Juwara Draws Sword At President Jammeh
by Alieu Darboe
Lamin Waa Juwara, Secretary General and the leader of the National Democratic Action Movement (NDAM) has drawn a sword at President Jammeh for what he described as flaming the seed of tribalism in the fatherland, a tendency, which he believes would jeopardize our development efforts.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent, the former Niamina Dankunku parliamentarian said it is ridiculous for President Jammeh to castigate the Mandinkas (the majority ethnic group) in the country for the low turn out at the independence anniversary, when in reality he denied the existence of the Mandika ethnic group.
He said Jammeh is on record for asserting that Mandinkas do not exist, as he claimed that the ethnic group doest not prevail in any part of the world, but a mere language of dictum, noting that such remarks would not go unchallenged as history will judge him.
While indicating that the Gambian people are paternal relatives of the same kinship, he said "we share a lot of things in common than our differences. I think the divisive politics that he tried to trick the people with is over and would not be repeated".
Outlining that people have come to realise the tricks he used in pre-election days, he said it is now evident that the Mandinkas were not behind the pandemonium during the campaign period, but instead it is indeed President Jammeh, who is responsible for the mess, as he continued to fuel the tension.
Though President Jammeh cannot ascribe the poor attendance to Mandinkas’s reluctance, he said under the first republic, when Sir Dawda was in power, there used to be a massive turn out. The problem, he added culminates from the fact that President Jammeh hand-picked chiefs, who cannot even attract the cultural groups across all the tribes in the country.
"It is least painful for President Jammeh to insult the Mandinkas", he added when the ethnic group is predominant in every part of the globe and the sub-region.
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RSF Disgruntled Over Media Act
Urges international organizations to put pressure on govt.
After learning that a second draconian press law was secretly promulgated on 28 December, Reporters Without Borders today reiterated its appeal to the international community to put pressure on President Yahya Jammeh to stop his mounting crackdown on Gambia’s news media "Gambia’s president clearly intends to keep tight control on journalists during a period of unrest and in the approach to a crucial election year," the press freedom organization said. "The silence of his African and European counterparts leaves his hands free to turn Gambia into one of the West African countries that most restrict press freedom."
The organization added: "This is virtually already the case, with the approval of this new law, the fruitless investigation into the murder of newspaper editor Deyda Hydara and the president’s frequent inflammatory comments about journalists."
It has emerged from the official Gambian gazette of 30 December that, despite appeals from international organizations and African journalists, Jammeh promulgated the Newspaper Amendment Act 2004 at the same time as the Criminal Code Amendment Bill 2004.
This law cancels all the licenses that had previously been issued to the news media and forces them to re-register, while at the same time increasing the cost of a publishing license five-fold, from 100,000 dalasis (2,600 euros) to 500,000 dalasis (13,000 euros). It also forces journalists to adopt a strict code of conduct within six months that imposes sanctions on violators.
The promulgation of these two laws was not made public until the end of February. The Gambia Press Union (GPU) - a journalists’ union - has said it intends to challenge the constitutionality of these two laws in the courts. Reporters Without Borders supports this initiative.
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Outrageous Uproar At The TDA
As GTA strives to eradicate bumster menace
by By Alieu Darboe & Ousman Baldeh
Reports emerging from the Tourism Development Area (TDA) indicate that a moderate but good number of workers in the tourism industry, have expressed dissatisfaction over the mistreatment meted out to them by security personnel deployed at the area to provide round the clock surveillance in and around the vicinity.
However, authorities in The Gambia have announced their readiness to eradicate the menace of bumsters, since according to them over 67 % of the tourists visiting the country, have lamented the situation and promised not to come back, due to prevalence of hassling and harassment.
As a result, security personnel were deployed at the vicinity, who are seen clutching riffles to crush out any resistance by bumsters hassling tourists on the beaches, though it is without its negativity as reports emerging from the industry indicate indiscriminate mistreatment of workers in the area.
The disgruntled elements indicate that though hassling is condemned by the government, but it is unfair for the security to chase out bumsters from the vicinity only to end up following toubabs on the beach, a situation which they outline make them vulnerable to the hunt for bumsters.
According to them, it is not uncommon to see the security personnel hounding tourists for greener pastures, when their fellow paupers, who try to eke out living from the beaches are mistreated to vacate the area.
It is also reported that the security personnel indiscriminately harass anybody found within the area, without necessarily ascertaining their mission at the industry, a situation, which they indicate is ascribable to wicked hunting of their fellow human beings.
One of the distraught elements indicate that "almost 75% of the security personnel on the beach harass people", adding that most of these officers later turn out to hassle tourists for opportunities.
Another middle-aged man, named Charles, said though it is true that bumsters are a menace to the society, but it is disheartening to know at whose interest the security officers are being deployed at the beaches." If they turn to beat us, and hassle the tourists what are we going to do?", he asked.
He was however quick to indicate that the tourism authorities should intervene to monitor the activities of the security personnel posted at the TDA, since most of these elements are hell bent on hassling tourists.
"For some of us, who go out to change money at the mini-market, the security would not spare us, but they would continue following us to victimize us", he added.
When the GTA boss was contacted, he referred our reporter to one Amadou Ceesay who was not available for comments at the time of going to press.
