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Momodou
Denmark
11513 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Jun 2021 : 19:13:09
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GAMBIA-L Digest 36
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) Commentary on the Election Results
by BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <kolls567@qatar.net.qa>
2) 96128015.html
by momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk (Camara, Momodou)
3) Re: Commentary on the Election Results
by KTouray@aol.com
4) Praetorianism in Africa
by AfrImports@aol.com
5) Re: Praetorianism in Africa
by bf299@freenet.carleton.ca (Bocar Ndiaye)
6) From PANA (961290128.html)
by momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk (Camara, Momodou)
7) From PANA (96129017.html)
by momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk (Camara, Momodou)
8) Re: Commentary on the Election Results
by Nkoyo Inyang Faal <nfaal@is2.dal.ca>
9) Re: 96128015.html
by Ylva Hernlund <yher@u.washington.edu>
10) Let's move on -Reply
by William Roberts <wcroberts@osprey.smcm.edu>
11)
by "BOJANG,BUBA" <BBOJANG@MUSIC.TRANSY.EDU>
12) Re: Let's move on -Reply
by OUSMAN GAJIGO <gajigoo@wabash.edu>
13) New members
by "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
14) Re: 96128015.html
by "Malanding S. Jaiteh" <msjaiteh@mtu.edu>
15) Re: Let's move on -Reply
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
16) "Brief Bio"
by "Dr. S. G. Kamara" <73244.2701@CompuServe.COM>
17) Gambia Vote Could Bring Return of Aid (fwd)
by "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
18) Gambia's Jammeh extends hand to vanquished opposition (fwd)
by "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
19) Gambia poll runner-up quits refuge, rejects result (fwd)
by "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
20) Re: Let's move on -Reply
by OUSMAN GAJIGO <gajigoo@wabash.edu>
21) Re: Let's move on -Reply
by binta@iuj.ac.jp
22) Re: "Brief Bio"
by binta@iuj.ac.jp
23) Re: Military ruler in Gambia Defeats Rivals in Election
by krubally@ix.netcom.com
24) Fwd:
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
25) More news on Gambian elections
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
26) Fwd: from IPS
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
27) Re: Commentary on the Election Results
by Sulayman Nyang <nyang@cldc.howard.edu>
28) Abacha's Turn?
by AfrImports@aol.com
29) Introduction of new members
by ademba@gardner-webb.edu (Alasana Demba)
30) (no subject)
by ademba@gardner-webb.edu (Alasana Demba)
31) Three new members
by "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
32) Re: (no subject)
by sarian@osmosys.incog.com (Sarian Loum)
33) Forwarding Malanding's latest posting.
by "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
34) Re: Response to Malanding's Contribution
by "Adama Kah" <Vptaak@vpt.gwu.edu>
35) Remove name from list
by SARJOB@aol.com
36) FW: FW: Election (fwd)
by "Brian Hubbard" <Babanding@msn.com>
37) address problems
by ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
38) Re: FW: FW: Election (fwd)
by Ylva Hernlund <yher@u.washington.edu>
39) Re: Reactions
by Yaya Jallow <yj0001@jove.acs.unt.edu>
40) NEW SERVICE : CASH WIRING & MONEY TRANSFER TO
GAMBIA.
by Cheikh Faty <CSFaty@psfinc.com>
41) From the Nigerian newsgroup
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
42) IPS News
by momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
43) new member
by ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
44) Gambia & WTO
by AfrImports@aol.com
45) ADDRESS CORRECTION.
by ocorr@gardner-webb.edu (Ousman Corr)
46) Re: Election
by "HEIDI SKRAMSTAD" <HEIDIS@amadeus.cmi.no>
47) 96J04027.html
by Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
48) U.S. hopes all-Africa force will be formed soon (fwd)
by "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
49) cnet clip, Homegrown African Web provider spreads [ 57] Reuter / Nicholas Ph
by at137@columbia.edu
50) Prospects for the Future (Part 1)
by "Dr. S. G. Kamara" <73244.2701@CompuServe.COM>
51) wrong address
by ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 13:51:31 +-300
From: BASS KOLLEH DRAMMEH <kolls567@qatar.net.qa>
To: "'Gambia-L@u.washington.edu'" <Gambia-L@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Commentary on the Election Results
Message-ID: <01BA8E72.BAD8DB60@kolls567>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Dear Members of the GL,
The way I see it,what is going on the Gambia now, regardless of our =
personal or interest affilliations,is a training in the very difficult =
and complex process of democratisation.Most of us are, of course, =
perfectly justified in being terrified of the prospect of the military =
being given the enormous responsibility of running the entire life of =
our country for us;that is, given the bloody and unspeakable recent =
history they have had all around us on the Continent.That said, it would =
also be patently unfair to ignore the evidence - a lot of it - that seem =
to indicate that perhaps the boys in BANJUL are a little bit different =
from the other uniformed gangsters we are familiar all too well =
elsewhere on the Continent.
It may well be that Jammeh's boys twisted a few arms before and during =
the elections or even worse; but if the International Monitors say that, =
even if reversed, those shenanigans could not have altered the net =
result of theGambian Voice, then Mr.Darboe and his supporters plus all =
those who don't necessarily support Darboe but simply hate the military =
should show grace and character and accept the verdict.Mr Darboe, in =
particular, should be reminded that it is his professional =
responsibility to defend the rights of the defeceless and to give voices =
to those who cannot speak for themselves.And he can do that better not =
by being the president of the republic of the Gambia, but by being the =
leading Eye and Mouth of the silent majority, who must leave politicts =
to the politicians after the elections to get on with their daily =
lives.The strenght of any democratic setting is measured not by the =
strenght of the ruling party, but by the strenght of the oppositon who =
must take the agonising responsibility of consistently monitoring and =
putting enough pressure on the ruling party,day by day, hour by hour, =
minute by minute and second by second to ensure that the goods are =
delivered and on time in accordance with the campaign promises.
Guys! let us take out an important leaf out of our recent history.To my =
mind, the overriding factor responsible for president Jawara's dismal =
failure to do anything of substance for his motherland for three =
consecetive decades was not that he was some kind of devil who hated to =
do anything for his country and his countrymen and women.No! that was =
not the reason at all.The one and only reason why this potentially great =
man simply squandered and almost sold our country to Senegal was that he =
never, at any time in his political life, had any opponent who could =
remotely match his education,personality, eloquence and the nasty =
cunning required to be an effective political game player.Almost all of =
his opponents had at one time or another been either in his party or his =
Cabinet.None of them was able to put enough heat behind him ,
thus ensuring that he never forgot that,like in BarraJally, most =
Gambians still didin't have electricity,clean water and a desease- and =
dirt-free shelter.And since the lifestyle in the presidential palace , =
of any given country, is the embodiment of the best kind of life in that =
country, it is not too difficult to understand why FaFa Jawara forgot =
about the dirt and desease in BarraJally when there was no one there to =
remind him.Charles Dickens main character in Great Expectations,PIP,did =
something similar when his fate changed from the most wretched and =
downtrodden boy in an English village to a refined and affluent =
gentleman in a plush neighbourhood in London.Put simply, forgetfullnes =
is a sorry aspect of human nature.Each and everyone of us needs someone =
to remind us from time to time.=20
So, since none of us would want a repeat of the sorry state of inertia =
and complacence brought about by the virtual one party state of the =
Jawara era, the present opposition will be well advised to put their =
acts together and file competent and and agressive candidates for the =
coming parliamentary elections.In that way, they will ,on the one hand =
,ensure that Jammeh and company would deliver the goods they promise, =
and ,on the other, they would help build the very foundation of a =
democratic civil society and culture without which no country can =
develope and prosper in the strict sense of the word.And it is only then =
that we will be able to realise the true spirit of our National Anthem =
that says:- "..........That all may live in unity,Freedom and peace each =
day.Let justice guide our actions Twards the comon good, and Join our =
diverse peoples To prove man's brotherhood....."
Regards Basssssss!! =20
=20
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 15:59:01 +0000
From: momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk (Camara, Momodou)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: 96128015.html
Message-ID: <19960929145425.AAA22862@LOCALNAME>
News Stories | Environment | Economics | Science and
Health | Sports | Africa Press Review
Copyright 1996 Panafrican News Agency and Africa
News Service. All rights reserved.
Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other location,
published or used for broadcast without written authorization from
the
Panafrican News Agency. B.P. 4056,
Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: (221) 24-13-95 | Fax: (221) 24-13-90 |
E-mail: quoiset@sonatel.senet.net
28 Sep 96 - Gambia - Elections
Gambians Give Mixed Feelings To Jammeh's Victory
>From Peter Masebu; PANA Staff Correspondent
BANJUL, Gambia (PANA) - The Victory of Col. Yahya Jammeh, in Thurday's
presidential election, has generated mixed feelings among Gambians,
particularly those in the older generation.
Jammeh obtained 220,011 of the total 394,537 votes cast, registering
55.76 percent. His major rival, Ouisanou Darboe, got 141,387 votes.
While thousands of youths trooped out into the streets of Banjul soon
after the poll results were declared late Friday, a good number of the
residents appeared to be stunned.
"I knew he would win because of the development he has brought to this
country since he took over in July 1994," remarked Cisee Jeng of
Bakau, a thriving suburb of the Gambian capital.
"I don't believe the results are genuine but there is nothing
we can do. What I am sure of is that Gambians will have a rough time
for five years with arrests, job dismissals and the other hardships
which came with the military government," said a Gambian who is
self-employed and works with several international organisations.
According to him, many Gambians, especially in the capital, cannot
believe the results were not rigged but "since Gambians are peaceful,
they will not take to the streets in protest."
His said the Jammeh government needs to do a lot of "confidence
bullding among the informed urban public concerning its intentions."
"Most members of the informed public are not convinced that Jammeh's
government is bent on promoting democracy. Just look at its behaviour
during the campaign period, which forced the major opponent, Darboe,
to go into hiding, " said the international worker, who preferred
anonymity.
Darboe was still hiding at the Senegalese embassy Saturday morning.
"He is still far from us. Try later", said a relative Saturday morning
when the PANA correspondent in Banjul telephoned Darboe's house, which
shares walls with the Senegalese mission.
A weekend paper, The Observer, reported Saturday that Darboe, his two
wives and Bolong Sanko, Jammeh's former foreign minister, decided to
seek refuge Thursday night for "fear of their lives".
As a result, Darboe, whom many Gambians interviewed thought would win
the polls because of the huge crowds he was pulling during the
election campaign, had not conceded defeat by Saturday morning.
"I hoped Darboe would win but you never know with crowds at campaign
rallies. Some just go there out of curiosity," said a senior
journalist who has witnessed several Gambian polls before. "He might
have won had the media been fair to him during the campaign, which
only started on Sept 9."
According to him, Jammeh got 480 minutes coverage between Sept. 9-19,
while Darboe got none. The other presidential aspirants, Hamat Bah,
got 30 minutes, and Sidia Jatta, 150 minutes.
AFRICA NEWS Home Page | AFRICA NEWS CENTRAL | The
Nando Times
*******************************************************
URL http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara
**"Start by doing what's necessary, then what's
possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible"***
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 10:56:40 -0400
From: KTouray@aol.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Commentary on the Election Results
Message-ID: <960929105638_296274866@emout18.mail.aol.com>
While I am inclined to agree with the thrust of your commentary which seems
to be saying that the election verdict is in and it is time for the losers to
lick their wounds and move on; I find your apparent conclusion that the
verdict in itself may inadvertently prove to be a boost to our evolving
democracy puzzling to say the least. I also believe your outlook for the
upcoming parliament is a bit too rosy in terms it's potential to serve as a
check on the executive branch.
One of the basic tenets of democracy is partcipation. I do not know of
any society that has successfully transformed itself peacefully into a viable
democracy by muzzling the active participation of a cross section of it's
people.Wheather it is in politics or anyother aspect of society people are
always better served if they have access to choice.To summarily conclude
that certain people ought not to be heard simply because they hold differing
views is anathema to democracy. Whoever gets elected is as nearly important
as the process that gets him elected. While it may not serve any useful
purpose whining about the fact that the chairman got himself elected by
combining the politics of fear and strong arm tactics it is fair to say our
current system does not pass the litmus test for participatory democracy.
I characterise your outlook for parliament as being rosy for two
reasons. First it assumes that the races would be competitive and
platform-oriented which would then lead to the election of a determined group
of legislators who would then be in a position to be a significant check on
the gov't. Your premise also assumes that parliament in itself has sufficient
power to serve as a check.People tend to gravitate towards the winning team
, a notion that would strongly favor the chairman's hand picked candidates.
Secondly it would be hard for the opposition to field credible candidates
both due to lack of resources and the reluctance of potential candidates most
of whom would probably be civil servants for fear that they would wallow into
the abyss if they quit their jobs only to loose an election. With such
limitations and the fact that come december the chairman and his party would
have had more than ample time to perpetuate themselves , the results of
parliamentary elections are a foregone conclusion.
While we must refrain from second guessing the will of the people, we
must be equally adamant in saying exclusion and intimidation does not urgur
well for democracy. It breeds only antagonism.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 13:08:34 -0400
From: AfrImports@aol.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Praetorianism in Africa
Message-ID: <960929130833_532871207@emout13.mail.aol.com>
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Gambia-l:
Well, someone suggested that Jammeh and co. are truly "soldiers with a
difference," suggesting also that we look at similar regimes across Africa.
Perhaps the attached story would help. If not, read pieces by Claude Welch,
Jr and Samuel Decalo.
