Malnding, I hope you had a response from either Pa Njie or one one Yaya's cronies, about the mess that this year's pilgrims found themselves in. Without doubt it's been the most difficult Hajj in recent memory for Gambian pilgrims. It all started when Yaya wanted to gain some political points by controlling the business of Hajj. He started by imposing a fixed tariff of D24000 for the hajj package. This evidently cannot cover the overheads of responsible travel agents who want to provide safe, secure, and comfortable hajj for their clients; hence Banjul travel withdrew from this years Hajj, and advised their clients to choose any other agent of their own liking. Left with little choice, most of the travel agents signed with the millennium company to use Yaya's "suma Abion" as air carrier. This is the "abion" that ebrima's source/s wrote about some months ago. This planes capacity is less than 200 passengers, and it is supposed to airlift more than a 1000 passengers within the time frame of the hajj. Indifferent to the hardship that will be caused to elderly pilgrims, the flights started to arrive in Jeddah some three weeks before the actual Hajj rituals, causing considerable financial difficulties to those who have to stay in here for more than a month. And because of the ceiling he placed on the package, the travel agents had to cut their losses by not providing food for the hajjis as had been the practise. The poor pilgrims had to fend for themselves in very difficult circumstances. Indeed towards the end the hajj, many hadn't a riyal left even for food. His own 200 or so people that were sent for hajj didn't fare much better either. Infact they suffered most than many of the others. They were involved in petty bickering with the organisers about money that Yaya said was to be given to them and which they did not have. Many were left to beg from other pilgrims or from anybody who appears to be sympathetic to their plight. With the hajj now over, there came the scramble to return home as quickly as possible with the next available flight. Apart from its capacity,the "suma abion" flights were also irregular,and the amount of cargo it can take is very strictly limited. Many pilgrims have left without their valued suitcases,and only god knows when ever these will get to Banjul. Millennium company indicated to the pilgrims that they will hire a cargo plane to freight the suitcases; but up today it has not happened, and it is not likely to! This years hajj has been a big financial disaster for most of the agents, and an ordeal for Gambian pilgrims. With all the problems mentioned above, the plight of pilgrims who signed up with Pa Njie's globe is even more tragic. It is alleged that Pa njie paid Yaya's millennium company a cheque that could not be honoured by the banks. Furious at this audacity, it is again alleged that Yaya gave instructions to the effect that " even if they all have to die there, Pa must pay his company before his pilgrims are airlifted out of Jeddah". I can't verify the truth or otherwise of either claim. The fact is that there are still many Gambian pilgrims, including all of globe travel's, that look like they may be stranded in Jeddah for a while. Now in the particular case of your mother and mother in-law, I think it is right that you got worried. Having checked out of their "hotel", it must mean that they will be in an even more difficult position of spending all these waiting days at the Hajj terminal of Jeddah's airport. This is definitely very inconvenient to say the least. I wish your mum and all remaining Gambian pilgrims a safe and speedy return home, but this years hajj had been the most difficult and chaotic for Gambian pilgrims. Whatever Yaya's intention was in meddling in hajj affairs, this one has truly backfired, causing considerable hardship to Gambians once again. --- "Malanding S. Jaiteh" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.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 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------