Mr. Sanyang,

 Thank you for a very well-researched and well-writen article about a very tragic incident. We, in The Gambia, have been commemorating this tragic event in the form of a march-pass by students led by the Gambia Police Force Band and prayers in churches and Mosques and I believe that this year would be no different. I for one would never try to make political capital or try to gain anything from such a tragic situation. To those who do not know, it was reported in the local papers here a few months back that the widow and father of the late Omar Barrow, the redcross volunteer who was also killed on April 10, 2000, bitterly complained to the press that unscrupulous people used the late Barrow's name to set up trust funds from which the family only benefitted D2,000.00. Isn't it strange that the family recieved only D2,000.00? Is it a case of those shouting from the roof tops not putting their monies were their mouths are or a case of unscrupulous people robbing the dead?

To those who do not know, my office is located at Talegraph Road, right opposite the Mortuary. This means that I witness a lot of grief and wailing every day I go to work including the weeks it took to perform the postmortems on the children killed during those tragic events. In fact Dr. Omar, RVH's chief pathologist who performed most of the autopsies and happens to be a very good friend and former classmate at Armitage used to come to my office to take a breather in those days.

Nothwithstanding all the above, I shall do my best to respect your call for a respite in our political discussions in the light of the solemnity of the occassion. I have also been trying to shift my discussions from politics to other aspects of life in The Gambia such as Gambian wildlife, economy and the Arts. This is because I have noticed that more and more Gambians are coming for holidays and are seeing and experiencing what I have talked about for some time now. Any unbiased Gambian would by now agree with me that I have been mostly vindicated of a lot of the wild allegations against the Jammeh regime. The fact that I made 15 wild and sweeping statements that are directly contrary to the general perception of events here unchallenged, is tacit endorsedment of them. The fact that none of those who are in the country or have been in the country has written any adverse report of events here is also another testimony to the fallacy that many wanted us to accept as the gospel truth. One cannot also help but notice how Dampha, an arch enemy of Jammeh and his regime, have unwittingly exonorated him of recieving $30 million from Taiwan in Suitcases. I have always maintained that no responsible democracy, such as Taiwan, would give out such a colossal sum of money without a paper trail. This trail, as posted on the L by Dampha, gave details of many beneficiaries of the slush fund set up by the former Taiwanese prime minister. The contradictions are there for all to see. For example, whereas Nelson Mandela's ANC of South Africa recieved only $10 million, we were told that Jammeh's AFPRC recieved $30 million. How come Jammeh's AFPRC could be given almost a third of the alleged $100 million fund whilst other more important countries and players only recieved what could be called pittance.

Another inconsistency is the fact that whereas details were given for sums of money as small as $30,000, in the case of Gambia's $30,000,000 no evidence was offered. Isn't it strange?