Amadou Scattred Janneh
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By John Chiahemen =
=0D
BANJUL, Sept 29 (Reuter) - Gambia's president-elect, Yahya Jammeh, is=
the latest African soldier to make the transition from coupmaker to civi=
lian president after elections that critics say were tailored to ensure v=
ictory. =
=0D
Jammeh, at 31 a retired colonel and Africa's youngest elected leader,=
won 56 percent of votes cast in the tiny West African tourist haven's el=
ection on Thursday against 36 percent for his main rival, lawyer Ousainou=
Darboe. =
=0D
But Darboe, who has taken refuge in Senegal's embassy in Banjul, deno=
unced what he called the ``hostile electioneering environment and unlevel=
nature of the political field'' for the poll to end two years of army ru=
le. =
=0D
Although Thursday's vote was orderly and apparently transparent, demo=
cracy campaigners say Jammeh basically assured the outcome by moves such =
as banning established politicians from standing. =
=0D
``The military will always be military, it's not the uniform that mat=
ters, it's the attitude,'' said third-placed Amath Bah. =
=0D
Bah praised organisation of Gambia's vote as ``absolutely fair and cl=
ear'' but, like Jammeh's two other civilian rivals, he says bitterly they=
were denied a fair hearing. =
=0D
Jammeh, who toppled independence president Sir Dawda Jawara in 1994, =
banned established politicians from standing. He cited their links with J=
awara whom he accused of corruption. =
=0D
Critics abroad, particularly the Commonwealth of Britain and its form=
er colonies, dismissed the poll in advance saying that it was set up to e=
nsure Jammeh's victory. =
=0D
Opposition parties were legally recognised two weeks before polling, =
had 10 days to campaign and were virtually denied access to state radio a=
nd television with their national reach. =
=0D
``The military knew what they were doing. They didn't want the people=
to hear about their corruption,'' Bah said. =
=0D
A Commonwealth ministerial monitoring group described the process as =
``obviously flawed'' and ``likely to lead to the consolidation of militar=
y rule in another form.'' =
=0D
Jammeh, whose coup alienated Gambia's traditional Western partners, r=
esigned from the army to contest the poll and on Saturday dissolved the h=
itherto ruling military council -- the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Co=
uncil (AFPRC). =
=0D
But he formed his new party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation=
and Construction (APRC), with fellow army officers and throughout the ca=
mpaign, Darboe and his supporters accused the military of taking sides an=
d harassing them. =
=0D
``It's all the more frustrating for those Africans who spent their en=
ergies fighting the monster of one-party rule,'' one veteran Western dipl=
omat in West Africa commented. =
=0D
Soldiers or former military men are well entrenched across West Afric=
a -- from Ghana, where two-time coup leader Jerry Rawlings seeks a final =
term in December, to Togo and Guinea. =
=0D
This year alone, former military rulers transformed themselves to civ=
ilian presidents through the ballot box in Chad and Niger, stoking politi=
cal tension in both countries. =
=0D
In Niger, military strongman Ibrahim Bare Mainassara toppled an elect=
ed government in January then responded to international outcry by offeri=
ng a quick end to military rule. =
=0D
He offered himself for election but also set the rules. In the middle=
of voting he sacked the independent electoral commission and appointed a=
nother that declared him winner. =
=0D
In Chad, President Idriss Deby, who seized power in 1990, won multi-p=
arty elections in July after segments of the opposition cried foul. =
=0D
Critics of military men turned politicians say they have a poor democ=
ratic record, often citing veterans such as Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire or =
Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo. =
=0D
All eyes are now on regional giant Nigeria, Africa's most populous na=
tion, and military ruler Sani Abacha's intentions in 1998, the deadline f=
or his promised democratic transition. =
=0D
Nigeria has been ruled by the military for most of its nearly 36 year=
s of independence. Many Nigerians blame their political crisis on attempt=
s by military rulers to hang on to power as civilians. =
=0D
10:42 09-29-96
=0D
--PART.BOUNDARY.0.11983.emout13.mail.aol.com.844016913--
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 14:27:13 -0400
From: bf299@freenet.carleton.ca (Bocar Ndiaye)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Praetorianism in Africa
Message-ID: <199609291827.OAA18930@freenet2.carleton.ca>
Let go on mister President Yaya,
now that you have what you wanted so badly
Let go on mr president, liberate innocent prisoners before it get to late
Let go back to business Mr president
Let the Gambian people go to there daily routine without being harass
Let go on Gambia-L, for a new chapter of Gambia
Let not just go on, but let do the right thing.
Inspired from the Gambia-L members
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 11:21:40 +0000
From: momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk (Camara, Momodou)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: From PANA (961290128.html)
Message-ID: <19960930101654.AAA22078@LOCALNAME>
29 Sep 96 - Gambia-Festivities
Soldiers Celebrate Jammeh's Victory
>From Peter Masebu; PANA Staff Correspondent
BANJUL, Gambia (PANA) -- Soldiers drove Sunday through the streets of
Banjul, capital of this tiny West African state, to celebrate the
victory of the retired colonel Yahya Jammeh in Thursday's presidential
elections.
The uniformed soldiers waved green tree branches, the symbol of the
former military ruler's Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and
Construction (APRC), which scooped 55.76% of the votes.
Hoteliers in the Gambian capital expressed optismism of a good winter
tourism season because of the new democratic era that has been
established after the elections.
One hotel manager expressed concern, however, over a report by a
foreign radio station Saturday to the effect that the polls were
rigged.
"The radio report was fictitious because all the four contesting
parties had agents in all the polling stations, and where the ballots
were counted," said the manager on condition that his name be kept
secret.
He conceded, however, that the continued hiding of Ousainou Darboe,
Jammeh's most serious challenger in last Thursday's polls, in the
Senegalese embassy could cause apprehension among potential tourists
that "something was wrong here."
Daraboe, who went into hiding Thursday night, has not conceded defeat.
His party, the United Democratic Party (UDP) received 35.84% of the
394,537 votes cast.
One of the contestants, Hamat Bah of the National Reconstruction Party
(NRP), who received 5.52% of the votes, conceded defeat at a news
conference Saturday.
His agent told PANA Sunday morning that his organisation had no
quarrel with the election results.
Analyst told PANA that those who are surprised by Jammeh's victory
ignore the fact that he singly occupied the political scene for two
years.
"Only those who don't go to the rural areas are unaware of what this
young man has been doing, especially in the construction of schools, "
said an expatriate, Clive Barlow, who has lived in the Gambia since
1985.
"Who will not vote for someone who reduces the distance his child has
to walk to school", said a veteran Radio Gambia broadcaster.
"I started this work in 1962. But it's only under Jammeh that our
radio can cover the whole country because he allocated the funds. In
addition, we now have television," he added.
Some analysts said Jammeh could have scored even higher had he not
banned three other political parties, including the People's
Progressive Party (PPP) of former President Dawda Jawara.
"Jammeh would have scored even higher votes because the other
political parties would have inevitably engaged in bickering. It was
not easy for him this time because the three banned parties simply
threw their weight behind Darboe, " said one political analyst.
He said Jammeh should use his newly acquired legitimacy to tackle "the
extremely low standard of living of the majority."
He said Jammeh has done well in providing basic infrastructures,
schools, television, roads, extention of the airport and the "July 22
arc".
"But the living conditions of many Gambians are so bad that priority
needs to be directed there," he said
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*******************************************************
URL http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara
**"Start by doing what's necessary, then what's
possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible"***
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 11:21:40 +0000
From: momodou.camara@post3.tele.dk (Camara, Momodou)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: From PANA (96129017.html)
Message-ID: <19960930101654.AAB22078@LOCALNAME>
29 Sep 96 - Gambia-Parties
Gambian Leader Defends Ban On Parties
>From Peter Masebu; PANA Staff Correspondent
BANJUL, Gambia (PANA)- Gambia's president-elect on Saturday night
justified banning certain political parties, saying this was done "in
the national interest."
In his first nation-wide radio and television address after winning
Thursday's multiparty elections, Yahya Jammeh said the exclusion of
certain political parties and individuals was "in accordance with the
recommendations of the national consultative committee."
It was this committee which rejected Jammeh's original plan for his
military government to rule The Gambia until 1998.
The president-elect denounced international criticism against the
banning of the Peoples Progressive Party of former President Dawda
Jawara, Sherrif Dibba's National Convention Party (NCP) and the Gambia
Peoples Party (GPP).
"The need to ban political parties or individuals is not particular to
The Gambia, and those countries criticising us know this and, indeed,
resort to such measures when they consider them necessary in their own
interest," Jammeh stressed.
"These countries have their own banned detainees. It is only the
justification that differs from country to country including those
criticising us," he said.
At the age of 31, the Gambian president-elect will become Africa's
youngest head of state when he gets installed on a date yet to be
announced.
Jammeh described his election as "yet another great leap forward in
our transition to the second republic we the Gambian people are
creating for ourselves and our children."
While admiting that violence occured during the pre-election period,
the president-elect attributed the incidents to "the usual
over-excitement and rivalry associated with party politics especially
during an electioneering period."
Jammeh's national address came at the end of a festive day for
supporters of his victorious party, the Alliance for Patriotic
Re-orientation, which won 55.76% of the 394,537 votes cast in last
Thursday's polls.
Dressed in green, the party's symbol, jubilant supporters of the
alliance - mainly youths - jammed the "July 22 Square" in Banjul,
outside the presidential palace.
Meanwhile, Jammeh's major challenger, lawyer Ossainou Darboe, who
obtained 141,387 votes or over 35% of the total ballots, was still in
hiding at the Senegalese high commission in the Gambian capital.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 11:22:42 -0300 (ADT)
From: Nkoyo Inyang Faal <nfaal@is2.dal.ca>
To: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Commentary on the Election Results
Message-ID: <Pine.A41.3.95.960930110402.155286D-100000@is2.dal.ca>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Dear List Members,
I'm afraid our new president may be caught
between a rock and a hard place. His main problem is what to do with the
army? I'm sure it is evident that they pose the greatest threat to the
new regime, for they are the only ones with the power to depose him. At
the same time, keeping them satisfied is a monstrous task, for the power
they enjoyed under a military regime will be diminished under a civilian
one, and no one likes to lose power. How long will it be before they
become disillusioned? How long can he keep them satisfied, and at what
expense?
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 08:17:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ylva Hernlund <yher@u.washington.edu>
To: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: 96128015.html
Message-ID: <Pine.A32.3.95.960930081733.38635D-100000@homer08.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Bakau is a suburb of Banjul?!
On Sun, 29 Sep 1996, Camara, Momodou wrote:
>
>
> News Stories | Environment | Economics | Science and
> Health | Sports | Africa Press Review
>
> Copyright 1996 Panafrican News Agency and Africa
> News Service. All rights reserved.
> Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other location,
> published or used for broadcast without written authorization from
> the
> Panafrican News Agency. B.P. 4056,
> Dakar, Senegal.
> Tel: (221) 24-13-95 | Fax: (221) 24-13-90 |
> E-mail: quoiset@sonatel.senet.net
>
> 28 Sep 96 - Gambia - Elections
>
> Gambians Give Mixed Feelings To Jammeh's Victory
>
> >From Peter Masebu; PANA Staff Correspondent
>
> BANJUL, Gambia (PANA) - The Victory of Col. Yahya Jammeh, in Thurday's
> presidential election, has generated mixed feelings among Gambians,
> particularly those in the older generation.
>
> Jammeh obtained 220,011 of the total 394,537 votes cast, registering
> 55.76 percent. His major rival, Ouisanou Darboe, got 141,387 votes.
>
> While thousands of youths trooped out into the streets of Banjul soon
> after the poll results were declared late Friday, a good number of the
> residents appeared to be stunned.
>
> "I knew he would win because of the development he has brought to this
> country since he took over in July 1994," remarked Cisee Jeng of
> Bakau, a thriving suburb of the Gambian capital.
>
> "I don't believe the results are genuine but there is nothing
>
> we can do. What I am sure of is that Gambians will have a rough time
> for five years with arrests, job dismissals and the other hardships
> which came with the military government," said a Gambian who is
> self-employed and works with several international organisations.
>
> According to him, many Gambians, especially in the capital, cannot
> believe the results were not rigged but "since Gambians are peaceful,
> they will not take to the streets in protest."
>
> His said the Jammeh government needs to do a lot of "confidence
> bullding among the informed urban public concerning its intentions."
>
> "Most members of the informed public are not convinced that Jammeh's
> government is bent on promoting democracy. Just look at its behaviour
> during the campaign period, which forced the major opponent, Darboe,
> to go into hiding, " said the international worker, who preferred
> anonymity.
>
> Darboe was still hiding at the Senegalese embassy Saturday morning.
> "He is still far from us. Try later", said a relative Saturday morning
> when the PANA correspondent in Banjul telephoned Darboe's house, which
> shares walls with the Senegalese mission.
>
> A weekend paper, The Observer, reported Saturday that Darboe, his two
> wives and Bolong Sanko, Jammeh's former foreign minister, decided to
> seek refuge Thursday night for "fear of their lives".
>
> As a result, Darboe, whom many Gambians interviewed thought would win
> the polls because of the huge crowds he was pulling during the
> election campaign, had not conceded defeat by Saturday morning.
>
> "I hoped Darboe would win but you never know with crowds at campaign
> rallies. Some just go there out of curiosity," said a senior
> journalist who has witnessed several Gambian polls before. "He might
> have won had the media been fair to him during the campaign, which
> only started on Sept 9."
>
> According to him, Jammeh got 480 minutes coverage between Sept. 9-19,
> while Darboe got none. The other presidential aspirants, Hamat Bah,
> got 30 minutes, and Sidia Jatta, 150 minutes.
>
>
> AFRICA NEWS Home Page | AFRICA NEWS CENTRAL | The
> Nando Times
>
> *******************************************************
> URL http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara
>
> **"Start by doing what's necessary, then what's
> possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible"***
>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 12:24:36 -0400
From: William Roberts <wcroberts@osprey.smcm.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Let's move on -Reply
Message-ID: <s24fbcb3.098@osprey.smcm.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Disposition: inline
Ousman,
How are things going with settling into life at the college? We're very
busy here, already 5 weeks into the semester.
I'll be in touch soon.
Yahya Bajaha aka Bill Roberts
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 14:40:42 EDT
From: "BOJANG,BUBA" <BBOJANG@MUSIC.TRANSY.EDU>
To: <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Message-ID: <30SEP96.15852786.0082.MUSIC@MUSIC.TRANSY.EDU>
In the name of God, the beneficient, the merciful.
fellas,
This week's postings are really wonderful and interesting. Keep up
the good work.
