Amadou, It is your perogative to join whatever party you please. However, if the main catalyst for joining the APRC is the tone of Jammeh´s inaugural address as you stated, then may I remark that since the october elections, and despite the tone of Jammehs´ address, the outatanding cases of human rights abuses such as the massacre of the school children who were exercising their constitutional rights to demonstrate when they were ordered fired upon, the incarceration of Dumo Saho without the state ever coming forward with a charge and according him due process under the law, the side-stepping and disregard of our constitution, e.g the latest dismissal of Hassan Jallow, the continued harassment of journalists and the mistreatment of Gambians by the NIA all continue despite the supposedly inspiring tone of this speech. However, perhaps your presence in the APRC will inspire Jammeh to address these issues as well as others for which the Gambian people are still waiting for an answer. Perhaps your influence will contribute towards a new day in our country when people can exercise their rights under our constitution and not be terminated from their jobs or visited in the night by the NIA, and where Journalists can report the news as they occur without harassment or censure. Perhaps you will be part of a new crop of officials in this regime who will stand up to the President on behalf of the Gambian people in regards to the above, and not suffer any reprisals for it. The Gambian people will be waiting and watching for this bright promise because it will be a wonderful thing indeed if this happens. We can only hope and wish you good luck.Perhaps it will be the dawning of a new day where the APRC regime is poised to give power back to the people they are purporting to serve, abide by the constitution and and relinquish their desire to stay in power forever which is the reason behind their heavy-handedness.The trend so far has not differed much since the inaugural speech that so influenced your desision. Jabou Joh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~