Reporter Ebou Waggeh conformed to the pathetic and unprofessional journalistic standards of GRTS. While I am not particularly suprised at the obvious slant of his reporting, I am appalled at the outright lies he weaved into his story. Contrary to what he said there was not a single supporter of Yahya Jammeh among the crowd of demonstrators at the UN Plaza. The only time we saw any one professing to be supporters of Yahya was when we were outside the Gambia mission (the staging venue for the ultimate demonstration) and three people drove by waving a poster of the President. They quickly drove off after being roughed up by the police and some of our group. I ran after themto do an interview which would shortly be put up on Gambian .com. Of the three only one willing submitted to questioning and recording with the remaining two using their President's picture to make sure I did not record them with the camcorder. That was it!...We never saw any supporter of the President the rest of the day. Listening to Ebou Waggeh Gambian TV audiences might think they were in the thick of things at the UN Plaza supporting their President. They weren't. He also insinuated in his report that it was the President's very critics at the demonstration that later met him at his hotel thereby portraying this odious tyrant as someone willing to engage his critics. Pure hogwash and this excuse of a journalist was just too eager to jump into bed with this evil man. And whatever happened to 30 minutes worth of interviews given by those demonstrators ? They all found their way to the editing floor and Ebou Waggeh could not even bring himself to atleast characterise their overall sentiments. Even a trained parrot could have said the crowd was angry! On the other hand he went out of his way to embellish the President's meetings with prominent people. The remarks of the two members of congress were measured and careful hardly warm and fuzzy. Neither of the two expressed support for the President or his government and they would never precisely because they are quite familiar with the state of affairs in the Gambia. Members of Congress always get a full briefing about a particular nation prior to either traveling or meeting the leaders. Besides, both Reps Cynthia Mcckinney and Donald Payne have spent their lifetimes fighting injustice. It is unlikely they would be cavorting dictators especially the murderous types. As for Henry Kessinger, well the guy is an international consultant who for the right amount would wrestle an alligator if that is what Yahya is willing to pay for. As for the businessman who wants to look into building a flourmill, well I am all for folks being able to atleast afford good bread. The President is already jockeying to portray the proposed flour mill as his personal achievement for which the nation is personally indebted to him. He told reporters at the airport tarmac that he will soon open a very profitable factory here in the Gambia . He does not have the decency to simply say some American businessman wants to build a flourmill. We will try to arrange a meeting with the two members of congress before the house goes on recess. The purpose of the meeting would be to lobby them on the very grave issues facing Gambia all of which emanates from the brutal regime of Yahya Jammeh. I will inform list members if a meeting is secured to enable folks to sit in on the meetings. Karamba ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------