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Wally Mahmoud Hakim Rearrested
The Independent has learnt from reliable sources that Mr Wally Mahmoud Hakim, The Gambian businessman of Lebanese origin who was recently detained as a suspect in the murder of Deyda Hydara was on Friday morning re-arrested by NIA.
His arrest followed the publication in our last issue of a letter he wrote to the Director General of the NIA disowning some of arms and ammunition shown on television as having been recovered from his house.
All attempts to verify the story from the NIA proved futile.
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Editorial: Yet Another Women’s Day Brings No Changes
March 8 every year is celebrated as International Women’s Day and as usual, the day is observed in this country. However, apart from the usual festivities and speeches in support of women and their cause, hardly anything significant is ever achieved.
The status of Gambian women remains virtually the same, with only a few cosmetic changes being recorded, usually meant to score some political points.
However, in spite of some noticeable strides made in the area of girls’ education, there is hardly any other noticeable improvement in the status of Gambian women. They still remain at the very bottom of the social ladder, neither involved nor consulted for anything. It is quite often that this government is heard to make a lot of noise about its commitment to the emancipation of women, citing as examples having a woman vice president and several women secretaries of state and other senior government officials. However, in reality, those so called examples often cited have not done much to advance the status of Gambian women. It is certainly not the positions that they occupy that matters most, but rather how they got to those positions is even more significant. Therefore, the fact remains that the women folk are still not very much involved in the decision making process at the highest level.
It is a well known fact that the APRC regime has always had an iron-grip control of all strata of the local government structure in this country. Therefore, if indeed there was a real commitment to the emancipation of women, it is hard to understand why there had never been either a woman divisional commissioner or even a head chief. They are even hardly given prominent positions in the very APRC party that is taking all the credit for their emancipation. They continue to be seen more as Yai Compins and mobilizers while their men folk continue to juggle for all the significant positions in the party.
Indeed, even some of the modest gains that Gambian women made in the former regime seem to have now eluded them. A good case in point has been the fact that before 1994, there was at least one Gambian woman ambassador, and since this regime took over, there has yet been none.
Of course everyone has commended the strides made in the education of girls, but we all have seen how much attempt is being made to politicize it. While it is a well known fact that the so called free education for girls is being financed by some UN agencies and the government of Taiwan, but we are being given the impression that it is being financed by President Jammeh. Indeed even the facts of the scheme are being distorted, giving quite a wrong impression to the beneficiaries that it is 100 per cent funded while that is not the case.
Until the women’s issue is treated with honesty and sincerity, instead being painted with the political brush, our women folk would continue to be used as mere pawns in the game of political supremacy.
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GMSA Executive Members Sworn In
by Juldeh J. Sowe
The University of the Gambia Medical Students Association (UNIGAMSA) has recently inaugurated its first nine member executive committee at the School of Nursing in Banjul.
"In any setting it is always optimal for individuals to recognise their problems and of others, thereby forming a common front to solve such occurrences. We are cognisant of the fact that we have a responsibility not only to the needs, concerns and interests of the university, but to the wider society. These reasons have served as an impetus to the formation of a medical students association". These are the words of Cherno S. Jallow, IEC chairman of the school.
Speaking on the status of the medical school and the challenges of medical education in The Gambia, Dr Adama Sallah, a registrar of the Medical and Dental Council said that after starting with the pre-clinical courses with the support of the Cuban doctors, the first batch of medical students is expected to graduate latest next year. "They will be the first graduates of the Gambian team", Dr Sallah said.
Joseph A. Kamara, focal point for human resources for the Department of State for Health and a senior. lecturer of Anatomy at the faculty of Medicine and Allied Health Science stressed that the GMSA executive initiative aims at bringing all medical students into partnership, and placing medical education at the core of the university’s strategy for success.
He added that like many an exclusive club, the medical profession subjects its prospective members to rigorous indoctrination.: Medical students he said are overloaded with work, deprived of sleep and normal human contact, drilled and tested and scheduled down to the last minute. Mr. Kamara continued, quoting from a book titled What Is Learned In Medical School, that difficult as the regiment maybe, for those who do not fit the traditional mold white, male, middle-to-upper class, and heterosexual—medical school can be that much more harrowing.
"This book tells the tales of a new generation of medical students—students whose varied background is far from traditional. Their stories will forever alter the way we see tomorrow’s doctors", he emphasised.
After a series of examples on the importance of the study of medicine/health in any society, the DoSH representative concluded by saying that at present, medical associations/bodies worldwide in collaboration with other NGOs and professional bodies are trying to sensitise medical students to the importance of public health and primary healthcare.
John Jabang president of the new executive pointed out the co-existence of enormous ordeals of which few of these are the issue of lack of recommended textbooks, accommodation and traveling for most medical students. These Jabang noted have made it very difficult especially when they (students) are supposed to be on call up to ten o’clock at night and some students even spend the nights in classrooms within the hospital.
Present at the inauguration were ambassadors, secretaries of state, religious Leaders, members of the Gambia Medical and Dental Council, the Director of Medical Services, the UNICEF representative among others.
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National Workshop For Museum Professionals Held
by Njonji Drammeh
The Islamic Scientific Education and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) on Monday the 28th February organised a five day national training workshop for museum professionals, handicrafts and the staff members of the Katchically Museum in Bakau.
