Folks, Sources have informed me of a special reception to be held in honor of the Prez during his visit to DC. A 'top secret' list of Gambians in the area who are deemed 'safe' or 'soft' on Jammeh have been invited to attend. Perhaps those who have not been invited but want to meet the President of ALL Gambians might consider 'crashing' this event. (smile!) Also you may want to attend the meeting at the Rainbow Coalition with Jesse Jackson, or perhaps catch up with him at Randall Robinson's TransAfrica or at the State Dept., or perhaps a tete-a-tete at his residence at ... Afterall, a President who cannot meet with his own people speaks volumes of his presidency. What would have been wrong with having a forum that is well moderated in which all Gambians (as opposed to a chosen few) are given the opportunity to hear what the President has to say and pose some questions to him also. The jittery behavior of those coordinating his visit as demonstrated by the silence of the Embassy for example, and the screening of members of the community, demonstrate the distrust folks in this government seem to have with the application of democracy. They should not be surprised though if those considered 'safe' or 'soft' turn out to be the ones with the thorny questions for H.E. Oh well, I for one wish them all well. I already had plans to attend my cousin's wedding in Atlanta. So sunshine city, here I come! Long Live Democracy! Long Live Openess! Latjor ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------