Gambia risks losing 50million Euros as Lawyer Fatty casts gloomy political picture
--Also, Gruesome
Tales of Torture & Intolerance unveiled to EU Press
Corps
By
Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-In-Chief
“The
Gambia’s 10th EDF funding request from the E.U amounting to 50 million EUROS is
now at risk due to gross human rights abuses”~Human Rights Lawyer, Mai
Fatty”
Lawyer Mai Fatty at EU , Brussels on Monday
Ever since his laudable meeting with officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague on Tuesday March 9, 2010, Gambia’s intrepid human rights lawyer and opposition leader of The Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), Mr. Mai N. K. Fatty, has been making significant headways across European capitals informing and educating governments and international originations about the dismal political climate in the West African state of The Gambia under “one of the worst repressive regimes in Africa”, to borrow his own words before the European Press Corps in Brussels, last night. During talks with European Council Representatives, Lawyer Fatty spoke at length on the country’s harrowing human rights situation and forcefully argued that it was high time the EU spoke to the Gambian dictator in a language that will bring sense to his seemingly unbridled madness and total disregard for international conventions and protocols governing their agreements. He also presented to his hosts a video clip of President Jammeh’s bellicose utterances threatening “to cut off the heads of human rights workers” with shameful arrogance. The tenacious and outspoken Gambian lawyer also forceful argued for stiff sanctions against Jammeh’s utterly criminal regime as the surest way to bring about positive and meaningful change. Below is a detailed account of his meetings at the EU.
Lawyer Fatty
meeting EU officials,
Monday
GMC
flag bearer and human rights Lawyer, Mai N.K Fatty was received at the European
Union Headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday 29th March 2010, for talks
with EU Council Representatives on the subject of the abominable and
persistently worrisome human rights malpractices of President Yaya Jammeh. Mr.
Fatty’s demarche to Brussels came on the heels of the visit of Gambian Foreign
Minister, Ousman Jammeh to the EU in Brussels two weeks ago and that of Former
Finance Minister, Abdou Kolley (now Trade Minister) after news reportedly leaked
that Mr. Fatty poised to meet the European Council on the lamentable Gambian
political situation.
The
talks which were attended by Heads of EU Institutions involved in development
relations with The Gambia were presented with stark evidence of Yaya Jammeh’s
harrowing brutality against Gambian citizens, including using the judiciary to
legitimise political repression against opponents.
Lawyer
Fatty urged for punitive sanctions against the Government of Yaya Jammeh for
persistent and remorseless violations of the Treaty signed between The E.U and
The Gambia in June 2000 and amended in Luxembourg in June 2005. Under this
Treaty, the basis of EU cooperation with The Gambia is predicated on “respect for all human rights and fundamental
freedoms, including respect for fundamental social rights, democracy based on
the rule of law and transparent and accountable governance”, which
the EU considers as integral part of sustainable development. Lawyer Fatty
contended that the Treaty imposes a legal duty on the European Union to take
punitive action against Yaya Jammeh’s relentless violation of Treaty
obligations, particularly Article
9, defined as an “essential element” of the Treaty, the violation of
which puts into operation Article 96. He presented
convincing evidence of the ghastly human rights nightmare Gambians continue to
endure, and reminded EU officials of the inseparable nexus between development
cooperation and human rights as established by the European Court of Justice in the
case of Portugal versus Council
(1996).