I was told by a brother in Atlanta that Doctor Lamin Sahor(former PPP
minister)died in detention a couple of days ago. Who knows more
detail about this incident?
Mafy, I will really love to attend the party there in Atlanta
if the distance is too close. But nonetheless, I will be there
spiritually.
Have an enjoyable party with everyone.
REMEMBER"a leaf that was blown aloof by the wind will definitely
come back to mother earth"
BADA
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 13:25:29 -0500 (EST)
From: OUSMAN GAJIGO <gajigoo@wabash.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Let's move on -Reply
Message-ID: <70A7743F0F@scholar.wabash.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Hi Yahya,
How is everything going? Nice to hear from you.
I am having a busy semester here. Every other thing is going fine. I
like it very much here at Wabash. I am taking four courses this
semester namely: Math, English composition, French and International
Politics. I am also on the college soccer team.
What is the name of the town you college is located? How far is it
from Rockville. I spent about three weeks with Andy's parents in
Rockville. I think I may go there again for Christmas.
Greet your family and all your students for me.
Talk to you later.
Ousman
*******************
Ousman Gajigo
Crawfordsville, IN
*******************
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 13:20:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: New members
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.960930131409.22734C-100000@saul2.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Last week, Mariama Darboe and Kemo Ceesay were added to the list. Today,
Dr Shehu Kamara of Seattle joined us. Dr Kamara a friend of mine and
President of The Organization of African Associations ( OAA ) in the
Seattle area is from Sierra Leone. We welcome all three new members. We
will be looking forward to their biographical introductions and
contributions to the list.
Thanks
Tony
========================================================================
Anthony W Loum tloum@u.washington.edu
Supervisor, Business Administration Library 206-543-4360 voice
100 Balmer Hall 206-685-9392 fax
University of Washington
Box 353200
Seattle, Wa.98195-3200
=========================================================================
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 16:29:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Malanding S. Jaiteh" <msjaiteh@mtu.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: 96128015.html
Message-ID: <199609302029.QAA10332@hemlock.ffr.mtu.edu>
Content-Type: text
Ylve,
Greater Banjul happen to include all areas to Bakoteh and Wellingara.
Malanding
>
> Bakau is a suburb of Banjul?!
>
> On Sun, 29 Sep 1996, Camara, Momodou wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > News Stories | Environment | Economics | Science and
> > Health | Sports | Africa Press Review
> >
> > Copyright 1996 Panafrican News Agency and Africa
> > News Service. All rights reserved.
> > Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other location,
> > published or used for broadcast without written authorization from
> > the
> > Panafrican News Agency. B.P. 4056,
> > Dakar, Senegal.
> > Tel: (221) 24-13-95 | Fax: (221) 24-13-90 |
> > E-mail: quoiset@sonatel.senet.net
> >
> > 28 Sep 96 - Gambia - Elections
> >
> > Gambians Give Mixed Feelings To Jammeh's Victory
> >
> > >From Peter Masebu; PANA Staff Correspondent
> >
> > BANJUL, Gambia (PANA) - The Victory of Col. Yahya Jammeh, in Thurday's
> > presidential election, has generated mixed feelings among Gambians,
> > particularly those in the older generation.
> >
> > Jammeh obtained 220,011 of the total 394,537 votes cast, registering
> > 55.76 percent. His major rival, Ouisanou Darboe, got 141,387 votes.
> >
> > While thousands of youths trooped out into the streets of Banjul soon
> > after the poll results were declared late Friday, a good number of the
> > residents appeared to be stunned.
> >
> > "I knew he would win because of the development he has brought to this
> > country since he took over in July 1994," remarked Cisee Jeng of
> > Bakau, a thriving suburb of the Gambian capital.
> >
> > "I don't believe the results are genuine but there is nothing
> >
> > we can do. What I am sure of is that Gambians will have a rough time
> > for five years with arrests, job dismissals and the other hardships
> > which came with the military government," said a Gambian who is
> > self-employed and works with several international organisations.
> >
> > According to him, many Gambians, especially in the capital, cannot
> > believe the results were not rigged but "since Gambians are peaceful,
> > they will not take to the streets in protest."
> >
> > His said the Jammeh government needs to do a lot of "confidence
> > bullding among the informed urban public concerning its intentions."
> >
> > "Most members of the informed public are not convinced that Jammeh's
> > government is bent on promoting democracy. Just look at its behaviour
> > during the campaign period, which forced the major opponent, Darboe,
> > to go into hiding, " said the international worker, who preferred
> > anonymity.
> >
> > Darboe was still hiding at the Senegalese embassy Saturday morning.
> > "He is still far from us. Try later", said a relative Saturday morning
> > when the PANA correspondent in Banjul telephoned Darboe's house, which
> > shares walls with the Senegalese mission.
> >
> > A weekend paper, The Observer, reported Saturday that Darboe, his two
> > wives and Bolong Sanko, Jammeh's former foreign minister, decided to
> > seek refuge Thursday night for "fear of their lives".
> >
> > As a result, Darboe, whom many Gambians interviewed thought would win
> > the polls because of the huge crowds he was pulling during the
> > election campaign, had not conceded defeat by Saturday morning.
> >
> > "I hoped Darboe would win but you never know with crowds at campaign
> > rallies. Some just go there out of curiosity," said a senior
> > journalist who has witnessed several Gambian polls before. "He might
> > have won had the media been fair to him during the campaign, which
> > only started on Sept 9."
> >
> > According to him, Jammeh got 480 minutes coverage between Sept. 9-19,
> > while Darboe got none. The other presidential aspirants, Hamat Bah,
> > got 30 minutes, and Sidia Jatta, 150 minutes.
> >
> >
> > AFRICA NEWS Home Page | AFRICA NEWS CENTRAL | The
> > Nando Times
> >
> > *******************************************************
> > URL http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara
> >
> > **"Start by doing what's necessary, then what's
> > possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible"***
> >
>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 16:37:32 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Let's move on -Reply
Message-ID: <01IA3HIJ34KM004B2D@PSTCC6.PSTCC.CC.TN.US>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Please direct personal messages to the individual(s) concerned, and
not to the entire list.
Amadou
------------------------------
Date: 30 Sep 96 17:23:56 EDT
From: "Dr. S. G. Kamara" <73244.2701@CompuServe.COM>
To: GAMBIA-L <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: "Brief Bio"
Message-ID: <960930212356_73244.2701_FHO82-2@CompuServe.COM>
Hello All Gambia Netters,
I am pleased be part of this network. Below is my short biodata per
Mr. Loum's request.
Birthplace/Country: Sierra Leone
Education: Fourah Bay College, Univ. of S. Leone
International Institute, Ibadan, Nigeria
Portland State University, Oregon, U.S.A.
Prior Teaching Portland State University
University of Garyounis, Benghazi
Fourah Bay College, Univ. of S. Leone
Prior Other Experience Research Station, S. Leone
METRO Government, Portland, OR.
State of Oregon
State of Washington/DSHS
Current Position The Washington Institute
DSHS/U. of WA.
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
9601 Steilcoom Blvd. S.W.
Tacoma, WA. 98498-7213
Contact Address: P.O. Box 110698
Tacoma, WA. 98411
(206) 824-1785 (Home)
(206) 756-2863 (Office)
e-mail: 73244.2701@compuserve.com
Regards,
Sheikh Gibril.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 18:13:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Gambia Vote Could Bring Return of Aid (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.960930181336.1204G-100000@saul1.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 14:51:15 PDT
From: CSM / David Hecht <C-csm@clari.net>
Newsgroups: clari.world.africa.western, clari.world.gov.politics,
clari.world.mideast+africa
Subject: Gambia Vote Could Bring Return of Aid
COUP LEADER'S WIN
DAKAR, SENEGAL -- A particular kind of military-cum-democratic rule
has emerged in West Africa this year, with coup leaders first in Niger
in July and now in Gambia winning presidential elections held largely
to appease Western donors. When results were announced last Friday in
the Gambian capital of Banjul, soldiers and Army supporters rejoiced
in the streets.
Col. Yahya Jammeh, who overthrew one of Africa's oldest and most
stable multiparty democracies two years ago, received over 60 percent
of the Sept. 26 vote, according to the country's independent electoral
commission. Eighty percent of the electorate turned out.
But while the vote itself was deemed mostly free and fair, the
electoral process was not, observers say. Political parties had been
banned until just a month before the vote and even then, Colonel
Jammeh would not allow politicians who had been associated with the
former government to participate, effectively banning all major
opposition party leaders.
The only three candidates were a lawyer, a minor opposition leader,
and a hotel manager, and they were given little opportunity to
campaign in the mostly Army-controlled media.
Lawyer Ousainu Darboe, the strongest candidate, received about 36
percent of the vote. He took refuge in the Senegalese Embassy after
the vote, fearing soldiers would attack him for challenging their
leader. Mr. Darboe claims soldiers had tried to kidnap and assassinate
him several times during the campaign.
An electoral loss by Jammeh would have been ``a recipe for a
particularly unstable situation,'' says one Western diplomat in the
region. Many observers say that partly explains why voters stuck with
the Army candidate.
Jammeh now waits to see if the major Western powers will accept him
as a democratically elected leader and restore aid. Neither they nor
the United Nations, nor the British Commonwealth nations sent
observers to protest the questionable nature of the elections. But
Army leaders in Gambia may have noticed that Western criticism of
deeply flawed elections in nearby Niger, as well as Ivory Coast,
Guinea, Cameroon, and Kenya, has been quickly followed by substantial
flows of new aid. ``Our standards have slipped,'' conceded one Western
diplomat in the region.
In Gambia, the donors' dilemma over whether to recognize Jammeh is
complicated by the probability that he has considerable popular
support - certainly more than the man he overthrew. Sir Dawda Jawara
had been in power ever since Britain relinquished Gambia as a colony
in 1965. His regime was considered corrupt and inept, and the country
has fallen into decay.
``Something had to have been wrong,'' says Gambian political
analyst Hilifa Sallah. ``How can (Mr. Jawara) win elections every year
for 30 years, and yet there is almost no outcry when he is
overthrown?'' Mr. Sallah says people voted for Jawara because of
patronage he handed out to supporters.
Jammeh, by contrast, has built high schools, health clinics, and a
big hospital in this tiny West Africa nation surrounded on three sides
by Senegal. He established the country's first television station and
will soon inaugurate a modern international airport. He has even more
ambitious plans, such as a utopian city for 100,000 people - one-tenth
of Gambia's entire population.
Without Western aid for the last two years, the country has lost up
to $50 million or 10 percent of its national income. Tourism, another
of its main sources of revenue, has dried up, largely because of a
British travel advisory warning tourists to avoid it.
Jammeh has cultivated ``nontraditional'' donors such as Libya,
Cuba, and Nigeria. Taiwan gave about $80 million after Jammeh decided
to recognize it instead of mainland China.
According to Ebrima Ceesay, editor of the Daily Observer, one of
the country's few independent newspapers, ``He tramples on people, but
Gambians indeed got their choice.''
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 18:14:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Gambia's Jammeh extends hand to vanquished opposition (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.960930181436.1204I-100000@saul1.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 8:50:02 PDT
From: Reuter / John Chiahemen <C-reuters@clari.net>
Newsgroups: clari.world.africa.western, clari.world.gov.politics
Subject: Gambia's Jammeh extends hand to vanquished opposition
BANJUL, Gambia (Reuter) - Gambian coup leader Yahya Jammeh,
fresh from winning a mandate to continue in office as civilian
head of state, called on vanquished civilian opponents to join
his government but poured scorn on his main rival.
Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, the strongest of three civilian
rivals in Thursday's poll, remained holed up at the Senegalese
Embassy with two wives and aides for the third day.
``As far as far as I am concerned Mr. Darboe is the best
person to explain why he is there ,'' Jammeh said in a Friday
night television interview.
``We don't know what he has done that would warrant him to
go and seek refuge in a foreign embassy.''
Local newspapers reported rumors that Darboe and some
political associates had received unspecified threats.
Key members of Darboe's United Democratic Party said to be
afraid for their lives, were not available for comment.
Jammeh, a 31-year-old U.S.-trained army officer who toppled
an elected government in the West African state in 1994, has
been anxious to shake off the stigma of being a coupmaker.
He was declared winner of the presidential elections to end
military rule with 56 percent of the vote, outpolling Darboe by
more than 78,000 ballots.
In his first comment Friday night, Jammeh said he had no
problem working with the opposition.
``What is important now is to develop our country for the
benefit of our children, not the political party you belong
to,'' he told the local television interviewer.
Jammeh overthrew the government of Sir Dawda Jawara who had
ruled the tiny country of one million people since independence
from Britain in 1965.
He resigned from the army last month to contest the
elections that he brought forward from 1998 following Western
pressure. Western creditors froze aid and some put a temporary
ban on their nationals traveling to the tourist haven.
Wild rejoicing greeted the election result with thousands of
people in cars, buses and on foot Friday converging on the city
center in a rare show of exuberance in the sedate majority
Muslim nation.
Voting itself was peaceful and orderly, with 88 percent of
some 444,000 registered voters casting ballots.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 18:14:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Gambia poll runner-up quits refuge, rejects result (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.960930181401.1204H-100000@saul1.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 13:30:05 PDT
From: Reuters <C-reuters@clari.net>
Newsgroups: clari.world.africa.western, clari.world.gov.politics
Subject: Gambia poll runner-up quits refuge, rejects result
BANJUL, Gambia (Reuter) - The main election rival of
Gambia's coupmaker turned president-elect Yahya Jammeh emerged
from his refuge in the Senegalese embassy Monday, rejecting the
result of last week's ballot.
Runner-up Ousainou Darboe, who polled 35.84 percent to
Jammeh's 55.76 percent, called for the organization of fresh
elections and said that he expected the authorities in the tiny
West African nation to ensure his safety.
He also ruled out joining a Jammeh government.
``I have made it known to the whole world that I have
received death threats. Now it's up to the authorities to defend
my safety,'' he told a news conference at his home.
As Darboe, leader of the United Democratic Party, held his
news conference, security agents patrolled near his home.
