Row in Gunjur over aliens registration A serious row between APRC supporters and members of the opposition reportedly erupted in the Gunjur registration centre on Tuesday morning when a large number of people reportedly appeared at the centre wanting to be registered but later identified as non-Gambians by the opposition party agents and some villagers. The row that later led to the early closure of the registration centre inorder to avoid any further trouble, nearly caused a serious confrontation between the APRC supporters and supporters of the opposition. Some villagers explained to The Independent that the group of strange faces who appeared at the registration center could not produce any kind of identification or attestation from five elders as required by the IEC. They said those people also refused to say where they came from and they could not also identify any well known person in and around the village. Therefore, the opposition party agents and some villagers said all of those people should be rejected, but the APRC agent was said to have insisted that they were all Gambians and should be issued with voter cards. As a result, our source said a row eventually ensued, but our sources said all the applicants were rejected when the registering officers at the centre demanded from them the proper qualifications required prior to the issuance of any voters card. However, according to our sources, despite that, the APRC supporters still insisted that they must be registered which led to the early closure of the centre. Meanwhile, following the controversial issuing of identity cards to non- Gambians at the KMC head office during last week, our reporters found another team of immigration officials from Bundung Police station on Wednesday issuing identity cards at Banjulunding just near the Chief's compound, and in the presence of Chief Eric Janneh and other local dignitaries. When our reporters arrived at the scene, they found a long queue of people being issued with identity cards. The immigration officials were seen issuing the cards at random to applicants, most of whom only presented attestation certificates issued by the Alkalo and without being asked any questions by the immigration officials, they were issued with the cards. A lady who claims to come from Lamin and who was issued with an identity card was unable to tell the name of the village Alkalo. Another lady identified as Mariama Sanneh and who was also issued with an identity card told our reporters that she came to The Gambia two years ago from Bignona in Casamance. However while talking to some of those who were issued with identity cards, a young man believed to be a member of the APRC youth wing was over heard advising those people not to talk to anyone who tried to ask them about their nationality because he said journalists were all over the place giving false reports on the issue of identity cards ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------