In his opening statement Mr. Pape Toumani Ndiaye of the culture division, said this ISESCO training workshop stands to significantly contribute to the development of the Gambian tourism product, and the ideas which will be shared at the end of the seminar will no doubt go a long way in our tourist markets, and also help to improve our Museums which as we all know remain one of the major tourist targets in the country.
He indicated that the workshop would, therefore, respond to two crucial needs by two major stakeholders in our travel industry, that is Museum and curio vendors. Museums in the country, especially Kachikally Museum, are indeed more worthy of continuous training of personnel than any other institution, "its purpose is to safeguard historical and contemporary items of our culture".
He said the Museum needs, for the optimal management of its collections and documentations, to use information and communication technologies, which can improve considerably the safety of the collections and the services rendered to the public.
The workshop also addressed conservation issues in museums, in order to help participants to prolong the life spans of museum collections for posterity.
Abdoulie Mame Njie he said that ISESCO can attest that the republic of The Gambia has always attached particular attention to cooperation with the organisation. Thus, he continued, the country has accepted to participate in the programme of ISESCO and the World Islamic Call Society (WICS) related to the introduction of the Islamic heritage to the national Museum of Banjul. He added that this partnership has a focal point with the Gambia national commission for UNESCO, to which the headquarters has entrusted the material organisation of the workshop, in coordination with the heads of the Museums of Banjul and Katchikally.
Mr. Samuel Sidibe, an expert from Mali, assisted the participants till the end of the training.
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YES To Be Launched Soon
The president and founder of the Youth Environment Society (YES) Dawda Ceesay has call on government, NGOs and private individuals to support his association which works to improve health by protecting the environment as health problems generally emanate from unsafe environments.
YES has a mission statement committed to Gambian youths through communication, information, education, health care, agriculture and sanitation. It also aims at bringing environment awareness for young people to contribute to the rebuilding of the national environment. Mr. Ceesay made this remarks during an interview with The Independent.
YES, Ceesay continues, has registered with the Anthony General Chambers and the National Youth Council (NYC). The National Environment Agency (NEA) has also accepted to work in close collaboration on environmental relations with the group.
YES has so far registered a full executive board and over 50 members excluding those who have just submitted their membership. "Every youth should try to join an organisation and contribute in the fight in the fight against incurable diseases and contribute towards the national development", he charged.
YES, he said, is working on their strategic plans and principles towards the strengthening and development of the society. Thus he is urging government, NGOs and private individuals to support youths in development. "Without a clean environment, we will never be a healthy nation as any disease can come in and kill vulnerable youths", he pointed.
The strategic plan will focus on killer disease and tree planting as young environmentalists.
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GTU Holds Strategic Planning Retreat
by Luqman Khan
The University of The Gambia in collaboration with the World Bank held a two-day strategic planning workshop from the 4th-5th March 2005 at the Paradise Suites Hotel in Kololi.
The aim of the workshop was to set down a comprehensive plan for the institution within the next five years. This includes establishing priorities, capacity development and expansion of programs in faculties.
The opening remarks was made by Ag Vice Chancellor Prof F. Johnson Ellis who stressed the need for participant students, lecturers and educationists to tactfully spell out both the human and material resources required to sustain the university and subsequently make it competitive in the world community of universities.
Various faculty committees deliberated on relevance and affordability of programs, gender mainstreaming and quality assurance. Issues of staff motivation, student appraisal, proficiency, effectiveness and efficiency in research and education were equally dealt with.
A vital component of the deliberations was funding, which compels the strategic planning committee to work towards the submission of their plans for approval by donor agencies come May 2005. The establishment of a campus and a credible staff was top on the priorities. Government support was highly solicited through the officials of the DoSE who attended the occasion.
Chaired by the registrar Lamin Sam Jaiteh, the sessions ended on Saturday evening with recommendations made by various committee members on fund raising initiatives such as consultancies, commercial firm and agricultural farm managements.
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Grade 12 Student Needs Urgent Help
by Alieu Darboe
Sheriffo Kongira a Grade 12 student at Kunta Kinteh Senior Secondary School is looking for assistance from the government, the private sector and business people to be able to sit for his Grade 12 exams.
Speaking to The Independent in tears, Kongira who has lost both parents while he was young said for the past seven years, his uncle Lamin Kongira was responsible for his schooling. But now since the death of his younger uncle Solo Kongira, who was also contributing in the welfare of the family, things have became harder for the family.
The young orphan said at three months before the exam, he has nobody to pay for his school and exams fees. "That is why I have decided to come to the press as a last resort to get assistance from any willing person who will immediately come to my aid as my colleagues at the moment are working hard and preparing for the external exam".
Sheriffo revealed that his main objective is to complete his schooling in order to meet his goals in future. "As a student, I am not ready to leave school without completing it. Therefore, I am appealing to anybody (the President, government, private institutions, humanitarian organisations) who can help to come to my aid.
If you are ready to help Sheriffo in any way, you can contact him on 4485060 or Alieu Darboe on 4374665/4374667.