He
also reminded them that the monstrous actions of Yaya Jammeh contradict Paragraph 103 of the “European Consensus on Development”
which provides a further articulation on the conditions of receiving EU
assistance. Lawyer Fatty emphasised that The Treaty of Nice (2003) provides
the legal basis for the enforcement of human rights as an integral part of
sustainable development, and at the same time imposing a legal duty on the EU to
sanction The Gambia Government as a development partner and beneficiary of
development assistance under the EDF protocol. He said that failure by the EU to
take immediate concrete action against Yaya Jammeh has serious political
consequences, including possible widespread violence in The Gambia, for which
Gambians would hold the EU partly responsible. He said that EU development
support is being abused by Yaya Jammeh to showcase infrastructural development,
energy and water sectors as successes of his regime without even acknowledging
the source of the funding. Mr. Fatty said that the EU must stop rewarding Yaya
Jammeh’s atrocities with further cooperation, noting that the even modest
macro-economic gains made are at serious risk due to reckless public expenditure
management, policy inconsistencies with unauthorised extra-budgetary spending by
Yaya Jammeh. He informed them that Jammeh himself confessed to extreme wealth,
from questionable sources noting that government is in breach of Article 61.2 (a) of the
Partnership Agreement due
to Jammeh’s senseless fiscal extravagance.
While
in Brussels, Mr. Fatty lobbied the EU to reject the latest request from Jammeh’s
Government to the EU for a three
million Euros Facility under the V-FLEX Programme. It is very
highly unlikely that this would now be approved by EuropeAid and other EU cooperation
implementing bodies.
Lawyer
Fatty revealed that in going to Brussels, he was also seeking on behalf of
Gambians to urge the international community to engage on The Gambian situation
pursuant to Article 55 of the UN Charter,
to avert possible political violence in the country due to grievous rights
violations. He said that Article 55 emphasises “the
creation of conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for
peaceful and friendly relations among nations” and that universal
respect for human rights is a founding value of the European Union, and its
enforcement a shared international obligation.
He
also delivered to Council Representatives the tape containing Jammeh’s
irresponsible outburst where he threatened to “kill human rights defenders, and nothing
will come out of it”.
The
Council Representatives assured Mr. Fatty that the EU shall not finance The
Gambia’s 10th EDF request amounting to 50 million Euros unless
verifiable actions are taken with regard to human rights, the rule of law and
good governance practices. They also said that the issue of The Gambia’s Treaty violations were
communicated to Foreign Minister, Ousman Jammeh during his visit to the EU two
weeks ago for onward transmission to the Government, and that this on-going
Article 8 political consultation is not indefinite. The EU confirms that Mr.
Fatty’s description of the appalling human rights and governance situation is
consistent with its own independent information, and that the European Council is not without
effective options. In particular, it acknowledges that, it is almost impossible
for party leaders like Mr. Fatty or journalists to function properly under the
current climate without unacceptable prohibitive action taken by security
elements in government.
Council Representatives noted that the EU will not determine its decision on the fairness of elections in The Gambia based on Government’s conduct three months or so before elections, but on the overall impossibility of the governance situation preceding years and months leading up to the elections. The Council Representatives concluded that no disbursements will be made to The Gambia under the 10th EDF protocol, which includes budgetary support, and that the existing cooperation under the 9th EDF may be further curtailed.
Later
in the day, Mr. Fatty held a press conference with some members of the EU Press
Corps, where he provided detailed description of the political climate of severe
intolerance in The Gambia, and gave them material evidence of government
repression. He requested them to give the widest possible publicity to Yaya
Jammeh’s government as one of the worst repressive regimes in Africa, urging
them to accord prominence to the pathetic plight of ordinary
Gambians.
On Tuesday the 30th March 2010, Lawyer Fatty held private meetings with some EU Parliamentarians, pressing for punitive actions against Yaya Jammeh and his Government, and in putting pressure on the European Council to enforce its sanctions provisions against Jammeh under the Treaty. Mr. Fatty’s next diplomatic shuttle will take him to the Spanish capital, Madrid because Spain holds the current EU Presidency, where he is expected to make a strong case for putting The Gambian situation on the Agenda of the next EU Council of Ministers. Mr. Fatty will also exchange ideas with the Spanish Government on parallel migration, a matter of high priority for Spain, and how this is connected to poor governance and absence of economic opportunities by government. It would be noted that President Jammeh single-handedly dominates the private sector in the country.