UDP Delegation Ends US Visit The Independent (Banjul) June 25, 2001 Posted to the web June 25, 2001 Banjul A UDP delegation led by party leader Ousainou Darboe recently ended a three-week visit to the United States. A statement from the party says Mr. Darboe and his delegation met and had fruitful discussions with hundreds of Gambians in America. The party held rallies in areas with a high concentration of Gambians such as New York City, Atlanta, Raleigh and the Washington DC area. The delegation said they left the United States 'with a strong sense of satisfaction that Gambians in America are gravely concerned over our country’s state of affairs.’ In addition to holding rallies with the Gambian community, the UDP delegation said they met several top US government officials with whom they had wide-ranging and fruitful discussions on the political state of affairs in The Gambia. Among the top US officials they met was the influential New Jersey Democratic Congressman Donald Payne, who 'pledged to use his good offices to help the Gambian people in their quest for freedom and democracy and said he would try to visit the country either before or during the upcoming presidential elections and would push for the presence of international election monitors,’ the UDP statement said. The delegation also met senior staff at the House Committee on Foreign Relations who, the party says, 'pledged to push for greater scrutiny of the Jammeh regime and in particular on events leading up to the elections.’ In a letter to Mr. Ousainou Darboe, Congressman William J. Jefferson affirmed the American government’s commitment to support the democratic process in The Gambia and elsewhere. The Congressman wrote: 'It is indeed regrettable that the Gambian Government’s human rights record worsened in 2000 as evidenced in the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights for the year 2000. Reportedly, the Government continues egregious violations of constitutionally guaranteed protections and the courts are subject to executive branch pressure, particularly at the lower levels, and opposition parties continue to be groundlessly restricted.’ Congressman Jefferson went on to urge 'respect for the Constitution of The Gambia and the integrity of process. I support free, fair and transparent elections witnessed by independent election observers in The Gambia.’ He concluded by calling for political tolerance and civility on all sides. 'We prepared and submitted to the US government and officials a detailed brief in which we outlined our concerns regarding the undemocratic conduct of the Jammeh regime,’ a UDP official told The Independent. In this brief, a copy of which was sent to The Independent, the UDP details the arrest, detention, and harassment of its members over the years, the Basse incident, the killing of student demonstrators by security forces in April 2000, the Indemnity Act, the recent constitutional amendments, the sacking of IEC chairman Bishop Tilewa Johnson, the continued presence in the country’s statute books of military decrees such as the NIA decree 45, press decrees 70/71 and political bans decree 89, among other things. The statement called on the United States government and the international community 'to use all means available to ensure that conditions for free and fair elections prevail in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for October 2001.’ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------