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Jesus said in a loud voice: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." (John 7:37)
" ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." (Revelation 22:17)
Drink From This Water...And Never Thirst Again
by G. Goree-Ndiaye
The Children of Israel did not carry reservoirs with them as they crossed the desert on their journey to the Promised Land. Each time, God intervened to quench their thirst. The first recorded incident was in Marah; "For three days they travelled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter." (Exodus 15:22-23) They grumbled and Moses called to the Lord for help and God showed him a piece of wood which "he threw into the water and the water became sweet." (verse 25)
At Rephidim, where they camped, there was no water for the people to drink either. So they grumbled again for they were thirsty. "Give us water to drink. Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" (Exodus 17:2, 3) Again Moses called upon the Lord and He provided water for them from a rock. "Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." (Exodus 17:6)
This scene was repeated in Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin. "Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank." (Numbers 20:11)
The life-saving potential of water makes it an important element in our existence; it is not only indispensable, but vital and necessary. Governments worldwide spend loads of money in a bid to purify and make available water for their people to drink. Yet, in spite of such noble efforts, not all communities have access to potable drinking water. Some people still have to trek long distances to carry water that will cater to their needs for only short periods of time. Others make do with deadly and unclean water that sooner rather than later has grave consequences on their health. But what must they do in the face of water scarcity? Die? Well, not just yet, because God will not leave us helpless. He promised to come to our assistance when we call. He said: "Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear." (Isaiah 55:24)
When God heard the cry of Moses in the wilderness He stepped in to bring relief and to ease what was a critical situation – even though the Children of Israel had fleeting memories of God’s ability to find an imminent but lasting solution to their most urgent requests. The situation could have turned riotous and chaotic for Moses, but the God of Israel in His manifest wisdom and power calmed the situation by transforming bitter water to sweet and by quenching the thirst of a murmuring and dissatisfied crowd.
Is there a water crisis in your life? Have you been fretting unnecessarily for the essentials of life because you did not know where to turn? God can take care of it and He invites you to look up to Him to provide for your most urgent needs. Just as He did for the Children of Israel in the wilderness, He can do it for you now. That water has a spiritual touch to it. Everything physical will pass away but the spiritual remains. And Paul tells us in First Corinthians chapter 10 and in verse 4 that the children of Israel drank water from the "…spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ."
Our Lord Jesus refers to Himself as the source of life, that Living Water for whom all should thirst; the one that quenched the thirst of the Children of Israel at that critical stage of their existence. His supply is inexhaustible and it would satisfy the deepest need. The account of the encounter with Samaritan woman at the well illustrates this. (John 4:1-26)
She comes in the middle of the day in search of water to drink. A scar in her life did not permit her to be in the company of the other women who had come much earlier to fetch water. She comes to the well alone, in desperate need of filling her pitcher and when she makes this rather unusual encounter with our Lord Jesus - who had no business talking to a foreign woman on a one-on-one basis - she is offered the water of life that will never run dry – but she misses the point altogether.
The status of this nameless woman is representative of each and every one of us. We all need to drink from the living water to live worthy lives, to live life in full and in abundance. (John 10:10b)
The Rock in the desert from which the Children of Israel drank is not waiting for you to thirst, He knows your wants, your weaknesses and He is coming straight to you. Yes, there were many lepers in Israel but Elijah healed only Naaman and he was a foreigner. Jesus came straight to meet this woman at her point of need to bring her healing with the water of life. He said to the lady at the well; "If you know the gift of God and who it is that asks you to for a drink, you would have asked him and He would have given you living water." (John 4:10) Would you ask now?
The difference our Lord Jesus makes is clear: "Everyone who drinks this water (from the well) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him/her will never thirst." (John 4:13-14)
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Health Rights, Women’s Lives
by Fatou Badjie
Health rights, women’s lives is the theme for the 10th International Women and Health Meeting to be held in September, 2005 in New Delhi, India. The International Women and Health Meeting (IWHM) has its roots in the global women’s movement and includes a wide range of organisations, networks, and grassroots women’s group.
The 10th IWHM will mark nearly two and a half decades of the global feminist solidarity on issues that impinge on the health and the well being of women.
Taking note of the current context of global economic restructuring and liberalisation of markets, increasing militarisation of countries and regions, growing fundamentalisms of various hues, resurgence of population policies, adoption and practice of developmental models and paradigms that are playing havoc with the environment, African women from Anglophone and Francophone countries assembled in Bamako, Mali, to discuss challenges and strategies relating to health rights of women in Africa under five categoric themes.
The preparatory meeting, which was organised by Women Physicians in Mali, aimed to formulate priorities for Africa as well as develop strategies for more active participation of African women in India.
Participants in the meeting were divided into five groups from the 26th of February to the 1st of March to debate, change experiences, highlight challenges, recommendations and strategies for the five themes.
Theme I: Public Health Sector Reforms And Gender. Discussion centered on inavailability of specialists, no access to hospitals, centralisation of resources and poor management of services, as these are some of the problems Africans observe. Proposed recommendations include proper decentralisation of resources and funds, introduction of basic drugs, gender budget to be part of national budgets, regular premium for women, free ARVs for people living with HIV virus, strengthen the technical platform, advocacy to sustain our income generating activities to women groups, capacity building for all health workers, strengthen research in the field of traditional medicines, regulation of sub sector (pharmacy) and creation of more health centres and medical schools.
Theme II: Reproductive And Sexual Health Rights. Most of the participants participated more on this theme because the majority were doctors with few gender activists and a lawyer. The problems raised included early marriage and FGM, lack of awareness on the reproductuctive and sexual rights of women, high prevalence of HIV/AIDS on women, fistula, maternal and infant mortality etc. The recommendations were adoption of laws to eradicate FGM, I.E.C on sexual and reproductive rights for young people and old age, and advocacy for free ARV for PLWH.
