Friends, I´ve been out of the list since august and till one month ago. Back I´m so sad about the latest news from the Gambia. I´m sorry to say that this is something I expected could happen sooner or later. The lack of discipline (several cases are reported on this Gambia-L) specially from authorities sends "signals" through the society, that people in power can do whatever they like, even take justice in their own hands, and nothing happens to them. From the top of the society signals spreads that the strongest has the right, the uniform/the weapon speaks. They have misunderstood their mission, they are there in the interest of the people, to help and serve the people, not to oppress. I was shocked when I got the information from our homeland Monday, and started to call one of my friends, who I knew as a unionleader and active student at GTTI, so I also expected him to be on the frontline. But first Thursday I got life-signals and information. Due to my job I have been out of list-contact from Tuesday morning until this morning, and running through hundreds of letters took time. The information given by Mr. Tombong Saidy is the closest to the "facts" I got from my friend . My friend told me that things ran out of control and suddenly there were burnings of firestation, policestation, bank and other business-buildings, but he told me Thursday that it was not ordered or inspired from the official student leaders. It shows me, that the "hatred" is now coming to the surface of the Gambian society. It is my own observation that the poorest are becoming poorer and the richest are becoming richer. More and more families are depending on you and help from outside just to survive the daily living costs. Few young people are becoming aggressive and violent. They like many youth want to address their anger, and I felt when I visited The Gambia in December, that many blame the President and his party, the politicians, that their daily life is so harsh. The confrontation all over the country this week was a signal that I do hope the administration and the politicians learn from. I ´m so sad that lives were taken, I pray for their souls to rest in peace, and send my condolences to all families, now we have the names. I think that all the steps taken to demonstrate world-wide should continue. I will ask the Gambian representative in Copenhagen Mr. Specht, what he knows and will do. (He is also manager in Spies company). And I do hope that international journalist and top-lawyers can be send to the Gambia to investigate. In Copenhagen some years back the police fired against a violent demonstration and the cover up from the head of police-department, the ministry of justice was very very difficult to break through. Only by good help of journalists, and heavy pressure from the public kept the investigation running, and led to dismissal of top ranking persons in police-force, the ministry and even the government. But I feel that even so we never got the truth. Let´s hope that the truth and justice will happen in The Gambia, let´s get all information, let justice be heard. We owe that to the young people who did the ultimate protest - they offered their lives. With anger and grief Asbjørn Nordam ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------