Culled fro the Point Tuesday, June 4, 2002 Former President Jawara Returns Home Point’s SR Attempts To Talk To Him At Fajara The former President of the first republic Sir Dawda K. Jawara returned home from the United Kingdom last Saturday morning at 4.00 am. Sir Dawda was accompanied by one of his wives lady Chileh Jawara and the deputy director of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Mr. Abdoulie Kujabi. Sir Dawda’s arrival was a low-key affair with only some of his family members at the airport. Also at the airport was the commander at the State Guards Lang Tombong Tamba amid heavy security presence. According to GRTS, the security would not allow them to speak to the 78 years old Sir Dawda and he would not comment either. Sir Dawda and his family were then driven in a motorcade that took him to his Fajara residence. Mr. Abdoulie Kujabi who accompanied the former president also told GRTS that he is one of those that were given the responsibility to look into Sir Dawda’s return. He indicated that all went on very effectively. According to Kujabi, Sir Dawda came not on holidays but for good. Sir Dawda, he added, is an elderly statesman and a Gambian for that matter. However when his coming was announced, Kujabi went on, “A lot of people made so many remarks, but for Sir Dawda he knows what it means when you say amnesty and he takes it seriously and since that time he was making preparations and he is finally here”. Also talking to GRTS was a bodyguard to Sir Dawda Mr. Tijan Touray who said he was proud to come back home together with Sir Dawda. In a related development, senior reporter Pa Ndery Mbai, also VOA’s correspondent yesterday visited Sir Dawda’s Fajara home in a bid to interview him but was denied access by the soldiers on guard. According to Mbai, the soldiers told him that they received orders not to allow visitors to Sir Dawda’s home. “Sir Dawda is relaxing with his family and we received orders not to allow visitors at this time. I am sorry you cannot talk to him at this time”, said one soldier. Interestingly as Mbai was about to leave the premises. One of them said: “Please come I have to hand you over to my senior man and anyone coming here must be interrogated on the reasons of the visit. He complied and was handed over to one caporal Sowe who asked him to identify himself. According to Mbai who described Sowe as a polite soldier, he was told by Sowe that they received orders and would like the public to understand that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~