I and others are waiting to hear about his meeting with the opposition parties leaders as was indicated to have been part of the conditions to his visit. A manifest case of 'celebrity disconnect' between the realities of the Oppressed Peoples of Africa and Our Brethrens on this side of the Atlantic. But for how long would this go on? Instead of being welcomed by dictators try FEEL THE WELCOME OF YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, you bet you out of TOUCH.

 

Farang.

 

 

 

I am a Gambian-American who welcomes the release of Tamsir Jasseh and Amadou Scatred Janneh. Both have been victims of a dictatorship that has been a thorn of the side of Gambians for 18 years. However, in as much as their freedom is celebrated, the manner in which they were released requires caution and the consideration of the long-term implications of the private and personal diplomacy employed by Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The trip to Banjul by Rev. Jesse Jackson was private - the details of which are murky and likely to remain so in the foreseeable future. Thanks to the statement issued by the American Ambassador to The Gambia, we learned that Mr. Jackson's mission was sponsored and paid for by the dictatorial regime of Yaya Jammeh. The trip was not officially sanctioned and thus the circumstances surrounding the trip was opaque and remains opaque. Let me be clear, I am not questioning the motives of the Right Reverend, but I have every right to question the wisdom of his private mission given the nature of the government in Banjul that has regularly contravened international laws and norms and has, over a period of 18 years, abused the human rights and liberties of not only Gambians but many nationalities. Gambians and other nationalities have been jailed, tortured, killed, made to disappeared and exiled. Given the human rights record of Yaya Jammeh and his reputation within the international community, no private mission of mercy to Banjul should have been taken without either being sanctioned by the U.S. government or a recognized national or international entity with a mission that addresses the larger governance picture of the country.

The Gambia has emerged from a presidential elections increasingly isolated because - as in previous elections - they were considered to be flawed by the regional political body - ECOWAS. The human rights record of the Jammeh is well documented and universally considered to be appalling. The recent executions which brought international attention back in the direction of The Gambia, and Jammeh's dictatorial government back into focus galvanized Gambians around the globe like never before with demonstrations against the regime taking place in Western capitals, including Washington, Chicago, New York, London, Stockholm and all across Europe.  Human Rights organizations including Amnesty International have been proactively engaged in drawing the international community's attention to the plights of ALL Gambians who are victims of the vicious regime in Banjul.  Rev. Jesse Jackson should have supported the Gambian communities across America in their effort to bring an end to an illegitimate and murderous regime rather than conducting a private mercy mission which also has the intended or unintended consequence of lending legitimacy to a regime that does not deserve it.

For the first time in the 18-year tyranny in The Gambia, the US Congress is being engaged in a manner that hopefully will lead to a better understanding and appreciation of the serious human right abuses committed against a defenseless population by the current regime. In our effort to fight injustice, we cannot afford a parallel private diplomacy that has neither been officially endorsed nor sanctioned by the US government, and which, based on newspaper report of the Rev. Jackson mission, seemed to have legitimized a regime considered illegitimate by many, and to validate the unconstitutional actions of a dictator. Private diplomatic efforts in countries that have poor human rights records are not always the best approach because they tend to focus on achieving a limited objective - in this case the freedom of Tamsir Jasseh and Amadou Janneh - at the expense of the larger goal of freeing an entire nation from the clutches of a dictator, while at the same time providing him with a propaganda platform top exploit the visit.  Yaya Jammeh is someone who should not be appeased but isolated, and for that reason Reverend Jesse Jackson did not speak for me, whatever the terms and conditions of the release of the two prisoners were.

A. Koroma