 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
OB1
84 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Apr 2006 : 14:00:57
|
To all bantabaras,
I want to ask all of you to use this new topic to paste any letters sent to Jammeh in the wake of the foiled coup and we can keep this on for a month, then maybe place it as an internet file for the AU leaders--prick their conscience a little, as to why they would hold a summit hosted by Jammeh. I am pasting a letter from the Gambia Journal read on:
MORE CREDIBLE EXPLAINATION NEEDED FOR YOUR ESCAPEE STORY
By Mbaye B Sarr
Apr 19, 2006, 13:26
Your Excellency,
Gambians have amply demonstrated their total lack of confidence in your administration when almost everyone expressed total disbelief in the claims by your regime that five of those accused of complicity in the coup plot have escaped while being transferred to Janjanbureh prison. Whoever issued that press release seems to have provoked many more questions than provided answers. In the first place, the release was full of loopholes that should have been filled before it was issued, if it was to make any sense to any reasonable person.
Among the questions that need to be answered by your regime is where the “accident” occurred, at what time of the day or night, what happened to those who were escorting them and whether or not anyone of them was hurt in the “accident”. With such a story, you are also admitting the inefficiency of your security forces that they cannot even control five prisoners, who must have been handcuffed. That in itself seems to make the escape story even less plausible and more ridiculous.
Mr. President, you need to think of another more credible excuse because this one cannot certainly stand the test of reasoning. Even though it has been mentioned in your mouthpiece newspaper the Daily Observer that those who escorted the detainees have been arrested, but there has not been any mention of names and as such, hardly anyone believes that such people really exist.
There is also no reason given as to why out of the more than 30 persons detained since the “foiling of the coup”, only these five were being transferred to Janjanbureh prison when they have not yet been charged, particularly considering the fact that the crime they have been accused of committing can only be tried before the High Court and there is no such court in Janjanbureh.
People have a lot of genuine reasons to be sceptical about the veracity of the claim, because hardly anything seems to fit in the jigsaw puzzle. Therefore, unless and until these people are either produced or they resurface somewhere else, it is hard to see how you can convince Gambians that they have not suffered the same fate that befell people like the late Basirou Barrow, Dot Faal, Pa Modou Saye, Ebrima Ceesay and the numerous others who were extra-judicially executed in cold blood under your orders in November1994 when they were also accused of attempting to overthrow your regime. We have also seen what happened to the Ghanaian migrants who were last year June brutally killed and dumped in the bushes next to Ghana town near Brufut, just for being suspected of being mercenaries, without any shred of evidence being adduced by your regime. We can also recall how your security forces killed and maimed several Gambian school children in April 2000, six years ago, whose only crime was to organise a peaceful demonstration against certain grievances they had, which your government failed to address. Rather than punish those who committed such heinous crimes against innocent young Gambian lives, you chose to rush to the National Assembly to amend the indemnity clause in order to indemnify the perpetrators of such brutality against any prosecution.
In fact you have already promised to ruthlessly deal with those accused of involvement in the recent coup plot, and therefore, any disappearance of anyone of them can easily be attributed to a fulfilment of that promise. As they say in Wollof, “if a black animal killed your grandmother, then you would be justified in fearing anything black”. Therefore, the relatives of those involved, and the whole country have a very good reason to be fearful of what might have happened to these people. It is also in the interest of your regime to do everything possible to produce convincing evidence that those so-called escaped detainees are indeed still alive; otherwise, it is hard to see how African leaders or the decent ones amongst them can ever justify coming to Banjul in July for the AU summit.
Your Excellency, I wonder whether you know the Krio adage; “everyday for thief man, one day for master yard,” like your former best friend Charles Taylor has just realised. Gambians and the international community are keenly watching your actions and be rest assured that one fine day, just like Charles Taylor, you will also be required to answer for them.
Your Excellency put an end to this madness in the guise of punishing coup plotters. You may as well kiss goodbye to a successful AU summit because no credible African leader would come to Banjul under such a cloud of repression being perpetrated by your regime on innocent Gambians without any regard to the rule of law and human decency. Your days are over Mr. President.
|
BN |
|
|
OB1
84 Posts |
Posted - 19 Apr 2006 : 14:06:57
|
GAMBIA: Journalists still held, raising alarm
March 31, 2006
President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh
c/o Embassy of the Gambia
1155 15th Street, NW, Suite 1000,
Washington DC 20005
Via facsimile: 1-202-785-1430
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the detention since early Tuesday of two senior journalists for the private newspaper The Independent, whose offices were also sealed off by security forces. Editor Musa Saidykhan and General Manager Madi Ceesay, who is also secretary-general of the Gambia Press Union, have now been in custody for more than three days without being informed of the reasons, according to CPJ sources. Gambian law normally requires that they be brought before a court within a three-day period, a local lawyer confirmed.
Sources at The Independent told CPJ that the two were transferred today from police custody to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Information Minister Neneh Mcdoll-Gaye told the BBC on Wednesday that the two were being investigated in connection with a purported coup attempt on March 21. But in a brief telephone interview with CPJ yesterday, Saidykhan said a police officer had told him their detention was due to their work.
CPJ is deeply concerned not only that Ceesay and Saidykhan are being detained, but that they appear to be held in an arbitrary manner, without due process or access to legal counsel. Offices of The Independent in Banjul also remain sealed off by security forces, despite the absence of any court order, according to CPJ sources. The paper normally appears on Mondays and Fridays, but staffers have been unable to produce today’s edition because of the government action.
These developments call into question the Gambia’s willingness to abide by international standards. It also heightens suspicion that these moves are designed to suppress critical reporting by The Independent.
This is not the first time that the newspaper and its staff have been subjected to official harassment. Last October, NIA agents detained and harassed Saidykhan in connection with an article on the unsolved December 2004 murder of prominent Gambian editor Deyda Hydara (see CPJ news alert of October 27, 2005). The Gambian government has also failed to solve a series of arson attacks on private media, including two against The Independent in 2003 and 2004.
We call on Your Excellency to ensure that our colleagues Ceesay and Saidykhan are released immediately, in conformity with Gambian law and international standards, and that The Independent be allowed to resume publishing now, without fear of reprisal.
Thank you for your attention to these urgent matters. We await your reply.
Sincerely,
Ann Cooper
Executive Director
|
BN |
 |
|
|
kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 12 May 2006 : 01:12:53
|
OB!
What is the state of this project. Any responses? |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
|
|
|
kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 13 May 2006 : 12:14:40
|
QB1 Am impressed with your letters. Can you help draft another similar one for review, vetting, additional comments and finalisation through the Bantabaras before its release on "Coalition and the need for unity as the stakes are high" or any suitable subject or caption to appeal to them to unite and contest the elections under one umbrella against the tyranny of Jammeh and dismantle the APRC.
In that theme we expect to see the need to make sacrifices, adopt working on principles rather than undermining them, proposed new strategies, restructure the Coalition and renegotiate the MOU for Election 2006 before its too late. |
Edited by - kobo on 13 May 2006 12:21:36 |
|
|
|
Newfy
Western Samoa
462 Posts |
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
| Bantaba in Cyberspace |
© 2005-2024 Nijii |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
