President Jammeh Defends Baba Jobe, Accuses Critics of Malicious Propaganda The Independent (Banjul) August 6, 2001 Posted to the web August 6, 2001 PK Jarju Banjul, the Gambia Reacting for the first time since Baba Jobe APRC strong man was banned by UN Resolution 1343 from travelling outside The Gambia, President Jammeh has expressed disappointed over it. The Gambian leader who was speaking at the commissioning of a 6-megawatt generator at Kotu, July 28 said the travel ban was masterminded by critics of his regime. President Jammeh stated that countries that tried but failed since 1994 to undermine the efforts of his government have now resorted to using the UN for propaganda purposes to tarnish the image of the country. "Even the crocodiles in the River Gambia know The Gambia is a peace-loving nation, which has done everything in its powers to maintain peace and stability in Africa and other parts of the world" he remarked. He argued that this prompted the accusation by the UN of The Gambia in the blood diamond trade. He posited that European countries that benefited directly from the cheap and exploitative relations with people of countries affected by war and whose economies benefited from the blood diamonds should have been accused. President Jammeh therefore urged the UN to prove to Gambians that the allegations are true. According to him no proof has been forwarded, connecting The Gambia with the export of blood diamonds. He accused the UN of attempts to tarnish his image, which he said was impossible. "It would take them a billion years to succeed" he claimed. President Jammeh added that they are hypocrites who preach peace and at the same time encourage wars. He also accused Western countries of double standard for advocating democracy and human rights yet impose dictatorship in Africa, which his government would not accept. He added that the position Baba Jobe was thought to be holding is not in the New Millennium Airline, which he said is not a commercial enterprise. According to him it is used to transport pilgrims as well as Cuban medical personnel to and from Cuba. He added that Baba Jobe's accusers did not know that he has never travelled with the airline he was thought to be heading. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------