Hi! I received this message from a Pierre Gomez who asked me to forward it to the L. ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' I agree with you my brother. But take it from me that the problems between the two sister countries, is the sole making of Senegal. Senegal has over the years looked low on Gambians and have in many instances regarded us second class citizens in our country because we want to speak their own dialect, dance or listen to their music, etc., etc. During the years following their occupation of the Gambia, brutality and immorality was the order of the day. They raided police stations and tortured policemen on duty; they took married women to mosques to have sex with them in religious places. Gambian travelers in transit through Senegal have over the years witnessed endless cases of pilferage and extortion. Equally, those who travel by land were not spared. You cannot travel with even a packet of cigarette from the Gambia to Senegal because they will seize it. But buying the commodity from Senegal and bringing it to the Gambia is not a crime. You have also read about cases ! of Senegalese security crossing into the Gambia to arrest or physically assault anybody with impunity. The aggregate sum of these provocations have reach their climax. Consequently, the ordinary Gambian was left with no option but to come out in this magnificant way to reply violence for violence. To be honest with you, my anger against these provocative neighbors got to a head during the 1992 African Cup of Nations. During that time, there was widespread violence in urban centers because Gambians were supporting Cameroon when they knock Senegal out in the second round. In the finals of that year, Gambians supported Ghana, but Senegal supported French speaking Ivory Coast. My brother, belief me, the reason for the rise of tempers has nothing to do with economics or politics, but the fact that Gambians ran out of patience. We played Senegal earlier and they were protected gallantly by our security forces. Why were the Senegalese forces beating up Gambians instead of separating the two sides. The simple reason was Gambia made a gallant comeback into the game with a crucial goal, which reduced the tally to 2-1. This was greeted with an uproar of support by Gambian fans. It was from this point according to Seyfo Soli, that the Senegalese hooligans and security forces began beating up Gambian fans to silence them. My brother, Senegalese fans are notorious for this type of behaviour. Anytime they are scored a goal, they will resort to tensions. Let me give you an example: During the semi-final match of CAN 2000, Senegalese players matched out of the field when Nigerian goal poacher Julius Agaohuwae (excuse me for spelling) scored and equaliser at the 75th minute. At exactly the same time in Dakar, the hooligans went on the rampage ransacking Nigerian businesses. In short, as far as Senegal is concern, no one must score them when they are leading or else trouble. Take it from me, this is not an economic or political matter, Gambians are merely fed up and are simply out to give the Lions the food they like most "Violence". Pierre Gomez, A concerned Gambian PLEASE POST IT IN GAMBIA-L Have a nice Day Brother Barry. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- Do you Yahoo!? Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~