 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Dalton1
3485 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Sep 2006 : 13:30:19
|
"Let me tell you one thing. The whole world can go to hell. If I want to ban any newspaper, I will, with good reason.", Jammeh.
Jammeh's arrogance before even being sworn in. The piece was forwarded to the post, and please read. Tell me is a joke that he didn't say this.........
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060924/wl_nm/gambia_president_dc
Gambia leader signals firm rule after election win By Nick Tattersall
Sun Sep 24, 4:41 PM ET
BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh signaled no let up in his iron-fisted rule after an election win the opposition rejected, saying he would ban any newspaper that offended him and would not be dictated to by donors.
ADVERTISEMENT
The 41-year-old former coup leader, who has said he wants to rule the tiny West African country for at least another three decades, won a third five-year term in Friday's presidential poll with 67 percent of the vote, a larger majority than before.
His main challenger, human rights lawyer Oussainou Darboe who polled 27 percent, rejected the result, citing widespread voter intimidation by the security forces and local officials.
At his first news conference since being re-elected, Jammeh was asked about press freedom in the former British protectorate, where rights groups say journalists and political opponents have been imprisoned without trial.
"Let me tell you one thing. The whole world can go to hell. If I want to ban any newspaper, I will, with good reason," Jammeh said late on Saturday, dressed in his trademark white robes and holding a Koran and ceremonial sword.
"This is Africa and this is the Gambia, a country where we have very strong African moral values. ... If you write Yahya is a thief, you should be ready to prove it in a court of law. If that constitutes lack of press freedom, then I don't care."
International watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says press freedom in Gambia is "catastrophic," with death threats, surveillance and arbitrary night-time arrests the daily lot of journalists "who do not sing the government's praises."
Gambian journalists were shocked by the murder in 2004 of Deyda Hydara, joint editor of privately owned newspaper The Point and Banjul correspondent of Agence France Presse (AFP) as well as RSF. Hydara was shot dead at the wheel of his car.
After two investigations, RSF said the killing was part of a "series of attacks against journalists" and that Hydara was under security service surveillance minutes before he was shot, a few hundred meters (yards) from a police barracks.
Official Gambian investigations have been inconclusive.
"I don't believe in killing people. I believe in locking you up for the rest of your life. Then maybe at some point we say, oh, he is too old to be fed by the state, we release him and let him become destitute," Jammeh said when asked about the case.
"Then everybody will learn a lesson from him."
"ALLAH IS MY WORLD BANK"
Officials from Darboe's camp told a news conference on Sunday that some of their supporters had been arrested and others intimidated in the run-up to the vote. Some had been forced to swear on the Koran they would not vote against Jammeh.
Commonwealth observers said that while polling day itself passed off smoothly, overt support for Jammeh from public officials, particularly the security services, during the run-up to the vote may have made the playing field uneven.
Jammeh seized power in 1994 as a young army lieutenant and his thundering charisma permeates Gambian political life. Some privately disapprove of the authoritarian nature of his rule but say he has done much to improve schools, hospitals and roads.
Jammeh said he had managed to develop the country over the past 12 years despite donors curbing funding after the 1996 polls were dismissed as unfair by the Commonwealth. He said development remained his priority.
"My World Bank has always been the almighty Allah and he will always remain my World Bank. I don't look up to anybody but the almighty Allah to develop this country," he said.
"The mere fact that we are poor does not mean that we have lost our sovereignty. The mere fact that we are poor does not mean that we can become somebody's stooge or poodle," he said.
|
"There is no god but Allah (SWT); and Muhammad (SAW)is His last messenger." shahadah. Fear & Worship Allah (SWT) Alone! (:
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
| Bantaba in Cyberspace |
© 2005-2024 Nijii |
 |
|
|
Topic Locked