Theme III: The Politics And The Resurgence Of Population Policies. We found out that in most African countries, women have low access to credit and the structural adjustment policies also affect women, there are less women in parliament and cabinets, women and girl trafficking, high rate of poverty among women, lack of care to old aged women, old aged encounter sickness like menopause, cancer, urine etc, sexually abandonment of women by men, maternal mortality and morbidity rate high. At the end of the discussion, participants in this group agreed that infant and maternal mortality rate should be reduced, government should respect the reproductive rights of women and their life cycle from birth to old age. Home base services should be encouraged in our communities and ministries and specialised organisations should take care of the old age women.
Theme IV: Women’s Rights And Medical Technologies. Usually, in many African countries, women pay for their medications in hospitals and most of them are not informed or aware of the modern technologies like, testing and sterilisation. Participants recommended that women at grassroots level be sensitised on the use of modern drugs and be aware of medical technologies, lobby for ARVs and other drugs. Women should as well be involved in the planning and the implementation of the activities of medical technologies; family planning and breast-feeding should be encouraged and women should not pay for medications, use of tools and ethical guidelines for medical technologies and decentralise tools to all communities, I.E.C on contraceptives, capacity building in all health services in terms of equipment, train traditional practioners to take quality medicines to the markets and of course networking.
Theme V: Violence (of State, Militarism, Family and ‘Development’) and Women’s Health. Most of the participants were interested in this theme because it is a burning issue that has and still impinge women’s health. These include FGM, rape, sexual exploitation and the outlined challenge was poverty and the culture of silence. Participants recommended that there is need for advocacy to decision makers to ratify and adopt conventions relating to any form of violence against women. Since rural women are not well sensitised about violence against women, women organisations should be enforced to talk about or lobby for issues that affects them. Training of magistrates, military personnel, intervention forces, religious leaders youths etc is a necessity so as to sensitise them on violence against women. Care should be given to victims of rape during war as well as creating counseling centres that consist of doctors and medical personnel. Advocate for laws to protect family violence and I.E.C or V.A.W.
Despite the fact that our governments attend international conferences, sign and ratify documents, the destiny of African women is still at stake. African women continue to be suppressed, oppressed and subjugated, not even talking of the violence they encounter at home and at work.
However, the preparatory meeting in Bamako has agreed on recommendations and strategies that cut across the five themes and that will be further examined to be presented in the 10th International Women and Health Meeting in India. These are advocacy, sensitisation, legislation, research, networking and reinforcement of capacities or training. These topics will be broken down in order to bring in the forefront means to uplift the health status of women in Africa.
The Netherlands Ambassador in Mali, the WHO representative, a representative from the Ministry of Health in Mali, diplomats and dignitaries, doctors and medical personnel from various African countries, gender activists and journalists, attended the closing ceremony. Amie Bojang Sissoho and Fatou Badjie represented The Gambia.
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Are You Listening, Bin Laden?
In January over 2.5 million Muslims from around the world travelled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to fulfill one of the Five Pillars of the Muslim faith: to make the pilgrimage, the hajj. At the conclusion of this sacred event, Muslims commemorated the trial of prophet Abraham. Sacred writings relate the story of how God tested Abraham’s love for Him by ordering him to kill his son. When Abraham went to comply, God said he had already proven his love and in place of his son God placed a sheep.
Thousand of Africans made the pilgrimage, people such as Amina Abdullah, a member of the Kenyan Parliament, and Alhaji Abdullah Isa from Niger. He is a medicine seller and, like the sheep and goat vendors, does good business during the hajj.
At the closing of the hajj, the four-day public holiday of Eid el-Adha takes place. Muslims kill a sheep or a goat but consume only a part of the meat, giving much of it to the needy. The holy day reminds Muslims to perform acts of charity and open Muslim hearts to others. It is a festival of love and sacrifice.
The leadership of al-Qaeda did not make the pilgrimage. Osama bin Laden and his right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are said to be living in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan. A third top-level al-Qaeda member, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, also did not perform the hajj. Instead of sacrifice, generosity and openness, the message of el-Adha, they preached a message of hatred, murder and suicide.
Their own words condemn them. As early as 1998 bin Laden issued a fatwa, formal opinion or judgment, supposed to be issued by someone educated in Shariah, the body of rules governing the life of a Muslim. Of course, bin Laden had no authority to issue such a judgment, but his fatwa was to urge Muslims to kill all westerners, civilian and military, wherever they might be.
In 2002, bin Laden praised the attack on a nightclub in Indonesia that killed 180 people. In 2003, he stressed the importance of suicide operations and threatened Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria and Yemen with violence. With astonishing arrogance, he assumed God-like powers and promised heaven to all who carry out suicide operations. If he is so sure that suicide guarantees eternal happiness, why doesn’t he carry out a suicide operation himself?
Are you listening, bin Laden?
Watch out, Nigeria and other oil producing African nations. In 2004, bin Laden urged supporters to target oil installations. The object would be to help destroy the world’s economy, thus inflicting additional misery on poor countries.