Jammeh, who toppled independence president Sir Dawda Jawara
in 1994 accusing him of corruption, quit the army to run for
president but critics accuse him of ensuring victory in advance
by banning established politicians and denying his other rivals
a fair hearing and giving them no time to organize.
His three civilian opponents had just two weeks to campaign
for Thursday's election and were denied equal access to state
radio and television, the one medium able to reach across the
nation of one million people.
Darboe, who took refuge in the embassy with his two wives
and fives aides Thursday evening as vote-counting started,
denounced the constitution under which the poll was organized.
``For me to serve in a government that approved such a
constitution would be contradicting the principles for which I
stand,'' he told British Broadcasting Corporation radio.
He called at the news conference on the independent election
commission in the tourist haven and peanut producer to stage
fresh elections with mechanisms in place to ensure fair play.
Third-placed Amath Bah of the National Reconciliation Party,
who won 5.5 percent of votes, made his peace with Jammeh late
Sunday, accepting the result and urging all Gambians to unite to
rebuild their country.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 23:25:24 -0500 (EST)
From: OUSMAN GAJIGO <gajigoo@wabash.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Let's move on -Reply
Message-ID: <7AA7AB7D67@scholar.wabash.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Gambia-1,
Sorry guys to send a personal mail to the mailing list. I only
realized the mistake after receiving the copy of the email from the
mailing list. That email was intended for Mr. Roberts only.
Ousman
*******************
Ousman Gajigo
Crawfordsville, IN
*******************
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 15:01:01 JST +900
From: binta@iuj.ac.jp
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Let's move on -Reply
Message-ID: <199610010557.OAA27416@mlsv.iuj.ac.jp>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
I concur with Amadou. It is as much easier sending personal mails
to the appropriate addresses as it is posting it to Gambia-l. I will
be glad if we free up some disk space for others.
Lamin Drammeh.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 15:03:41 JST +900
From: binta@iuj.ac.jp
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: "Brief Bio"
Message-ID: <199610010600.PAA27462@mlsv.iuj.ac.jp>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Welcome on board Dr. Kamara and all new members. By the way,
Dr. Kamara and I share the same alma mater--The Athens of W/Africa
(FBC).
Lamin Drammeh(Japan).
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 13:47:44 -0700
From: krubally@ix.netcom.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Military ruler in Gambia Defeats Rivals in Election
Message-ID: <324EE070.539D@ix.netcom.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
krubally@ix.netcom.com wrote:
>
> BANJUL, Gambia, Sept. 27 - Two years after seizing power in a military
> coup that overthrew one of the continent's longest-functioning
> demoracies, this country's leader has defeated three civilian rivals to
> become Gambia's second elected President in 31 years of independence form
> Britain in voting that was widely regarded as tainted.
> Nearly complete election retuens showed Yahya Jammeh, a
> 29-year-old lieutenant at the time of his coup in July 1994, with a
> comfortable lead over his closest rival, Ousainou Darboe, a prominent
> lawyer.
> Mr. Jammeh rapidly promited himself to captain, and the colonel,
> just before resigning form the army, in conformity with the
> constitution, just brfore the start of the campaign.
> Mr. Jammeh's election was closely watched in West Africam, where
> it was being seen as an important test of the resilience of democratic
> politics in a region where military of single-party dictatorships had
> been the rule until a wave of multiparty elections began in 1990.
> In the last year, the region's movement toward democracy has
> faced the greatest threat since its start as former military leaders have
> organized severely tainted elections in one country after another, hoping
> to gain popular and international legitimacy without risking their power
> in a fair or open vote.
> Foreign diplomats and election observers said today that the
> process by which Mr. Jammeh won election was so flawed that rather than
> provide the legitimacy he seeks, a cloud will likely countinue to hang
> over his presidency, which has already been marked by international
> isolatong and growing economic hardship.
> In the weeks leading up to the vote, Mr. Jammeh's Goverment
> out-lawed the counrty's main opposition parties, muzzled the press,
> forbade meeings between rival candidates and foreign diplomats amd used
> soldiers to attack opposition rallies. Three people were killed and
> dozens wounded in one such attack against Mr. Darboe's final rally in a
> suburb of the capital.
> On election day on Thursday, if the scens was peaceful while
> thousands of Gambians lined up patiently to vote under a scorching sun,
> election sbserveers said the apparent calm masked the widespread use fo
> quiet coercion by soldiers and intelligence agents, who were often seen
> directing people on how to vote.
> At other voting stations, observers said, state security agents
> kept the polls open after closing hours while hungerds of people voted
> under their supervision.
> "This is what you would have to call a managed transition to
> nominal civilian rule, and not anything like a transition to democracy,"
> said a foreign technical adviser to the country's independent electoral
> commission who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
> "What we have seen is a blatant attempt by the military to muscle
> its way into election and some sort of legitimacy."
> Still, despite the banning of all the country's traditional
> political parties, the exclusion of opposition voices from
> state-controlled media and the limiting of the campaign period to just
> over two weeks, the official results here show the collectively, Mr.
> Jammeh's three rivals earned about half of the vote against a sitting
> President who had used virtually all the levers of state power to his
> advantage.
> Mr. Jammeh had received military training in the united States
> shortly before his he seized power in 1994 by overthrowing the longtime
> President, Dawda Jawara, who had presided over one of the continent's
> oldest democracies.
> The coup, which had began as a soldier's movement to demand
> better pay, quickly transformed itself into a full-blown political
> takeover that clamed to be aimed at ending corrupting and redeeming
> national pride when President Jawara fled the country aboard a United
> States naval vessel that was offshore at the time.
>
> Froword, form New York Time
> By Saul Krubally
------------------------------
Date: 01 Oct 1996 09:48:46 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Fwd:
Message-ID: <53149.61413141@inform-bbs.dk>
---forwarded mail START---
Subject: Fwd: GAMBIA-ELECTION: Soldier-Turned-Civilian Heads for EasyWin
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Copyright 1996 Inter Press Service.
All rights reserved. Distribution via MISANET.
*** 27-Sep-96 ***
GAMBIA-ELECTION: Soldier-Turned-Civilian Heads for Easy Win
By Abdulkarim Jallow
BANJUL, Sep 27 (IPS) - With well over three-quarters of the
votes cast in Gambia's presidential election counted, former
army colonel Yayha Jammeh appeared set to win a comfortable
victory over his main rival.
The 31-year-old Jammeh, who resigned from the military in
August to contest the election, polled 54 percent of the vo
tes, while 39 percent went to his nearest rival, Ousainou Darboe
of the United Democratic Party (UDP).
The rest went to two other candidates, Hamad Bah of the
National Reconciliation Party (NRP) and Sidia Jatta of the Pe
ople's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism
(PDOIS).
Observers here weren't quite sure what led to the Alliance
for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) candid
ate's victory athough they were willing to make volunteer
possible explanations.
''I think Darboe's undoing was the fact that instead of
presenting his agenda to the people he spent too much time do
wnplaying the achievements of ex-col. Jammeh,'' said political
analyst Baboucar Bojang.
What created the biggest surprise was that, while the vote
was expected to be along ethnic lines, Jammeh also did wel
l in areas inhabited by people from Gambia's biggest ethnic
group, the Mandinka, who had been expected to vote en bloc f
or the United Democratic Party (UDP)'s Darboe.
Darboe is a Mandinka, while Jammeh comes from the Jola ethnic
group.
''Given the strong Islamic tendencies of the Mandinka ethnic
group, the fact that Darboe drinks alcohol also put off
many of his supporters,'' said Bojang.
Another political analyst, Ibrahima Faal, suggested other
reasons for Jammeh's success.
He argued that people were much more attracted to the
achievements made by Jammeh since he seized power in July 1994
in a bloodless military coup than in the fact that he was a
civilianised soldier.
''The Gambian people, with a large illiteracy rate, didn't
need more to convince them than the new international airp
ort at Yundum (30 km outside Banjul), the road network, more
schools in the urban and rural areas, and hospitals, among
others, to vote for him,'' Faal argued.
Both analysts believe the election was fair, but pointed out
that there had been problems during the pre-election cam
paigns which could have influenced the result, including the
fact that both Darboe and Bah were prevented from campaigni
ng on the state media.
''I believe that this exclusion worked against Darboe, who
couldn't articulate his agenda on the national media and c
ouldn't even appear at some major rallies because of what he
described as threats against his life,'' said Faal.
The fact that three traditional parties, including the
People's Progressive Party (PPP) -- which ruled Gambia from in
dependence from Britain in 1965 until the 1994 coup -- were
banned by Jammeh may also have influenced the outcome.
Jammeh is not the first military leader in West Africa to
have donned civvies, run for election and won. Ghana's Pres
ident Jerry Rawlings performed a similar feat in 1992. Niger's
Ibrahima Barre Mainsassara also won polls in Niger in mid
-1996 albeit under extremely dubious circumstances.
Once the winner of Gambia's Sep. 26 election is sworn in,
only one sub-Saharan African nation will be under a militar
y dictatorship: Nigeria.
However, under a transition-to-democracy programme declared
by de facto president Gen. Sani Abacha, the inhabitants o
f Africa's most populous state will have to wait until 1998
before they get a chance to be ruled by a government of thei
r choice.
(END/IPS/LF/KB/96)
****************************************************************
[c] 1996, Inter Press Seervice Third World News Agency
(IPS) All rights reserved
May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or
service outside of the MISANET without permission from IPS or
MISA. For MISA information, send a message to
dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na and for information about IPS, send a
message to Lynette Muringi-Matimba at ipshre@harare.iafrica.com
*****************************************************************
---forwarded mail END---
Momodou Camara
--- OffRoad 1.9o registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: 01 Oct 1996 09:48:34 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: More news on Gambian elections
Message-ID: <1555300350.61412987@inform-bbs.dk>
---forwarded mail START---
Subject: Fwd: GAMBIA-POLITICS: Opposition Leader Rejects ElectionResult
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Copyright 1996 Inter Press Service.
All rights reserved. Distribution via MISANET.
*** 30-Sep-96 ***
GAMBIA-POLITICS: Opposition Leader Rejects Election Result
By Abdulkarim Jallow
BANJUL, Sep 30 (IPS) - Gambia's main opposition leader Ousainou
Darboe on Monday rejected the results of the country's S
ep. 26 presidential election, won by incumbent Yahya Jammeh,
while another unsuccessful candidate said the poll was unfa
ir.
Darboe, who was the candidate of the United Democratic Party
(UDP), told journalists soon after leaving the Senegales
e embassy where he had sought refuge since last week, that the
results ''do not appear to reflect the wishes of the Gamb
ian electorate and consequently are not accepted by the UDP.''
He said the UDP had come to this conclusion after carefully
studying the results of last Thursday's presidential elec
tion, in which he received 36 percent of the votes, while 56
percent went to Jammeh, head of the Alliance for Patriotic
Reorientation and Construction (APRC).
Darboe, accompanied by his three wives and some supporters,
had fled to the Senegalese embassy after the election, al
leging that death threats had been made against him and that
officials of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had bee
n keeping his home under surveillance.
He said Monday that his life was still in danger but that he
had decided to come out of hiding so as to lead the oppo
sition against Jammeh, who had held Gambia under military rule
since seizing power in July 1994 and resigned from the ar
my to contest Thursday's election.
''NIA officials are currently surrounding my house and they
are known for arrests and not for protecting people,'' th
e 48- year-old Darboe told journalists at his home in Banjul.
Another candidate who ran for president, Hamat Bah of the
National Reconciliation Party (NRP) said the electoral proc
ess had been heavily weighted in the APRC candidate's favour.
''I feel the campaign was not fair at all,'' Bah told
journalists Sunday at his first post-election media conference.
He said the ruling junta's move to bar him and Darboe from
using state radio and TV had worked against him.
''The electoral laws said all party leaders had 30 minutes on
national TV and an hour on radio as the campaigning unf
olded,'' said Bah, who scored six percent of the votes. ''I was
refused that right ... it was not just at all.''
According to the NRP candidate, the APRC also flouted the
country's electoral laws by recruiting a former minister of
the People's Progressive Party (PPP) government of ex-
president Sir Daouda Jawara, ousted by Jammeh, to campaign for t
he incumbent.
''This violates section four of Decree 89 because an ex-
Jawara minister of sports campaigned for the APRC while anoth
er campaigned for Darboe's UDP.''
The Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (APRC), headed by
Jammeh, had banned the PPP and two other parties from p
articipating in the election.
Nevertheless, Bah said he would abide by the results and work
with Jammeh ''for the good of Gambia'' although he doub
ted that the fact that the APRC leader had now been elected
really meant the end of military rule.
''I still have skepticism as to whether soldiers can be
civilians,'' he said.
Some international organisations, including the Commonwealth
and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), had also ha
d their doubts about the electoral process and expressed them by
refusing to send observers to monitor the poll.
The AFPRC made not a few enemies during its two-year reign.
The 1994 coup, which ended three decades of multiparty de
mocracy was condemned by Western nations. And when Jammeh
developed friendly links with Libya, accused by the United Sta
tes and its allies of supporting international terrorism, this
did not bring a rapprochement with the West any closer.
Jammeh, who also incurred the wrath of China by establishing
business links with Taiwan, told Gambia's 1.2 million pe
ople in a weekend TV broadcast that, among other things, his
foreign policy would generally remain the same.
It would continue to be ''based on our principle of
friendship and peaceful co-existence with all countries
irrespect
ive of religious, ideological and ethnic differences,'' he said.
Analysts here maintain that some Western powers are likely to
hesitate to deal with the ''civilianised soldier'' whos
e coup had led the World Bank and the European Union to suspend
aid to the West African nation.
''But,'' says political analyst Boubacar Bojang, ''if the
West shuns Jammeh, he may turn to Islamic states for aid an
d other forms of support. The Gambia is too small and Jammeh is
a survivalist.''
The new president-elect is yet to be sworn in. But although
no date has been announced for his inauguration, it is ex
pected to happen soon since, according to Monday's edition of
'The Point' newspaper here, the AFPRC has now been officia
lly disbanded.
