Culled From the Obsever Wednesday, December 26, 2001 SoS Touray on Sir Dawda’s return what role for former president? The secretary of state for Tourism and Culture and APRC national mobiliser, Hon Yankuba Touray has told the Daily Observer in an exclusive interview with the editor-in-chief that the offer for Sir Dawda's return was not just an amnesty alone, but that it provided the opportunity for the former president to take part in the national development process. “ I think we are inviting him to serve as an elderly statesman and should support the government. President Jammeh is a young president and I think he will also learn something from him.” Political activity Asked whether Sir Dawda could partake in any active politics, Touray remarked: “I don't think we are inviting him to form a political party or to be part of any political party. He is an elderly statesman and he should not allow himself to be misused by some politicians to tarnish his own image.” Sir Dawda’s frozen assets On whether the government would de-freeze and return to Sir Dawda some of his assets confiscated to the state, Hon Touray said the fact that President Jammeh had offered him an unconditional amnesty means that he may have a lot of things for the former president if and when he returned to The Gambia. “The fact that he has an unconditional amnesty granted to him to the extent of providing security for him, I think giving him back some of his property may not be a problem.” Commissions of enquiry On the commissions of enquiry and the possibility of Sir Dawda facing them upon his return, Touray said the issues of commissions of enquiry vis-a-vis the presidential election campaign emanated when the opposition coalition tried to use the former president as their leader or secretary general in their quest for power “and when they said so, we also reminded them that there were commissions of enquiry. Basically, that was a political strategy and it was all about politics. But we however had to remind them of some constitutional provisions. This does not mean that if he comes now he is going to face the commissions. I think the amnesty is broad base and therefore does not only cover the former president’s home coming. Asked whether Jammeh's inaugural speech which was rather conciliatory and the olive branch he extended marked the dawn of a new era in diplomacy and foreign policy conduct, Touray remarked: “we have ever adopted a good foreign policy in the sense that we have been members of the international community including the UN, AU and sub-regional organisations and we have been contributing positively. But the only thing we don't want is to bow down to external pressure detrimental to our country. Our nationalism is important. In as much as you want to see The Gambia, you must see us as Gambians. There is no problem with our foreign policy. The speech was conciliatory and the idea is to bring people closer. We have gone through peaceful elections which have been applauded by the International Community. I think the president wants to consolidate those gains. UDP coalition’s boycott Asked whether the coalition's boycott of upcoming elections would impact negatively on any national reconciliation efforts that the president mentioned during his inaugural speech, Mr Touray said the coalition's boycott would only give more strength to the pursuit of national reconciliation efforts. “Their absence in the political arena would not affect the reconciliation process. We are going ahead with the reconciliation efforts because other parties are part of the process and are taking part in the elections. Even the APRC/NCP Alliance is a clear testimony that the leadership of the party is trying to get all the political parties together. All these things are part of the national reconciliation. On the reason for the UDP led coalition's boycott of upcoming elections, Touray said.: “I think the problem is the trauma emanating from the Presidential election. People cannot still settle down in the UDP. They cannot believe that President Jammeh is the president. This is the problem with the UDP leadership. They have not been able to put their act together after the Presidential election. So they cannot participate in any organised elections”. APRC-NCP alliance On the APRC/NCP Alliance, Touray said the two parties were on the verge of developing a draft agreement but the Alliance was literary on although the signing was yet to be done. “The two leaders are studying the agreement,” Touray said. Asked whether the leader of the NCP, Sheriff Mustapha Dibba could be in the next cabinet should Jammeh reshuffle his executive, he said: “I don't think I have any comment on that in the sense that it is just premature to talk about it. What I know is that there is a process in place to have the parties come together in a merger. That is a broad agreement that we are going to develop. But what the president is going to decide in the future is a thing I cannot comment on”. Touray said at a pilot stage, the two parties have already started jointly putting forward candidates in Bakau and also Central Baddibu where they have APRC/NCP alliance candidates. State of preparedness SoS Touray said the APRC is well organised with a functional secretariat and programme office. “So any time we are fully prepared both in terms of logistics and even support.” He said the party had nominated candidates for all the constituencies. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> 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] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>