His henchman, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is an eye surgeon who spent three years in an Egyptian jail for illegal weapons possession. He has been sentenced to death in absentia in Egypt. Al-Zawahiri sentences others to death. He was behind the Kenya and Tanzania bombings that killed 224 people and injured thousands more. His madness condemns the United Nations, rulers of Islamic peoples, business corporations, news agencies and, incredibly, international relief organisations such as the Red Crescent. He has praised the New York and Washington attacks, which killed so many thousands of innocent people.
Some observers consider Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, the third individual in this evil triumvirate, the most important terrorist target. Zarqawi is under indictment in Jordan for an al-Qaeda- linked plot to attack targets there. He has issued death threats against any religious scholar who disagrees with him. He has been filmed beheading a prisoner. Human life means nothing to him. His hatred extends to other religions and even his own religion. He purports to be a Sunni and describes Shiites, as "snakes" "the looming danger" and "the true challenge" His objective is to incite sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. He has also disparaged Sunni leaders.
In the expansion of Islam in Africa, important centers of theological learning were located in Timbuktu, Mali, Morocco, Tunisia and perhaps the most important in all of Islam, al-Azhar in Cairo. This school condemns the body of thought of these al-Qaeda leaders. Its position is that al-Qaeda’s perverse theology comes from "a misguided group outside the book of Allah and his messenger" The school believes al-Qaeda is trying to create a caliphate like Afghanistan and that "they are responsible for the murder of tourists, terrorising the people and killing a child".
At the close of the hajj, Saudi King Fahd and crown prince Abdullah called for World Peace and a fight against extremism. They disallowed the terrorism that spreads mayhem and seeks destruction. They said Islam forbids such action.
Are you listening bin Laden?
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In CAF U-17 Championship
Gambia – Burkina Faso For The Grand Opening
by Namory Trawally
The Gambia National U-17, the Darling Scorpions would line up on Saturday May 7th, 2005 against Burkina Faso for the grand opening of the 6th edition of the CAF U-17 football championship to be held in The Gambia.
That was the outcome of the draw held in Cairo, Egypt last Thursday.
The Gambia would be playing in Group A alongside with Burkina Faso, Mali and Ghana while the Group B comprises of Nigeria, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe.
The opening game will kick off on the 7th May at 5p.m. between Gambia and Burkina Faso and the second game of the day will see Ghana playing against Mali at 7:30 p.m. The Independence Stadium will host all the matches expect two games namely Mali – Burkina Faso and South Africa – Cote d’Ivoire scheduled for Serrekunda west mini-stadium.
The Gambia will play its second game on May 10th, 2005 at 19:30 against Mali and its third game will be against Ghana on May 13th, 2005.
The Fixtures of
the CAF U-17
Group A Gambia Burkina Faso
Ghana
Mali
Group B
Nigeria
South Africa
Zimbabwe Cote d’Ivoire
Gambia vs Burkina 17p.m.
07-05-05
Mali vs Ghana 19:30p.m.
08-05-05 Nigeria vs South Africa 17p.m.
08-05-05 Zimbabwe vs Cote d’Ivoire 19:30p.m.
10-05-05 Ghana vs Burkina Faso 17p.m.
10-05-05 Gambia vs Mali 19:30p.m.
11-05-05 South Africa vs Zimbabwe 17p.m.
11-05-05
Cote d’Ivoire vs Nigeria 19:30p.m.
13-05-05 Gambia vs Ghana 17p.m. Indep. Stadium
13-05-05 Burkina vs Mali 17p.m.
S/kunda west
14-05-05 Zimbabwe vs Nigeria 17p.m. Indep. Stadium
14-05-05 South Africa vs Cote d’Ivoire 17p.m. S/k west
Semi Finals
17-05-05 Winner A – Runner up B 17p.m.
17-05-05 Winner B – Runner up A 19:30p.m.
3rd And 4th Place
21-05-05 Looser 13 – Looser 14 17p.m.
Final: 22-05-05 Winner 13 – Winner 14 17p.m.
"2005 Goes In The Annals of Sports"
President Jammeh has said that the year 2005 will go down in the annals of sports history in The Gambia as the year when two major international sporting events are hosted in The Gambia for the first time, namely the CAF U-17 football tournament and the Queens Baton Race.
President Jammeh made this statement at the state opening of the National Assembly recently.
We reproduce the full statement below:
The Department of State for Youth and Sports continues to promote youth and sports development and a number of remarkable achievements have been made in this area. The Department continues to decentralise its services by making it available to all Gambians through the construction of youth and sports infrastructure in selected communities across the country.
This year the Department of Youth and Sports with support from our development partners namely UNFPA, completed the construction of two multipurpose youth centres in Farafenni in the North Bank Division and Pakalinding in the Lower River Division. The FIFA Goal Project at Yundum will be completed and opened this year.
The year 2005 will go down in the annals of sports history in The Gambia as the year when two major international sporting events will be hosted in the Gambia for the first time, namely the CAF Under 1 7 Football Tournament and the Queens Baton Race.
The Department of State for Youth and Sports with the collaboration of the National Sports Council, Gambia Football Association and the football fraternity in the country are in a heightened state of preparedness to ensure a successful CAF Under 1 7 tournament.
Government has allocated ten million dalasi D10.OOO, 000 for the rehabilitation of major sports facilities that will be used during the tournament, including the Independence stadium, and for logistics. In line with international standards my Government has also rehabilitated all access roads to the Independence Stadium.