(END/IPS/LG/KB/96)
****************************************************************
[c] 1996, Inter Press Seervice Third World News Agency
(IPS) All rights reserved
May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or
service outside of the MISANET without permission from IPS or
MISA. For MISA information, send a message to
dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na and for information about IPS, send a
message to Lynette Muringi-Matimba at ipshre@harare.iafrica.com
*****************************************************************
---forwarded mail END---
Momodou Camara
--- OffRoad 1.9o registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: 01 Oct 1996 09:49:01 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Fwd: from IPS
Message-ID: <51507166.61413276@inform-bbs.dk>
---forwarded mail START---
Subject: Fwd: GAMBIA-POLITICS: What Next?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Copyright 1996 Inter Press Service.
All rights reserved. Distribution via MISANET.
*** 28-Sep-96 ***
GAMBIA-POLITICS: What Next?
By Abdulkarim Jallow
BANJUL, Sep 28 (IPS) - What's certain is that Gambians have
chosen their former military leader as their new president.
What is less certain is what ex-colonel Yahya Jammeh's
victory will mean to the nation of 1.2 million people and to i
ts standing in the international community, a section of which
cut aid to the Gambia following the 1994 military coup th
at ended three decades of multiparty democracy and brought
Jammeh to power.
The final result announced Friday night by Provisional
Independent Electoral Commission (PIEC) Chairman Gabriel Rober
ts showed that 56 percent of the votes cast in the Sep. 26
presidential election went to the Alliance for Patriotic Reor
ientation and Construction (APRC) candidate.
His main rival, lawyer Ousainou Darboe, scored 36 percent,
while the remaining candidates, Hamat Bah of the National
Reconciliation Party (NRP) and Sidia Jatta of the People's
Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS
) obtained six and three percent of the votes respectively.
Darboe heard the final result from the Senegalese embassy
here, where he and his family have been hiding since Thursd
ay night. According to his United Democratic Party (UDP), he
fled there after receiving death threats.
Contacted by IPS on Saturday, a UDP spokesman said: ''We
accept the results of the elections even though we know for
sure that there were enormous pressures heaped on Mr. Darboe and
his entire life was in danger. This is why Mr. Darboe t
ook cover for his safety and has refused to comment since the
voting was completed.''
Darboe's flight and the alleged death threats against him
clouded an otherwise calm election touted as heralding the
end of military rule. But while Jammeh resigned from the
military to contest the poll, there is little doubt that he ret
ains strong links with the army.
Nothing made that more evident than the fact that, although
the army was supposed to be neutral, it headed election v
ictory celebrations held on the streets of Banjul on Friday
night and Saturday morning.
''This is ridiculous,'' commented political analyst Muctarr
Kanteh. ''I don't understand why hundreds of soldiers wou
ld cram in open trucks, driving at breakneck speed across the
capital and jubilate. In fact, it shows how partisan they
had been throughout the election period.''
The obvious link between the former military strongman and
his ex-colleagues as well as the fact that three parties,
including the former ruling People's Progressive Party (PPP),
were banned ahead of the election could make Western count
ries and international institutions less than willing to welcome
Jammeh to the international fold.
The World Bank and the European Union had both sharply to the
1994 coup, suspending aid to the West African country.
Jammeh -- during whose reign two cabinet ministers were killed
under suspicious circumstances and many other people arbi
trarily detained -- has been unable since then to clean up his
regime's negative image.
The Commonwealth, for example, refused to send observers to
monitor the Sep. 26 polls, while the Organisation of Afric
an Unity (OAU) also shunned the ballot.
Nor do the reported death threats against Darboe augur well
for the future. Jammeh himself has not commented on the U
DP's claim, although an APRC supporter dismissed it as ''a ruse
meant to divert attention.''
''No one is running after Darboe and he knows he genuinely
lost the election,'' IPS was told by the APRC supporter wh
o, like thousands of Gambians braved a Friday night downpour to
fete the election victory.
The revellers included people who purported to be from
opposition parties. One man, who gave his name as Baba Galeh J
allow said he voted for the NRP, but was satisfied with the
result, which was why he joined in the celebration, although
he added that ''the embargo on my candidate and Mr. Darboe on
the state media worked against them a great deal.''
Both candidates had been prevented from using state radio and
TV in the runup to the poll.
Isatou Sankareh, a businesswoman in Banjul, said the fact
that opposition supporters joined in the celebrations was n
ot surprising. ''This is the Gambia and we are one and the same
people,'' she said. ''We don't believe in harming each o
ther despite our differences in political affiliation.''
However, there had been violent clashes between UDF and APRC
supporters during the pre-election campaigns.
No date has been set for the inauguration of the president-
elect but, according to the PIEC, parliamentary elections
will be held in December 1996.
In the meantime, no one knows for sure what the future holds.
Says political analyst Ousmane Sabally: ''What is signi
ficant now is what policies Jammeh will embark on as a civilian
leader. It is one thing to rule with the barrel of the g
un in one hand. It's quite another to govern in a civilian
democratic setting''. (END/IPS/LF/KB/96)
****************************************************************
[c] 1996, Inter Press Seervice Third World News Agency
(IPS) All rights reserved
May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or
service outside of the MISANET without permission from IPS or
MISA. For MISA information, send a message to
dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na and for information about IPS, send a
message to Lynette Muringi-Matimba at ipshre@harare.iafrica.com
*****************************************************************
---forwarded mail END---
Momodou Camara
--- OffRoad 1.9o registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 05:49:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Sulayman Nyang <nyang@cldc.howard.edu>
To: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Commentary on the Election Results
Message-ID: <Pine.ULT.3.93.960929182307.6011A-100000@localhost>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
From: Sulayman S. Nyang (nyang@cldc.howard.edu)
This brief piece is to offer a preliminary analysis of the recent
presidential elections in the Gambia. First of all, left to me alone, the
Opposition would not have contested the elections because the dice was
loaded against them. Anyone familiar with what happened in Liberia under
Samuel Doe would have seen the outcome before hand.doe did the same thing
that the AFPRC did prior to the elections. Unlike Doe who decided to
change the membership of the Electoral Commission when it became clear
that he was not going to win, the Gambian military candidate intimidated
the PIEC chairman by detaining him when he said that political detainees
should be released.This was in keeping with the flawed constitution
"approved at the referendum.." Decree 89,the election decree, apparently
had no moral leg to stand on even under the flawed constitution.
Seven points that deserve attention and comments among
members of this list and beyond must be stated here. The first point is
related to popular participation in both the referendum and the
presidential elections.How can we explain the larger turnout during the
presidential elections.Was it because those who were at first skeptical
about the referendum changed their mind when a man of Lawyer Darboe's
standing decided to give the PIEC the benefit of the doubt? The second
point deals with the bold claim by President Jammeh and Captain Touray
that their candidate would win regardless of what happened.Was this
political propaganda or acts of political blackmail of the PIEC vote
counters? The third point is related to the rumor that the Chairman told
his supporters that they could vote anywhere in the country. Is this true
or propaganda from the Opposition? The fourth point is related to the
involvement with the Jammeh campaign of men and women of dubious character
according to the claims of the AFPRC in the heydey of their revolutionary
favor.Is it true that old PPP supporters who were maligned and humiliated
publicly by the Jammeh regime turned around and campaigned for him during
the preseidential elections? If this is true, what you have in the Gambia
is the politics among friends. This is to say, you have men and women who
are not committed to any political principle or ideology.What is the
Republic of Fear today becomes the Republic of Dogodogo, so long as one is
able to enjoy political partonage of whoever is at State House dictating
affairs at the Quadrangle.The fourth point is concerned with the use or
abuse of the public media.If the Panaf News Agency's report on time
alloted to the different candidates is correct, then one wonder why the
PDOIS people accepted 150 hours and failed to protest the denial of equal
time to Candidate Darboe? What is happening to the PDOIS leadership. If
the elections were rigged,then the perpetrators of such undemocratic acts
felt that the easiest way to discredit the whole post colnial political
system is to show that even PDOIS, the most consistent and radical
opponent of the Jawara regime was simple out of touch with Gambian
realities.Is this the truth? I doubt it. How can an unknown figure like
Mr. Amath Bah outpoll PDOIS? I want some explanations and analyses from
PDOIS leaders and sympathisers. The fifth point is related to the abuse of
power by the AFPRC and its sympathisers. What happened to the
detainees? Where are Ousainou Njie, M.C. Cham and O.J.? These men have
been singled out for special punishment. Why? Now that we are examining
the days of military rule, such abuses must be dealt with openly and
frankly.The new civilian regime cannot go unchallenged if it does not
start with reconciliation and accept its blunders.The sixth question deals
with the Koro Ceesay case. I met this young man when he and Captain Jallow
met with the Pro-Democracy Movement.I did not know much about him. What I
do know is that here was a young and ambitious fellow with great dreams
and much faith in Yaya Jammeh.If such a faithful and loyal soldier in the
Jammeh camp could lose his life and no Commission of Enquiry was launched
to investigate, then how can other members of his entourage be too secure?
This is an important question for Gambians with any conscience to deal
with. You do not have to like Koro Ceesay.Think about it.The last question
is related to Gambia's future.If the elections were not rigged, then
Gambians who support the Jammeh regime are convinced that a new era has
begun.This means to say that the coalition of the marginals have triumphed
and Jammeh will lead them and the Gambia to the Promised Land. There is
nothing wrong with such dreams and such hopes.However, let us not fool
ourselves.No man,however self-confident he may be at this momemnt, can
govern a nation of people who do not believe that your leadership is
legitimate.This is especially so when you belong to a minority group and
there is no illusion that your enemies are going to multiply among
majority groups who feel you do not deserve the position.Private citizen
Yaya A.J.J. Jammeh,as opposed to the retired colonel who is now
celebrating victory, must learn from the lessons of P.S. Njie.I remember
in 1954 when he won the elections in Banjul (then known as Bathurst), an
old Jola blind man singing: "Vive Njie, Vive Njie, Jola jel na first."
This old jola man was jubilant because P.S. was the son of a Jola woman
from the Casamance.In conclusion, I should state here that Private Citizen
Jammeh,as opposed to Prsident Jammeh, must be constantly reminded that he
is not the first military man to civilianise.Nasser did it,but times have
changed.Musa Traoare of Mali and Mobutu and others have all followed the
example of Nasser. Samuel Doe,the slain leader of Liberia's coup ended
in disaster simply because he stole the elections in Liberia and then
tried to embrace opportunistic intellectuals and so-called revolutionaries
of MOJA Liberia.I hope you learn from history before it is too late for
you and the Gambia.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 15:33:52 -0400
From: AfrImports@aol.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Abacha's Turn?
Message-ID: <961001153351_322018752@emout07.mail.aol.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="PART.BOUNDARY.0.29157.emout07.mail.aol.com.844198431"
--PART.BOUNDARY.0.29157.emout07.mail.aol.com.844198431
Content-ID: <0_29157_844198431@emout07.mail.aol.com.103193>
Content-type: text/plain
Gambia-l:
It may now be Abacha's turn to hide the uniform in 1998.
Amadou
--PART.BOUNDARY.0.29157.emout07.mail.aol.com.844198431
Content-ID: <0_29157_844198431@emout07.mail.aol.com.103194>
Content-type: text/plain;
name="NIGERIA"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
By James Jukwey =
=0D
ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuter) - An Independence Day display of homage Tuesd=
ay to Gen. Sani Abacha fueled speculation that Nigeria's military ruler w=
ill try to legitimize his power through the ballot box. =
=0D
The show by North Korean-trained Nigerian schoolchildren broke a trad=
ition of military marches. Some 1,500 danced and sang Abacha's praises wh=
ile thousands more on a podium formed mammoth pictures of him, his wife a=
nd Cabinet ministers. =
=0D
``The cultural display is the outcome of a training agreement with No=
rth Korea,'' Information Minister Walter Ofonagoro told Reuters. ``This i=
s a people-oriented celebration as we move more and more toward democracy=
=2E'' =
=0D
Abacha created six new states as part of his plan to restore democrac=
y by October 1998, but in his Independence Day speech made no mention of =
freeing political detainees as some had expected. =
=0D
Media speculation has been rife that Abacha will run for election in =
1998. When former Chief Justice Mohammed Bello told a magazine recently t=
he constitution did not stop Abacha from seeking election it provoked a s=
torm of protest from his opponents. =
=0D
``The regime has its own agenda, an agenda of self-perpetuation,'' sa=
id Sylvester Odion-Akhaine of the Campaign for Democracy. =
=0D
Monday the electoral commission announced the five parties allowed to=
participate in the election process, out of 15 that applied. All are fro=
m the center and none oppose the government. =
=0D
``No political association that is critical of the military governmen=
t appears to have been successful,'' political activist Ajibade Idowu sai=
d. Since independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has spent less than 1=
0 years under civilian rule. =
=0D
Nigerian opposition groups and Western governments, demanding Abacha =
hand over power earlier, remain unimpressed with the transition program. =
=0D
Abacha's government is treated as a pariah by much of the internation=
al community for jailing dozens of opponents and the execution last Novem=
ber of nine minority rights activists, including author Ken Saro-Wiwa. =
=0D
Nigeria insists it will follow its own course. =
=0D
The Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies, which suspended =
Nigeria after the November executions, Sunday decided not to impose sanct=
ions to force the pace of democracy. It said it would send a fact-finding=
team but dropped an insistence the team meet opposition and human rights=
groups. =
=0D
The last democratic experiment ended when a previous military governm=
ent annulled results of 1993 presidential elections. The presumed winner =
of that election, millionaire businessman Moshood Abiola, has been detain=
ed since 1994. =
=0D
If Abacha does run in the next election he will be trying to follow a=
route of many West African leaders who have taken power through military=
coups and retained it through the ballot box. =
=0D
Most recent was 31-year old Col. Yahya Jammeh in Gambia. Niger, Ghana=
, Chad, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau all have elected presidents who first ca=
me to power through coups. =
=0D
11:56 10-01-96
=0D
--PART.BOUNDARY.0.29157.emout07.mail.aol.com.844198431--
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 01 Oct 1996 21:15:17 -0400
From: ademba@gardner-webb.edu (Alasana Demba)
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Introduction of new members
Message-ID: <3251C225.63C@gardner-webb.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hi Tony,
I would like the following people to be introduce to the list.
