citizen FM was arbitrarily closed down we vented our anger here and there and let the issue slide into history. If the political parties and all of us do not act now, the next victim will be Radio 1 FM. Intellectuals/Intelligentia This is the mouthful word that we spit out sometimes to express our disgust. This is the most volatile and malleable class of African societies. When small semi-literate boys pick up guns and take over power its the intellectuals that jump in to write their verbose and deceitful decrees; when a corrupt civilian government wants to perpetuate itself in authority they doctor the constitution to the effect; when it's time to cry foul against injustice they hide behind their doors in offices and academic institutions and let the "boys" do the talk. No doubt that the Ghanaian Professor Dr. George Ayittey called them "prostitutes" in his book "Africa in Chaos", (excuse my language). Most of us are aware that there are Gambian intellectuals lecturing in high academic institutions in the West and who are currently peeping in Gambia-L, but with the notable exception of Dr. Abdoulaye Saine and one or two others, all of them are drowned in their academic pride to participate in this forum while we are facing a national tragedy. Some would wait for us to talk the talk and walk the walk then they will publish some high sounding research article to add some weight to their resumé. Folks, there should be no room for complacency or naiveté. Let's not imagine that President Jammeh and his government will just get up and pack. It's through pressure, pressure and pressure that the APRC government will crumble at our feet. It may afterall be Dr. Katim Touray's version of the stick. Hamadi. ______________________________________________________ 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------