This is a topic I hope the current Opposition addresses exhaustively. I encourage people that are more versed in these issues to help our leaders on the ground formulate some progressive foreign policies and start implementing some of those policies as we move to October. The recent travels of our Opposition leaders showed us that they are ready to engage the Diaspora. Unlike the despicable Joseph Joof, none of our leaders ran out on us. Unlike Yaya who locked himself in a hotel room when he came to the US, our leaders were very accessible and anybody that wanted to speak to them about ANY issue, was given an opportunity to discourse. But dealing with Gambians in the Diaspora is only one aspect of foreign diplomacy; a very important aspect though. Our leaders showed us that they valued all the citizens of the country (inside or outside Gambia). I am confident that if the current Opposition were in power, Gambians in the Diaspora would be allowed to vote in the coming elections. But this government again showed its disregard for the wishes of the citizens and disenfranchised a whole host of eligible Gambian voters while registering foreigners to vote for the government. By extension, we can also discern that when the Opposition is in power, our embassies will be reorganized and nonentities like Essa Sey, Antouman Saho and John P. Bojang and people of their caliber will no longer represent our country in the international community. A new government will select top-notch Gambians with wherewithal, that will NOT disgrace our country. The embassies will be staffed by Gambians that are highly sensitive to the plight of Gambians in the Diaspora. We should NOT have embassy officials that are on a permanent vacation at their various locations. People that do NOTHING apart from acting as messengers to the wives of APRC stalwarts coming to the U.S. (for example) to have babies. The embassies will be there to serve ALL Gambians. Needless to say, the next Foreign Minister will be way above the caliber of the moron currently handling that portfolio. The new minister would NOT be engaged in the infantile tirades Sedat Jobe is accustomed to; accusing our ‘development partners’ of silly matters that only helps to alienate donors; making misguided utterances that only attract sanctions towards our poor citizens. We should have a level-headed individual that would be respected throughout the world. A person that would NOT go to UN Meetings and spend the better parts of his days sleeping in his/her hotel room like the lazy Sedat Jobe does. We need someone with a vision. Someone that is going to tackle the hard issues that are currently facing us in the international arena. We need to get Gambia off the list of pariah states in the world. Bad citizens such as Baabaa Jobe should be handed over to the Sierra Leone government for him to be tried for crimes against humanity. Rather than ‘deporting’ Gambian journalists, ‘deport’ the vermin (Baabaa Jobe and his brother) to go stand trial in Sierra Leone for helping in the chopping of the limbs of children. But I think the toughest challenge that will face any future government, is how to help STOP the war in Casamance. We want to return to the times when people can freely eat lunch in Serrekunda and board a vehicle and spend the night in Ziguenchore. We do NOT want to be dealing with stray bullets and landmines. This aspect of Opposition diplomacy should be pursued vigorously as we write/speak. The current Opposition should engage the legitimate (democratically elected) Senegalese government, and convey to the government in no uncertain terms that a future Gambian government will NOT take sides in this war. When a future government says that it will mediate for peace, it will mean exactly that. Our future government will NOT go to the Senegalese government and say one thing and then go to the Casamance rebels and say and do another thing. Gambia will NOT be a safe haven for the rebels. Just like Bissau has disentangled itself from the Casamance fiasco upon the demise of Ansumana Mane, a new Gambian government will also sever all partisan ties with the rebels upon the demise of Yaya. We will endeavor to bring the rebels and the government together and be honest brokers for peace. We will NOT supply any side with arms. We will NOT tolerate any combatant running into our country after creating havoc in Senegal. I am sure that if both the rebels and the government realize that Gambia is NOT taking sides, both parties will respect the Gambian position and our territorial sovereignty. There will be no ‘hot pursuits’ into our country. There will be no medical treatments and press conferences. No arms-trafficking. I sincerely hope that our leaders address the Senegal situation with the urgency it requires (NOW). The leaders should talk to President Wade (face-to-face). Apart from the Casamance issue, a number of issues need to be discussed with our regional allies. Economic issues. Civil wars. Immigration. Etc. From the sub-regional plain, we also need to address the larger African situation. For starters, we need to pay our dues to regional organizations. Our diplomacy, as we write/speak, is so chaotic that even Libya is no longer a strong Yaya ally. When Libya was paying OAU dues for certain countries, Gambia was excluded. It seems like the only allies our rogue government has are Taiwan, Liberia, and Cuba. This is disgraceful. Sedat Jobe should be ashamed of himself. Under his watch, Gambia has been proscribed as a criminal country involved in ‘blood diamond’. Under Sedat Jobe’s watch, Gambians like Baabaa Jobe have been proscribed as world-renown criminals. All these criminals are good for is to beg loans from Taiwan and put the money in Swiss Bank accounts for Yaya. That is the crux of their diplomacy. Selling Gambia’s vote at the UN just to fatten Yaya’s Swiss Bank accounts. That’s all. This type of ‘check-book diplomacy’ will NOT be our forte. We will have a REAL ETHICAL FOREIGN POLICY. When we say that we want to broker peace, we will NOT take sides. When we vote at the UN, we will vote for what is right and not necessarily for the country that is fattening the Swiss Bank account of corrupt government officials. We will ensure that Gambia gets out of its proscription. International outlawry will be a thing of the past. International outlaws like Yaya and Baabaa Jobe and their plane will be jettisoned to the mercy of the international community like Milosevic was treated by his people. We will seek to regain Gambia’s good name in the international community. We will treat our ‘development partners’ with respect and attract reciprocal respect from them. I encourage other subscribers with experience in this field to explore further some of the issues raised here and those that have been left out. Moreover, I hope that out leaders on the ground articulate their foreign policies, especially towards Senegal (BEFORE October). We all know what the APRC policies (or lack thereof) are. Sedat Jobe is busy defending international outlaws and falsely accusing British and American diplomats in the country while Yaya is dining with the Casamance rebels. We want none of that. 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