Basaikou Jabang BJABANG@GARDNER-WEBB.EDU
Ousman corr OCORR@GARDNER-WEBB.EDU
Mamadi Corra MCORRA@VM.SC.EDU.
Basaikou Jabang and Ousman Corr are my schoolmates. Basaikou, majoring
in Management Information System and Ousman Corr, an international
Business major.
Mamadi Corra, the big man, is the first Gambian Visual impaired(blind)
guy to obtained a Master Degree in Business Administration and currently
doing his Ph.D in Sociology at the University Of South Carolina,
Colunbia.
I will appreciate your help.
Alasana Demba (Gardner-webb university).
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 01 Oct 1996 21:41:50 -0400
From: ademba@gardner-webb.edu (Alasana Demba)
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: (no subject)
Message-ID: <3251C85E.3C70@gardner-webb.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hi guys,
I have observed that some people took some comments too personal. I
red from Sarian's article "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TELL US WHAT TO DO".
Such a profound statement is very uncivilized. I supposed, we are just
stating our opinions and nothing else.
Some of you will agree with me that, there are a lot of personal
attacks, however, such an act is expected. If we all can express
ourselves without offending anyone, this whole Gambia-L will be a
wanderful site for education, sharing of thoughts and suggestions.
You all take care!
Bye!
Alasana Demba (Gardner-Webb University).
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 18:50:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Three new members
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.961001184740.23834B-100000@saul4.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
The following new members have been added to the list:
Basaikou Jabang, Ousman Corr and Mamadi Corra. We welcome all of you and
are looking forward to your introductions and contributions to the list.
Thanks
Tony
========================================================================
Anthony W Loum tloum@u.washington.edu
Supervisor, Business Administration Library 206-543-4360 voice
100 Balmer Hall 206-685-9392 fax
University of Washington
Box 353200
Seattle, Wa.98195-3200
=========================================================================
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 09:53:45 -0700
From: sarian@osmosys.incog.com (Sarian Loum)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: (no subject)
Message-ID: <199610021653.JAA03460@thesky.incog.com>
Hi Alasana,
I don't see nothing profound/uncivilized about my statement especially when someone (with a tendency) takes it upon themselves to tell me how to runmy life. I don't take kindly to that, I am capable of making my own decisions and if and when I need help on that matter I will ask for it but until then...its a no no. I think it is more uncivilized for certain group members to pass judgements on our personal lives. My suggestion to you is to go back and look at previous postings and then come talk to me about profanity. Good day!
Sarian
> From ademba@gardner-webb.edu Tue Oct 1 19:16:26 1996
> Date: Tue, 01 Oct 1996 21:41:50 -0400
> From: ademba@gardner-webb.edu (Alasana Demba)
> To: "GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List" <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
> Subject: (no subject)
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> X-To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
> X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.0 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
>
> Hi guys,
> I have observed that some people took some comments too personal. I
> red from Sarian's article "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TELL US WHAT TO DO".
> Such a profound statement is very uncivilized. I supposed, we are just
> stating our opinions and nothing else.
> Some of you will agree with me that, there are a lot of personal
> attacks, however, such an act is expected. If we all can express
> ourselves without offending anyone, this whole Gambia-L will be a
> wanderful site for education, sharing of thoughts and suggestions.
> You all take care!
> Bye!
> Alasana Demba (Gardner-Webb University).
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 11:17:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Forwarding Malanding's latest posting.
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.961002111411.20470A-100000@saul3.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
This article is written by Malanding Jaiteh. It bounced as an error
message.
Thanks
Tony
Folks,
First may I thank Dr Nyang for his great summary of the situation
in the Gambia. I will try and limit myself to addressing some of
the questions his raised.
First I agree with you on the issue of opposition participation.
They should have campaigned for a boycotte. They should be aware
that the socioeconomic situation in the Gambia does not permit
freedom of political expression. The incumbent's control on
peoples lives (education, healthcare, employment and judiciary)
makes opposing him look like playing Russian Roulet. Many
Gambians have learnt since Jawara days that if you show your
dislike for the Government you don't earn a living. Only those
who know that there future is sealed dare challenge incumbents.
That certainly explains the composition of the oppositions groups
since SS Sisay. The public are not unaware of this. They rural
people know that they are poor and do not want their kids to live
the lives they are living. Since children are not imuned from
the parents political troubles many of the rural poor go at
lengths to please the incumbents so as to gain favors for their
kids. Why do you think the the sudden show of support for Jammeh
by so-called ex-Jawara supporters. Many would ask what happened
to honor and descency? I am afraid, that has been given another
meaning. You quickly gain them when you become the leaders most
favored guy in town. The bottomline is that poverty and destitute
are not cheap commodities to get rid of. Some would say why did
the Baddibous and Kiangs went the other way? Something more
serious was at stake for those people. The faith of their two
most loved sons were in the balance. Had Darboe won BB Darboe and
SM Dibba would regain their freedom and dignity. As the saying
goes, You chose your friend if it is between him and somebody
else, but you chose yourself if is between you and your friend. I
hope the meaning gets through.
The 56% lead over rivals may be seen by many as untrue but not
unttainable. The economics explains it. Another reason is the
personality politics. The Jola man in PS Njie's victory
celebrations is no different from those who met in Banjul a few
days ago. Gambians are yet to adopt a political ideology. That
explains PDOIS poor showing. They don't understand politics based
on issues largely because majority are not educated. The majority
of voters are still illiterate and perhaps much poorer than they
were in 1954. Change to them is still more hopeful than no change
even though may not be any better.
The issue of what to do next, Gambians have to make serious
choices. Yahya has to chose who among his two friends he is to
rely on. That is the military who gave him the power or the
people who gave him the mandate and legitimacy. If he makes the
right choice now we can claim that we have "soldiers with
difference". His fiercest challenger for power is not Darboe but
are still among his group (the newly disbanded AFPRC). To achieve
reconition and support from people in the Gabia and the world he
must side with those who voted him in. Giving people their
dignity and freedom are paramount to his success as a civilian
leader in the long-term. He must also chose between friends who
will meet his immediate cash needs and those who will guarantee
his security in the long-term. While chosing the former may help
him maintain the momentum of his economic change perhaps for
another year or two, the free money will no doubt run out and the
the honeymoon will end and gambians have to live life as one of
hte poorest countries in the world. Chosing the later, will only
give us another Jawara in disguise. Dependent on aid that comes
in amount such as 1.5-2.5 M dollars. Just enough to service debth
but not enough to build an airport terminal.
I am glad that his main rival the UDP leadership have come out of
the Senegalese High Commission. They need to realize that life as
an African opposition is never easy. From Jah Mamadu of Senegal
to Chief Abiola of Nigeria with the many unknown dead and missing
in between all say the same story. They can be of great service
to Gambians if they remind Jammeh that a democracy is judged by
the strength of its opposition. Informing the people of the
Gambia and the world of excesses of the ruling government is the
most effective way to ensure Jammeh's compliance to respect of
individual and human rights. And above all they should should
not be tempted into using violence in their efforts check Jammeh.
Lastly to all of us who believe we care. As Dr Nyang said, we
should reflect on the sudden death of Koro Ceesay and Sadibu
Hydara. Should we allow Gambia to become a country in which
anybody even a cabinet minister can be killed in a simple auto
accident without explanation. Even if there is no evidence of
foul play, can't we question the safety of the car the person was
using? Perhaps it could be manufacturer problem. Given that the
vehicle is used by our country's leaders we should show some
concern about their safety. If we looked at Liberia's short
history. Those of us who read the execution of Tolbert and
friends in 1979 with horror also watched Samuel Doe bucthered by
fellow-countrymen. What is troubling in both cases and in the
case of the Gambia is that the perpetrators of such inhumanity
often go with impunity. Such a bahavior will always result in
chaos. If peace is to prevail we must as Gambians and friends of
the Gambia be ready to stand against that. If we stand against it
now may be we will suffer, but surely its our children will most
benefit from it.
God Bless you all.
Malanding
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 15:40:45 +500
From: "Adama Kah" <Vptaak@vpt.gwu.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Response to Malanding's Contribution
Message-ID: <31FA864500C@vpt.gwu.edu>
Malanding,
I could not agree with you more. However, I find you insinuation
that any incumbent president (be it Jammeh, Jawara, etc.) would have an almost unsurmountable edge
to win elections very troubling (by the way, I do agree). I suppose
this raises an important question regarding the feasibility of
DEMOCRACY, as the western world knows it,
in The Gambia, and Africa as a whole. Given issues such as these, I
have always felt that there need to be a "NEW KIND OF DEMOCRACY" that
better addresses some of the limitations of "western democracy".
On a different but related topic, the discourse on the mailing list is very positive. I
hope most of us are thinking about how we can get more people
involved in the network, particularly people back in Africa. This
will involve supporting initiatives to set a internet node in The
Gambia, as well as other places in Africa without a node. I believe
I read a posting regarding the U.N.'s plans to help facilitate the
establishment of such infrastructures. I know some are already
thinking, "... most people don't have access to computers..". I
response is "build it and they will come". Furthermore, we certainly
don't want to be left behind in the Information Age. So, if anyone
has any information regarding how we may further help in such
developments, please make it available. Thank you.
Adama
Adama Kah
The George Washington University
Office of The Vice President and Treasurer
2121 I St., NW
Rice Hall, Suite 707
Washington, D.C. 20052
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 09:32:04 -0400
From: SARJOB@aol.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Remove name from list
Message-ID: <961003093203_117341316@emout13.mail.aol.com>
Toni
Please remove my name from the list SBOJANG@AOL.COM I have cancelled that
accountm as of last night. I do however still have SARJOB@AOL.com account,
please leave that on the list until further notice.
If anybody on the list knows an inexpensive direct internet provider please
advice. I want to sign up with a reliable access provider with a reasonable
flat rate and unlimited access to the net.
Thanks
Sarjo
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 96 14:25:48 UT
From: "Brian Hubbard" <Babanding@msn.com>
To: "Gambia-L" <Gambia-L@u.washington.edu>
Subject: FW: FW: Election (fwd)
Message-ID: <UPMAIL01.199610031428170214@msn.com>
Fellow list members,
This letter is from a friend who served in The Gambia as a Peace Corps
Volunteer. He lived in the Kiang West area, Dumbutu I believe. He asked me
to forward this to the list after having read some of the comments made during
the past elections.
----------
From: Kevin Connors
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 1996 10:24 AM
To: Brian Hubbard
Subject: Re: FW: Election (fwd)
Brian,
I must say, I am a bit disturbed by people's comments on the fairness of
the elections. Sure, Jammeh utilized his military might to give himself the
most coverage but, why are people so shocked? In fact, the more I think
about it the more I am furious. Look at what is happening in the US...Ross
Perot has been denied the opportunity to debate with Dole and Clinton. what
the hell is the difference here? C'mon, why are you all acting so high and
mighty and projecting this feeling of sorrow for the Gambia and Jammeh being
elected? Let's talk about campaign financing in the US. I'd much rather have
elections like the one that occurred in the Gambia than what we deal with
here. No one even fully realizes where these politicians get their hundreds
of thousands of dollars to campaign. And let's look at incumbents: they have
the ability to raise so much money so quickly that they in effect deter any
opponents who don't have the ability to raise such huge funds for
campaigning. Is that fair? How about special interest groups flying Mr.
Congressman to their resort in Colorado, wining and dining him all in the
name of fairness. Gee, do you think they are doing it for any personal
reasons?
I am sick and tired of people looking at Africa as this crazy place where
democracy and justice are continuously restricted. We live in the country
that has supposedly perfected "democracy" and yet the majority of the
population doesn't even vote. why? Because of all the things I just
mentioned. Jammeh limited press time for his opponents. Clinton and Dole
eliminated Ross Perot. I guarantee election funding and financing in the
Gambia is much more fair and open than here in the U.S. of A.
It is time to shed our pompous, colonial ways. We have the wonderful
ability to point fingers at other countries, to say human rights are being
violated, elections are unfair.....how about the anti-immigration laws that
are sweeping the nation? How does that strike you in relation to human
rights? How about the tabacoo industry, the oil and highway lobbies, the NRA
buying off our politicians left and right? How about white males dominating
all aspects of our political spectrum?
Enough of the shock over elections in The Gambia. Especially from those of
us who have lived there. Jammeh has done some tremendous things for the
country. I'd bet a hell of a lot of money that he has the countries
interests in mind more so than 75% of the Congressmen we have so fairly
elected.
Kevin Connors
The earth does not belong to us...we belong to the earth
Peace
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 10:28:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: address problems
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.95L.961003100750.7519C-100000@ciao.cc.columbia.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Hi,
Will those who submitted the names of Malang Maane and Mamadi
Corra please resubmit those addresses; they are currently being rejected
by their providers.
On another matter, I think the people who were subscribed to the
list and who never bothered to send in their intros should do so. This is
a rule of the list and I think you should send your intro out of respect
to list members. Some members have been on the list for close to a year
without having sent anything.
-Abdou.
*******************************************************************************
A. TOURAY.
at137@columbia.edu
abdou@cs.columbia.edu
abdou@touchscreen.com
(212) 749-7971
MY URL's ON THE WWW= http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~at137
http://www.psl.cs.columbia.edu/~abdou
A FINITE IN A LAND OF INFINITY.
SEEKING BUT THE REACHABLE.
I WANDER AND I WONDER.
ALL RESPITE IS FINAL.
*******************************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 08:28:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ylva Hernlund <yher@u.washington.edu>
To: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: FW: FW: Election (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.A32.3.95.961003082752.42378C-100000@homer15.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
But two wrongs don't make a right......
On Thu, 3 Oct 1996, Brian Hubbard wrote:
> Fellow list members,
>
> This letter is from a friend who served in The Gambia as a Peace Corps
> Volunteer. He lived in the Kiang West area, Dumbutu I believe. He asked me
> to forward this to the list after having read some of the comments made during
> the past elections.
