My Brother, Many thanks for your brilliant exposee but I want to add a few comments. There is no doubt that slavery and colonialism is a sad part of African history but I think our fundamental problem is that we have to embrace a system of rule of law and good governance. It is very cheap to say democracy is a western concept, the reality is that it is working to a certain degree and the developed nations of today had also had a very dark history crusades, war, genocide etc my argument is that we should learn from it bridge the gap and move forward. We have to get a climate of stability underpin by good governance and an atmosphere of tolerance. In our present day world with information technology everything is in the open. so long as we africans don't value life and fundamental rights the future is bleak. Hitler did construct a lot of roads and monuments etc but his policy was perverse, evil and deeply flawed. For us in Africa a leader can kill, main, imprison etc and get away with it so long as there are persive to be doing some development projects. Yes he is working and developing the country?? We have to respect life and proper checks and balances with nobody above the law. We don't have to be of the same persuation idealogy wise but we have to and must share certain values of fair play, rule of law and a level playing field with the interest of nations at heart. There is no curse we can revert the situation so long as we share common civilised values. This is my thoughts and wish you all the best. Alpha Ebrima ismaila Chongan _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! http://vote.yahoo.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~