Kotoke, others: Thanks for your insightful pieces. I believe the tiff between Gambia and Senegal underscores the difficulties of a future African Union. The fact that tariffs continue to paid between brotherly nations such as Gambia and Senegal, does not augur well for a potential union. While what I am about to suggest may not be the panacea for Africa's myriad problems, it could have been a start to make the continent's quest for unity, a deliberate, but achievable goal. Because as it stands, the AU is another joke out of Africa and a conduit to more waste of scarce resources (paying for fat cats to be members of a do-nothing parliament, bureaucracy). If the EU is going to be the template for the nascent organization, well, methinks they should have done the elementary thing: accept as members, only those countries which have shown commitment to democracy and the advancement of the economic well-being of their citizens. To this day, Turkey is unable to join the EU, because that organization found Turkey's institutions incongruous, rightly or wrongly, with modern democratic values. What Africa ought to do, or should I say, what South Africa ought to do, is reward with membership to the union, the handful of African nations which have term limits, independent judiciaries and legislatures(NEPAD features.) Those countries can then move forward to forge a union, that will be based on open trade and mutual defense and social ties. If those nations lead the way in feeding and efficiently taking care of t heir citizens, it wouldn't take long before the rest of the excluded nations begin taking note and desiring to join the club. That is how the EU did it. Spain and Portugal did not join the EU until dictators Franco and Salazar were both dead. Even the so-called paragon of the modern democratic experiment, the U.S., had only 13 original states, and every other state that was eventually admitted into the union had to prove its values jibed with the U.S. Constitution. Open trade among African nations is going to be that continent's saving grace. The hardships suffered by both Senegalese and Gambians in the past week because of the blockade ought to drive that point home. Thanks for your time. Abdou __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better http://health.yahoo.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~