>
> ----------
> From: Kevin Connors
> Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 1996 10:24 AM
> To: Brian Hubbard
> Subject: Re: FW: Election (fwd)
>
> Brian,
>
> I must say, I am a bit disturbed by people's comments on the fairness of
> the elections. Sure, Jammeh utilized his military might to give himself the
> most coverage but, why are people so shocked? In fact, the more I think
> about it the more I am furious. Look at what is happening in the US...Ross
> Perot has been denied the opportunity to debate with Dole and Clinton. what
> the hell is the difference here? C'mon, why are you all acting so high and
> mighty and projecting this feeling of sorrow for the Gambia and Jammeh being
> elected? Let's talk about campaign financing in the US. I'd much rather have
> elections like the one that occurred in the Gambia than what we deal with
> here. No one even fully realizes where these politicians get their hundreds
> of thousands of dollars to campaign. And let's look at incumbents: they have
> the ability to raise so much money so quickly that they in effect deter any
> opponents who don't have the ability to raise such huge funds for
> campaigning. Is that fair? How about special interest groups flying Mr.
> Congressman to their resort in Colorado, wining and dining him all in the
> name of fairness. Gee, do you think they are doing it for any personal
> reasons?
>
> I am sick and tired of people looking at Africa as this crazy place where
> democracy and justice are continuously restricted. We live in the country
> that has supposedly perfected "democracy" and yet the majority of the
> population doesn't even vote. why? Because of all the things I just
> mentioned. Jammeh limited press time for his opponents. Clinton and Dole
> eliminated Ross Perot. I guarantee election funding and financing in the
> Gambia is much more fair and open than here in the U.S. of A.
>
> It is time to shed our pompous, colonial ways. We have the wonderful
> ability to point fingers at other countries, to say human rights are being
> violated, elections are unfair.....how about the anti-immigration laws that
> are sweeping the nation? How does that strike you in relation to human
> rights? How about the tabacoo industry, the oil and highway lobbies, the NRA
> buying off our politicians left and right? How about white males dominating
> all aspects of our political spectrum?
>
> Enough of the shock over elections in The Gambia. Especially from those of
> us who have lived there. Jammeh has done some tremendous things for the
> country. I'd bet a hell of a lot of money that he has the countries
> interests in mind more so than 75% of the Congressmen we have so fairly
> elected.
>
> Kevin Connors
>
>
> The earth does not belong to us...we belong to the earth
> Peace
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 12:35:13 -0500 (CDT)
From: Yaya Jallow <yj0001@jove.acs.unt.edu>
To: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Reactions
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.95.961003120440.22297A-100000@jove.acs.unt.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Fellas,
I wanna welcome the post mortem analysis on the elections back home,
beginning with Dr. Nyang's, Malanding and our Peace corp friend in the
Gambia.
While all of these pieces are insightful, for those who still insist on
boycotting the elections, let me say that it is comfortable to speak in
hindsight. I know many of us would like to see a full fledge democracy in
the Gambia overnight, however,we must recognize that Rome was not built in
day. Even some of the "true" democracies today are bloated with
injustices, elitism and politics of the few and for the few. Our peace
corp friend's piece on the U.S is a classic illustration. For those of us
who want to de-rationalize the choice the Gambians have made, let us be
reminded that only slightly more than half of the electorate voted for
Jammeh. I believe that this kind of a split decision is a very well thought
out decision on the part of those who voted. My impression on some of the
analysis by Malanding is that you have to be an ideologue or highly
educated to vote conscientiously, and therefore, the reason why Jammeh won
the election is because of the low level of education of the voters.
fellas, One does not need a college degree to vote rationally. We should
stop taking the Gambian voters for granted. For some of them, it is out
with the old and in with the young.
In sum, for what ever reasons Gambians voted in this elections, lets us
not seek out abstract, extrogenous, or conceptual explanations for that,
the explanation lies with the Gambian voter.
Good Day
Yaya
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 02 Oct 1996 20:29:01 -0800
From: Cheikh Faty <CSFaty@psfinc.com>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: NEW SERVICE : CASH WIRING & MONEY TRANSFER TO
GAMBIA.
Message-ID: <s253a1f7.005@PSFINC.COM>
ASSALAMAEYKUM BROHERS ,SISTERS & FRIENDS OF GAMBIA.
FIRST OF ALL I'D LIKE TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR THE
CONTRIBUTIONS & EDUCATION YOU'VE GIVEN TO PEOPLE SUCH AS
MYSELF ABOUT GAMBIA & ITS HISTORY. ( DIARRAMA.
ALLABARAKA) .NOW IT'S MY PLEASURE & HONOR TO INFORM YOU
ABOUT AN OPENING OF AN OFFICE OF KABOU FINANCIAL WIRING
SERVICES. .K.F.W.S IS AN ENTERPRISE SPECIALIZED IN OVERSEAS
MONEY WIRING. WE HAVE OFFICES IN DAKAR , IVORY COAST & NOW
IN BANJUL ,THE GAMBIA. OPERATIONS STARTED ON 09 30 96.
THIS IS OUR MODEST CONTRIBUTION THAT IS MADE AVAILABLE TO
EVERYONE .WE'VE BEEN OPERATING IN SENEGAL FOR A WHILE NOW
& HERE ARE SOME OF THE SERVICES WE OFFER TO OUR CUSTOMERS
COURTEOUS -RELIABLE SERVICE
-NEXT DAY OVERSEAS CASH PAYMENT.-
-DOLLAR EXCHANGED AT CURRENT MARKET RATE
-DELIVERY & CONFIRMATION OF CASH PAYMENT WITH SIGNATURE
& I.D INFO OF PAYEE.
-AUTOMATIC CASH TRACKING SYSTEM .
-DRECT & STRONG WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH LOCAL BANKS.
-ENTIRE COUNTRY SERVED(SUBJECT TO SMALL FEE IF OUT OF
DELIVERY ZONE)
-LOW SERVICE FEE ($17 FLAT FEE TO SEND UP TO $200)
-LICENSED BY THE STATE OF WASHINTON DEPT. OF REVENUE.
-AGENTS & REPS of K.F W.S LOCATED IN BANJUL.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME & ATTENTION .
FOR MORE INFO PLEASE CONTACT MR CHEIKH FATY
PRESIDENT & OWNER OF K.F.W.S
TEL(206)639-4691 OR E.MAIL: csfaty@psfinc.com
ALLHAMDOULILAHEE .THE MERCIFUL PROTECT & GUIDE ALL OF US.
AMEEN.!!!!
;
------------------------------
Date: 03 Oct 1996 22:09:55 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: From the Nigerian newsgroup
Message-ID: <1507351678.7139736@inform-bbs.dk>
Gambia-l,
Below is a mail sent to the Nigerian newsgroup on the Gambian election.
---forwarded mail START---
Date: 03/10/96 22:48
Subject: Fwd: Re: Fwd: Gambia's army ruler wins civilian-rule election
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Netters,
This is indeed a poor developmentment in Africa's search
for democracy and concrete development. Jammeh in those
shuffle has only initiated a viscious circle of power-
thirsty young military officers. It is an unwise move. He
will now have to keep the officers in constant check, lest
they overthrew him. Somehow, it seems to me that African
leaders lack yet the ability for the long-run in their
hasty activities. Do I see a life-presidency motives in
Jammeh? May be, but the officers below him saw his moves
and will not hesitate to try their luck. Thomas Sankara
easily comes to mind.
Earlier this year, I sent a message to Jammeh, to be
realistic and bore-hole water in the farms for the farmers
to improve on Agriculture, instead of them praying and waiting
for rainfall. I told him that God gave us the brain to think for
ourselves and the eyes to copy if we cannot think.
I plan to visit Gambia next year (with a close Gambian friend),
and if all goes well, we will provide, on experimental basis,
a few farms with bore-hole water.
Sunny Odum.
> ---- Begin Forwarded Message
> 220 2569 <RgambiaURlrG_6SR@clari.net> article
> P
>
> BANJUL, Gambia (Reuter) - Gambia's military leader Yahya
> Jammeh coasted to an emphatic victory Friday in presidential
> elections to end army rule in the tiny West African country,
> provisional results showed.
> His main rival, lawyer Ousainou Darboe, took refuge in the
> Senegalese embassy in Banjul along with some family members,
> according to Senegalese officials in Dakar.
> With 45 of 47 constituencies or 81 percent of the vote
> counted, Jammeh's tally was 199,650 votes or 55 percent of the
> total. Darboe received 131,035 votes or 36 percent, according to
> official returns issued by the electoral commission.
> With the remaining constituencies accounting for just 70,000
> votes, Jammeh's victory was assured.
> Two marginal civilian candidates -- hotel manager Amath Bah
> of the National Reconciliation Party and Sidia Jatta of the
> small People's Democratic Organization for Independence and
> Socialism -- polled 20,977 and 10,571 votes respectively.
> Electoral commission chairman Gabriel Roberts was expected
> to make a formal declaration of results later.
> It was not immediately clear if there had been any direct
> threat to Darboe, who was reported by state television to have
> cast his vote in Banjul Thursday, polling day.
> Some of his aides were arrested during campaign violence and
> many said they were beaten up by soldiers after a clash with
> Jammeh supporters a few days before voting.
> Jammeh's win is bound to alarm democracy campaigners in West
> Africa faced with a new political challenge: coupmakers
> exploiting the advantage of incumbency to legitimise their rule
> through the ballot box.
> Such elections left political tension in their wake in Niger
> and Chad.
> Jammeh, 31, seized power in a 1994 coup, toppling elected
> president Sir Dawda Jawara who had ruled the tiny country of one
> million people from independence from Britain in 1965.
> Jammeh resigned from the army last month to contest the
> elections that he brought forward from 1998 following Western
> pressure. Western creditors froze aid and some put a temporary
> ban on their nationals travelling to the tourist haven.
> --
> C O P Y R I G H T * R E M I N D E R
>
> This article is Copyright 1996 by Reuters.
> All articles in the clari.* news hierarchy are Copyrighted and
> licensed
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---forwarded mail END---
--- OffRoad 1.9o registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: 03 Oct 1996 22:09:42 GMT
From: momodou@inform-bbs.dk (Momodou Camara)
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: IPS News
Message-ID: <65534.7139613@inform-bbs.dk>
---forwarded mail START---
Date: 03/10/96 22:50
Subject: Fwd: WEST AFRICA-POLITICS: Strongmen Say 'Vote For me' andPeople Do
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Copyright 1996 Inter Press Service.
All rights reserved. Distribution via MISANET.
*** 03-Oct-96 ***
WEST AFRICA-POLITICS: Strongmen Say 'Vote For me' and People Do
Analysis by David Hecht
DAKAR, Oct 3 (IPS) - A particular kind of military-cum-
democratic rule has emerged in West Africa, with coup leaders
win
ning presidential elections held largely to appease Western
donors. It happened in July in Niger and last month in Gam
bia.
When Gambia's election results were announced on Sep. 27,
soldiers and army supporters rejoiced in the streets.
Former colonel Yahya Jammeh, who overthrew one of Africa's
oldest and most stable multi-party democracies two years a
go at age 29, received 56 percent of the votes cast in the Sep.
26 election, according to the country's independent elec
toral commission. Eighty percent of the electorate turned out.
But while voting was mostly free and fair, the electoral
process was not. Political parties had been banned until just a
month before the vote and even then, Jammeh would not allow
politicians who had been associated with the former gove
rnment to participate. That wiped out all major opposition party
leaders.
The only three candidates left were a lawyer, a minor
opposition leader and a hotel manager, and they were given litt
le opportunity to campaign in the mostly army-controlled media.
One was banned altogether for being ''too critical of Ja
mmeh,'' according to the country's television station's
director.
The lawyer, Ousainu Darboe, who was the strongest candidate
receiving 36 percent of the vote, took refuge in the Sene
galese embassy on the night of the election, fearing soldiers
would attack him for having dared to challenge their leade
r. Darboe claimed they had tried to kidnap and assassinate him
several times during the campaign. Many voters dreaded wh
at might have happened had the army lost.
Jammeh had stated openly that he would never hand over power
to political ''monkeys'' and his new constitution made l
ittle provision for transferring power to another
administration. His losing would have been ''a recipe for a
particular
ly unstable situation,'' stated one Western diplomat. Many
believe it partly explains why voters stuck with the army.
Jammeh now waits to see if the major powers will accept him
as a democratically elected leader and restore aid. They,
together with the United Nations and the Commonwealth, did not
send observers in protest of electoral and constitutiona
l arrangements. The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) also
decided not to send monitors.
But, according to this week's 'Economist', Jammeh has reason
for hope. Western criticism of deeply flawed elections i
n Niger, as well as Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Cameroon, and Kenya,
has been ''quickly followed by substantial flows of aid,
'' it said.
''Our standards have slipped,'' conceded one Western diplomat
in the region, and the result shows. A number of the to
ken democracies are political hot beds. In Niger a coalition of
opposition parties refuse to recognise the legitimacy of
soldier-turned-president Ibrihim Bare Mainassara. And last week
Mainassara postponed parliamentary elections indefinite
ly as the opposition said it would not participate.
In Gambia though, donors' dilemma of whether to recognise
Jammeh is complicated by the fact that he does have genuine
support, and certainly more than the former head. Sir Dawda
Jawara had been re-elected ever since Britain relinquished
its colony in 1965, but his regime was accused of being corrupt
and inept, and the country had fallen into decay.
''Something had to have been wrong,'' says Gambian political
analyst Hilifa Sallah. ''How can someone win elections e
very year for thirty years and yet there is almost no outcry
when he is overthrown?'' Sallah believes people voted for S
ir Dawda because of patronage. He gave out bags of rice every
five years.
Jammeh, by contrast, has built high schools, clinics and a
big hospital. He established the country's first televisio
n station and will soon inaugurate a modern international
airport. Plus he has ambitious plans, such as a utopia city fo
r 100,000 -- nearly a tenth of Gambia's 1.2 million people.
''Where has the money come from?'' wonders U.S. Charge
d'Affaires Merritt Brown. Without Western aid for the last two
years, the country has lost up to 50 million dollars or 10
percent of its annual national income. And tourism, another
of its main sources of revenue, has dried up, largely because of
a British travel advisory.
