Well, sister Fatou Jahumpa & Gassa, the freedom of speech that you said Gambians are enjoying among other things certainly is not reflected by the rampant arrests throughout the country since the end of the elections, and especially by the arrests of both George Christensen of Radio 1FM and Baboucarr Gaye of citizens FM, and who have both been previously harassed by this government that was trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community by thier offers of bogus olive branches following the rigged elections. George Christenson's premises were set on fire and Mbye Gaye has had his radio station shut down by the APRC, his equipment gathering rust, followed by endless court battles, while they characteristically gave endless denials and ridiculous excuses for these gross human rights violations, and which were and are currently precipitated solely because these journalists were attempting to do what Journalists do, gave voice to the people and reported the news as they unfolded. Who does this brutal regime think they are fooling? I think only those despots still singing the praises of these brutes are the ones who have been fooled. The APRC has kicked out diplomats for simply attending rallies of the opposition parties and illegally detained the representative of Amnsty International and in their characteristic trademark, denied they had him until the outcry forced them to admit they had him in the grips of " their agents in perpetrating these crimes against the people", the NIA. And still, we have the likes of these people coming here to tell us that there is freedom of speech in The Gambia. Perhaps they do not understand the meaning of the word, but all the people in the World who know the difference between tyranny and freedom not only realize what is happening, but cannot possibly mistake it for anything other than what it really is. Jabou Joh <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>