The year 2004 also saw the biggest sporting event hosted by The Gambia during the 22nd July Peace Tournament organised by my Government through the Department of State for Youth and Sports. Eleven countries participated and the Gambia’s Under 17 Team won the tournament.
The year 2005 has been declared by UNESCO as the Year for Sports and Physical Education and the National Sports Council together with other sporting bodies in the country have been able to come up with an elaborate calendar of activities covering the whole year. Each month of the year has been dedicated to one sporting discipline.
In April 2005 the Gambia will participate in the first Islamic Solidarity Games, which will take place in Saudi Arabia. The objective is to further unify and strengthen the Islamic Ummah.
Gambian Born Striker
Making Name In German League
Despite the Gambia National senior team will not be taking part in an international football till the year 2008, Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers, a Gambian- Sierra Leonian born striker, Lansana Camara is currently making name in German division four league championship.
The 20-year-old, Camara was signed by FPG 07 Ludwig burg Stuttgart last year July and he is currently the fastest player of the team.
Camara who was born in Sierra Leon, with his parents coming from Macca Maserria in Wuli East in the Upper River Division.
Lansana did a wonderful sow up for his team in a friendly test match, creating more chances in the first half of the match with skilful passes.
According to him, the match was a thrilling game for him and his colleagues because it was a test match to prepare them for their league matches.
‘’ My coach is always happy with me whenever I am playing’’, says camara.
He likes the way I strikes and scores goals.
In their match against USD Stuttgart a second division team in the German league ended by 1-0 in their favour.
The German based Gambian striker said, ‘’My coach is always impressed with my styles of move during matches which are very fast and can effect changes in the skills of attackers.
When asked whether he has any plans in the future to play for the Gambia, Camara said, I would be always ready to play for my country the Gambia, whenever they contact me.
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Lamin Noran Kicks Off
By Lamin Njie
The 2005 Lamin Noran tournament has started with ten teams in the competition.
In a brief chat with Independent Sports, Yahya Manneh alias (Faye) the secretary general of the organising committee said that the aim of the Noran is to bring together players and keep the game -football alive.
Manneh indicated that they are starting with a zero account but in a week’s time, they will start looking for sponsors for the tournament.
Mr. Manneh cautioned both players and their fans to maintain discipline during and after matches. The trophy, he revealed, is named after the late Alkalo of Lamin, Malamin Bojang. Other members of the committee are Lamin Colley- Chairman, Almameh Colley -Organiser, and Lamin Senghore- logistics. Matches run from Thursday to Sunday.
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HIV Poses Severest Threat
As the pandemic ‘set to infect 90m Africans’
The HIV virus could infect nearly 90 million Africans in the next 20 years if more rigorous measures are not taken to combat the epidemic, the United Nations report warns.
The world body estimates that the next two decades could see 89 million new cases of the scourge in Africa, which runs up to 10% of the continent’s population.
It is reported that some 25 million Africans are currently infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
The UN recommends a committed campaign against HIV/Aids and 200 billion Dollar of investment to stem its prevalence. "At best, taking more action against Aids could save 16 million people from dying, as a result of the disease and a further 43 million people from contracting it", the report outlined.
The UN report indicates that if millions of Africans are still infected with the HIV virus by 2025, "it will not be because there was no choice", but basically because of insufficient political will to change behaviour at all levels and to halt the forces driving the Aids epidemic in Africa.
The report delineated three specific models of how the disease could affect the continent in 20 years to come, based on how much money and effort is being invested in the fight against the pandemic. "These scenarios demonstrate that while societies will have to deal with Aids for some time to come, the extent of the epidemic’s impact will largely depend on the responses and investments.
The worst-case scenario, in which the funding and policies stay as they are now, foresees a fourfold increase in the total number of people dying from the pandemic".
The report also looks at two more positive outcomes: and in the best-case scenario, the international aid flows to Africa is being doubled, with investment in health systems increased, and that agriculture, education and the treatment dramatically improved
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As The World Celebrates International Women's Day
RSF Salutes Women Journalists
As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on 8 March, a French reporter is being held hostage in Iraq, while four others are imprisoned elsewhere, with another five women journalists killed in the course of their duty since 8 March 2004.
Reporters Without Borders pays tribute to these women journalists, cyber dissents and Internet-users who, risking their lives and freedom have carried on, for us, their work of informing the public. "We call on the international community to campaign for the release of women held in Iraq, Rwanda, the Maldives, Turkey and Iran. Most cases of murders of women journalists have been carried out with complete impunity. Governments must act for justice to be done."
Thirty-eight of the 636 journalists killed doing their jobs since 1992 have been women.
A women held hostage in Iraq, Florence Aubenas, 43, veteran reporter for the French Daily Libération, was abducted on 5 January 2005 with her Iraqi fixer, Hussein Hanoun
al-Saadi. She had been in Baghdad since 16 December 2004. An award-winning journalist, Florence Aubenas has covered conflicts for the French Daily since 1986, in Rwanda, Kosovo, Algeria and Afghanistan.
Three journalists deprived of their liberty Young Austrian journalist Sandra Bakutz was
arrested by Turkish police in Istanbul on 10 February 2005 accused of "membership of a banned organisation". She faces 10-15 years in prison.
She had traveled to Turkey to cover the trial of approximately 100 extreme left militants.
