Halifa, I would first of all like to apologize for the tardiness of my reponse to the second question your posed. Also I read your last commentaries on my first rejoinder; I was tempted to make comments but decided to proceed to the next topic hoping to generate more issues and substance to our discussions. Your second question posed two moral structures-duty and responsibility, with respect to the Senegalese government and the Gambian people respectively. Duty is act-oriented, and is consumated at execution. So does Senegal have a moral duty to promote and instigate the "SOPI" philosophy in the Gambia...? I will sure answer in the affirmative- a very strong yes. This will be justified by the moral suasion of humanitarianism and the "law of neighbourhood", professed in 18th century diplomatic history by the English statesman Edmund Burke. Burke's arguments were based on a prospective legal concept of "damnum nondum factum" , that is a damage justly aprehended, but not actually done. This concept is applicable in civil law between individuals. In international society where there is no judge, the vicinage of two neighbouring countries itself is the natural judge. Burke further argued that what in civil society is a ground for action, in international politics it is a ground for war. Burke concluded that the choice to act is a matter of moral prudence. Again the concept of humanitarian intervention can be traced to to J. S. Mill's argument that states have not only a duty but a right to intervene in the affairs of another government to prevent tyranny and systematic abuse of human rights of citizens. To Mill again the legitimacy of a government and its right to rule can be challenged because of its non-representative character: because it was imposed rather than willingly accepted by the citizens. Now international law consists of not only treaties and convenants, but also diplomatic traditions and preponderant political/moral suasion. Although states have sovereign rights, the human rights of the citizens in a state are sacrosanct and infact transcends sovereign rights in contemporary international politics. Burke's and Mill's arguments have withstood the test of time and practice- they manifested in the US invasion of Panama, Haiti, the Senegalese intervention in the Gambia in 1981, Nato in Kosovo and even your Socialist colleague Julius Nyerere's intervention in Uganda during Idi Amin's tyranny. So Senegal's does have a moral obligation being a neighbour and an impeccable democracy to promote change in the Gambia. The current Gambia is a garrison state, with a brutalitarian regime that turns its own weapons and security forces on unarmed school children, even slaying a Senegalese toddler. This is an established fact. Again the Gambia government is engaged in an illegal and immoral enterprise of encouraging instability in Southern Senegal by supplying arms and a sanctuary for the criminal Jola "rebel" groups in Cassamance. I personally have a direct knowledge of this fact and President Wade made an unequivocal statement to that effect. Now to the second part of your question, again I would say yes, the Gambian citizenry does have a responsibility to effect changes in Gambia. Moral responsibility is outcome/result oriented and this is different from a moral duty which is act oriented. It is the moral responsibility of all Gambians to see that the rule of law, respect for human rights/dignity, and justice all prevail in their country. I may even quote the proverbial saying that one can take a horse to river but one cannot force it to drink as a fitting contrast between duties and responsilities. Finally to conclude my answers and respond to your final speculations as to the "status" of the Gambia with respect to Senegal, I would like to state that the outcome of the collective responsibility of all Gambians shall determine any "status" relationship with Senegal or any other country for that matter. Greetings Ebou Jallow ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------