Fathimath Nisreen, 25, has been deprived of her freedom since January 2002, for working with online newsletter Sandhaanu, which had criticised human rights abuses in the Maldives. She was condemned to 10 years imprisonment for defamation. She has since been exiled to Feeail Island where she is serving a reduced sentence of five years banishment.
Police in Iran on 2 March 2005 arrested Weblogger Najmeh Oumidparva, http:/www.faryadebeseda.persianblog.com - Dawn of Freedom) wife of Weblogger Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi, who is also imprisoned. She is three months pregnant and has been told she could spend ten days in prison. Days before her arrest, she had posted on her web log a message written by her husband shortly before his arrest in which he claimed the right to free of expression and said he was "waiting for police handcuffs".
In Rwanda, Tatiana Mukakibibi, presenter and producer of entertainment programmes for Radio Rwanda, has been imprisoned since October 1996.
She worked with the priest André Sibomana, former editor of Rwanda’s oldest newspaper Kinyamateka. She is being held in extremely harsh conditions in Ntenyo, Gitarama. She has been accused of murder but Reporters Without Borders has been able to show that there is no concrete evidence against her.
In the last few months, some dozen women journalists have been arrested worldwide. They include Cyberjournalist Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh who has spent a month in prison in Iran for contributing to reformist websites. Her colleague Fereshteh Ghazi was imprisoned between 28 October and 7 December 2004 for articles she wrote. She came out of prison physically and mentally weakened.
Women journalists killed in Somalia, Belarus, Nicaragua and Iraq Kate Peyton, 39, correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Somalia, was fatally wounded on 9 February 2005, when unknown gunmen fired a bullet into her back as she was entering a Mogadishu hotel to meet the speaker of the transitional parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden.
Journalist Veronika Cherkasova was found murdered at her home in Minsk on October 2004, while she was investigating arms sales from Belarus to Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Despite evidence to the contrary, police insist on treating it as a crime of passion. The investigator has been harassing her 15-year-old son.
In Nicaragua, María José Bravo, 26, was killed in November 2004, while covering clashes close to a polling station.
In Iran, the legal system is still obstructing the process of bringing the murderers to justice
of Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi, 54. She died in Tehran on 11 July 2003 after officials interrogating her in a Tehran prison inflicted vicious blows to her head.
Women journalists harassed because of their investigative reporting.
Reporter Anna Politkovskaya of the Russian daily Novaya Gazeta has suffered constant threats and obstruction to her investigations, particularly in Chechnya. In September 2004, she was poisoned, probably by Russian secret services, as she tried to reach Beslan to cover the school massacre there.
In the United States, New York Times reporter Judith Miller faces up to 18 months in prison for "contempt of court" after refusing to reveal her sources of information to the courts in connection with her revelations about White House manoeuvring.
Independent Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque has received death threats since September 2004 because of her reporting on the murder of journalist and humorist Jaime Garzón.
Women who fight for husbands who have been imprisoned or disappeared In Cuba, The Women in White, wives of the 75 political prisoners arrested in March 2003, demonstrate silently every Sunday in the streets of Havana to demand the release of their husbands.
Wives of imprisoned journalists in China and Burma regularly brave official harassment to visit their husbands, bringing them food and medicine that the authorities deny them. They also risk reprisals by speaking to the international press. Zeng Li, the wife cyberdissident Huang Qi lost her job and her home as a result of police harassment.
In Sierra Leone, Isatou Kamara, whose husband has languished in prison in Freetown since October 2004, never stops updating international organisations about her journalist husband’s plight.
In France, Osange Kieffer and Fabienne Nérac, whose husbands are missing, respectively in Cote d’Ivoire and Iraq, continue the fight to find them. "Everyone tends to want me to accept that he has been killed, but I do not agree, I must continue fighting. I need proof, so do my children," said the wife of Fred Nérac, who went missing near Basra in March 2003.
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Over 1000 Jobs For Gambians
by Sana Camara
Twenty-three companies mainly in the manufacturing industry, fisheries and agriculture with "special investment status" are currently established and operational in the country, creating over one thousand jobs.
According to President Jammeh, the number of jobs created by these companies is estimated at 1020 with a potential of more than 2000. This , he noted, is part of Gambia Investment Promotion and Free Zones Agency’s (GIPFZA) continuous drive to promote and market the country to attract investment.
He indicated that with assistance from its partners, the Department of State for Trade Industry and Employment, has embarked on a programme to develop the country’s rural based agro-processing sub-sector as a way of enhancing the productivity of women engaged in horticultural production, as the detailed study of the sub-sector was carried out; and the strategies designed to enhance the development of the sub-sector.
On agriculture, he said the sector continues to play an important role in the socio-economic development of the country, providing substantial rural income, employment, foreign exchange earnings and food, adding that the expansion of agricultural production continues to be a major pillar in the national strategy for ensuring food security and poverty alleviation".
In recent months, he said "government has been making great strides to find an efficient, cost-effective and sustainable way forward to address the marketing and financial problems that persistently beset the agricultural sector".
He finally indicated that in order to bring coherence and recognise the regulatory and supervisory functions of government, it is envisaged that the Gambia Livestock Marketing Act of 1976 "which became obsolete with the privatisation of the Livestock Marketing Board" will be repealed, giving way for a new Bill in 2005.
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