Certainly Jammeh has cultivated non-traditional donors such
as Libya, Cuba and Nigeria. And Taiwan has given around 8
0 million dollars since Jammeh decided to recognise it over
mainland China.
Claims that the government may be smuggling drugs are hard to
substantiate but, according to several reports, 500 mil
lion dollars worth of heroin was seized by authorities in nearby
Mauritania in a container addressed to Gambia's agricul
ture ministry.
Jammeh says the reports are bogus. He blames ''immoral''
journalists and politicians who, he has said, should both be
buried ''six foot deep''. Indeed, his aversion to politicians
has been so intense that he refused to dress like them af
ter retiring from the army last month. Instead, during his
election campaign, he donned the traditional accoutrements of
a 'marabout' (West African spiritual leader), complete with
prayer beads and sword.
Jammeh now claims ''the will of God has been done''.
According to Ebrima Ceesay, editor of the 'Daily Observer', one
of the country's few independent newspapers, ''he tramples on
people, but Gambians indeed got their choice.'' (END/IPS/D
H/KB/96)
****************************************************************
[c] 1996, Inter Press Seervice Third World News Agency
(IPS) All rights reserved
May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or
service outside of the MISANET without permission from IPS or
MISA. For MISA information, send a message to
dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na and for information about IPS, send a
message to Lynette Muringi-Matimba at ipshre@harare.iafrica.com
*****************************************************************
---forwarded mail END---
--- OffRoad 1.9o registered to Momodou Camara
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 21:13:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: new member
Message-ID: <Pine.HPP.3.90.961003211153.2576A-100000@muddhp71.cc.columbia.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Hi folks,
We have a new member, Cherno Waka Jagne. We should expect an
intro from him.
-Abdou.
*******************************************************************************
A. TOURAY.
at137@columbia.edu
abdou@cs.columbia.edu
abdou@touchscreen.com
(212) 749-7971
MY URL's ON THE WWW= http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~at137
http://www.psl.cs.columbia.edu/~abdou
A FINITE IN A LAND OF INFINITY.
SEEKING BUT THE REACHABLE.
I WANDER AND I WONDER.
ALL RESPITE IS FINAL.
*******************************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 22:29:11 -0400
From: AfrImports@aol.com
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Gambia & WTO
Message-ID: <961003222909_201640051@emout10.mail.aol.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="PART.BOUNDARY.0.538.emout10.mail.aol.com.844396149"
--PART.BOUNDARY.0.538.emout10.mail.aol.com.844396149
Content-ID: <0_538_844396149@emout10.mail.aol.com.160276>
Content-type: text/plain
>From Amadou
--PART.BOUNDARY.0.538.emout10.mail.aol.com.844396149
Content-ID: <0_538_844396149@emout10.mail.aol.com.160277>
Content-type: text/plain;
name="WORLD"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
GENEVA, Oct 2 (Reuter) - Member countries of the World Trade Organi=
sation (WTO) on Wednesday gave unanimous clearance for the admission of B=
ulgaria and Panama to the body, trade officials said. =
=0D
But it will be several weeks before the two can formally become membe=
rs as their accession agreements have to be ratified by their national pa=
rliaments and then be deposited at the WTO's Geneva headquarters for a fu=
rther month. =
=0D
The trade body, launched on January 1 1995 to replace the old General=
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or GATT, currently has 123 members but th=
is is due to increase to 125 with the admission of Chad and Gambia by the=
end of this month. =
=0D
Panama, whose Trade Minister Nitzia de Villareal came to Geneva for t=
he meeting of the WTO's ruling General Council which approved the two agr=
eements, is the last Latin American country outside the organisation. =
=0D
Bulgaria, which sent its Trade Minister Atanas Paparizov, will be the=
last of the former Soviet-bloc states in Europe to come in. =
=0D
Albania, which under its former hard-line rulers played a maverick ro=
le among communist states, has applied for WTO membership and is currentl=
y negotiating conditions for accession. =
=0D
09:17 10-02-96
=0D
--PART.BOUNDARY.0.538.emout10.mail.aol.com.844396149--
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 03 Oct 1996 22:33:23 -0400
From: ocorr@gardner-webb.edu (Ousman Corr)
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: ADDRESS CORRECTION.
Message-ID: <32547773.5AA6@gardner-webb.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hi Tony,
I had a mistake on Mamadi Cora's address. The correct one is
MKCORA@VM.SC.EDU
Alasana Demba.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 14:49:03 GMT+1
From: "HEIDI SKRAMSTAD" <HEIDIS@amadeus.cmi.no>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Election
Message-ID: <6364BE65A54@amadeus.cmi.no>
Thanks to Sulayman Nyang - I really appreciated your seven points
of analysis! I am afraid that some of the most important of your
questions will remain unaswered.
The comparison between the American and the Gambian election by
Brian Hubbard's friend is important although I don't share his
conclusions. It is good to be reminded that the American self ascribed
role as "world police" of democracy and human rights has no basis
in their own political system or social practice. Jammeh and the
American leaders "morom leen" in the sense that their political power
is based on their unequal access to money (from
God????) and weapons.
Heidi Skramstad
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 04 Oct 1996 10:41:38 -0500 (EST)
From: Amadou Scattred Janneh <AJANNEH@pstcc.cc.tn.us>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: 96J04027.html
Message-ID: <01IA8Q9MNLOI005LMO@PSTCC6.PSTCC.CC.TN.US>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Panafrican News Agency
News Stories | Environment | Economics | Science and Health | Sports |
Africa Press Review
Copyright 1996 Panafrican News Agency and Africa News Service. All rights
reserved.
Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other location, published
or used for broadcast without written authorization from the Panafrican News
Agency. B.P. 4056, Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: (221) 24-13-95 | Fax: (221) 24-13-90 | E-mail:
quoiset@sonatel.senet.net
04 Oct 96 - Feature: Gambia-Birds
Bird Watching Could Boost Tourism In Gambia
From Peter Masebu; PANA Staff Correspondent
BANJUL, Gambia (PANA) - The latest guest in Clive Barlow's bird garden
at the Atlantic beach hotel in Banjul, the Gambian capital, was a
little greenbul.
The British ornithologist brought the tiny bird from a remaining rain
forest pocket in this tourism-dependent West African country.
According to Barlow, greenbuls live in "climax forests", remnants of
which are found in the Gambia, Kakamega in Kenya and several other
parts of the world.
For two weeks in September, this zoology graduate from Durham
University in the United Kingdom, was keenly watching the greenbul's
behaviour in a completely new man-made habitat, within the confines of
the hotel.
"The greenbul has special ecological requirements -- plant diversity
and harmonious forest shade and ecology. If it likes it, it will stay.
Two weeks on, it is singing very well," he said.
To ascertain its continued presence among the 136 species that have
colonised the Atlantic Hotel mini-forest, Barlow plays a
greenbul-taped sound on a small Sanyo cassette recorder placed at his
flat's balcony.
"When the greenbul hears the sound of another early in the morning, it
approaches in a combative spirit to protect its zone. But this has to
be done for a short period to avoid raising suspicions in its mind,"
said the professional bird watcher and researcher.
After working as a bird curator in the Britain and France, Barlow
moved to the Gambia in 1985. Ever since, he has strived to learn and
promote environmentalism "with the help of a host of Gambians."
He particulary mentioned Mrs. Fumake Sarr, Atlantic Hotel's manager,
who backed the idea of creating a bird garden "which adds value to the
other hotel services available for tourists."
"This area where a verdant forest oasis now stands used to be an
uninteresting arid land. Since 1990, we have used sunshine and water
to allow it to grow into a mini-natural reserve in the confines of the
hotel."
The sanctuary has an observation hide which enables people to watch
and take photographs or video films of the birds at close range
without scaring them.
"We try to orient foreign bird watchers who are on African soil for
the first time," says Balrow, whose ambition is to use birds to spread
the message that Gambia is not only sunshine and sandy beaches.
"To the traveller or eco-tourist, China means pandas, Asia means
Tigers, Tanzania and Kenya means elephants. In the same vein, Gambia
could mean birds," said Barlow.
His keen interest in birds has started to pay dividends. He has been
commissioned by Christopher Helm of Pica Press in the UK, Sussex, to
prepare a "Field Guide To The Birds Of The Gambia." Helm prepared a
similar guide for birds in East Africa.
The guide will expose Gambia's richness in bird species to the
worldwide bird-watching community and ecourage even more tourists to
visit the Gambia.
Barlow, who runs a bird-watching safari company in Banjul, commended
the Gambian department of parks and wildlife management for accepting
his proposal in 1985 that Tanji area, 20 km from Banjul, be declared
an exclusive protected bird reserve.
"The department, under the wise leadership of Dr Almamy Camara, had an
encouraging foresight by recognising the importance of an increasing
number of ecotourists to the country."
According to the ornithologist, in the long run, the Tanji bird
reserve could represent to the Gambia what the Ngorongoro Crater means
to Tanzania, Amboseli to Kenya or Krugger to South Africa.
Besides attracting tourists, the Tanji bird reserve will also be used
to teach school children about their country's rich biodiversity and
how to conserve them.
"For the time being, the bird garden at Atlantic hotel is being used
as a prototype to show that habitat can be re-generated and once we
restore what we had destroyed, some bird species and other creatures
will come to colonise it."
Barlow said he was anxiously looking forward to this year's winter
tourist season, which starts end of October. He expects to organise a
14-day bird watching expedition in the Gambia.
His major worry, however, was that media allegations of rigging in the
recent presidential election of Sept. 26 could penalise the tourist
industry as a whole, including bird-watching.
_________________________________________________________________
AFRICA NEWS Home Page | AFRICA NEWS CENTRAL | The Nando Times
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 09:00:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: "A. Loum" <tloum@u.washington.edu>
To: Gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: U.S. hopes all-Africa force will be formed soon (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.961004085948.20034D-100000@saul6.u.washington.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 19:00:02 PDT
From: Reuter / Carol Giacomo <C-reuters@clari.net>
Newsgroups: clari.usa.gov.policy.foreign.misc,
clari.world.africa.northwestern, clari.world.africa.eastern,
clari.world.africa.western, clari.world.africa.southern,
clari.usa.gov.policy.foreign
Subject: U.S. hopes all-Africa force will be formed soon
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - A U.S.-backed plan to set up an
all-Africa crisis force is moving ahead and it is hoped that the
force can begin forming fairly quickly, a senior U.S. official
said Thursday.
Assistant Secretary of State George Moose, briefing
reporters ahead of Secretary of State Warren Christopher's first
trip to sub-Saharan Africa next week, said the intention was to
have the force respond to crises on the continent by
establishing safe havens for civilians, not engaging in fighting
or separation of warring factions.
But Moose, who handles African issues, and U.N. Ambassador
Madeleine Albright appeared to have differing views
on a role for the United Nations in any such endeavour.
``We envisage that such a force would have to be authorized
by the U.N. Security Council and that it would have to be
financed in the same way that other (U.N.) international
operations would be financed,'' Moose said.
Albright, speaking to journalists of the Overseas Writers
group, said U.N. involvement was not anticipated.
``Basically we believe that because of lack of resources in
the U.N. and some reluctance frankly in the secretariat of the
U.N. to take this on, that we couldn't sit around and wait ...
What needed to be done was for us to take the lead in trying to
get an African force pulled together,'' she said.
Albright added: ``We would prefer the U.N. take a more
robust role. But they are not doing it because they don't have
the resources so we are trying to do it in a different way.''
Other officials had said privately in the past week that the
intention was to go around the United Nations, possibly by
linking the force to the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
President Clinton approved the plan to organize, train,
equip and help deploy the all-African force, which could include
10,000 troops. The African Crisis Response Force would be sent
to countries where civil war, insurrection or campaigns of
genocide threaten mass civilian casualties.
It is one of the issues Christopher will discuss when he
visits Africa, beginning Oct. 7-8 with a stop in Mali. Other
stops are Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa and Angola.
Moose, just back from Africa, said the proposal ``is moving
forward and we would hope that it can move forward fairly
expeditiously'' because it builds on three years of talks among
the United States, Africa and Europe.
``The ideas are very consistent with what the United
Nations, OAU have already proposed with regard to the ...
earmarking of military units for possible participation in
regional international peacekeeping,'' Moose said.
``What we bring to this ... is a notion of how to translate
those broad ideas ... into concrete operational reality.''
The United States has been pushing for an all-African force
due to mounting concerns about the civil war in Burundi.
Moose vowed Washington would redouble support for a Burundi
political solution but said: ``I think we're also aware of the
fact that our diplomacy might fail, and (many) are concerned we
have some means of response.''
The United States was soliciting troop commitments from such
countries as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Ethiopia.
Training the troops to enable them to operate as a unified
force would cost $25 million to $40 million, about half of which
Washington has agreed to pay. Once the force is deployed, the
United Nations would pick up the tab, Moose said.
On his trip, Christopher hopes to meet in Angola with Jonas
Savimbi, head of the former UNITA rebel group, to urge continued
commitment to a peace agreement with President Jose Eduardo Dos
Santos. But Savimbi had not replied to the request, Moose said.
Christopher will also discuss U.S. demands that U.N.
Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali be replaced when his
term ends in December.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 12:21:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: at137@columbia.edu
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: cnet clip, Homegrown African Web provider spreads [ 57] Reuter / Nicholas Ph
Message-ID: <199610041621.MAA20656@mabuhay.cc.columbia.edu>
Hi folks,
I think the article below might answer some of the questions
Adama raised about Africa and the Internet. By the way Gambia, because of
its "government", is not part of the Leland effort.
The prospects do in fact look good for certain countries like S.A
and Botswana with stable and established democracies. Tied to this is
the fact that, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Services
of the U.S., Africans in the U.S. are more educated than any other
immigrant group. So some countries will soon start to tap this talent.
FOr the countries that throw every person who disagree with the
government into jail and for countries that see the private sector as a
threat, the Internet would remain many bytes away.
**************************************************************************
ABIDJAN, Oct 4 (Reuter) - Homegrown Internet provider Africa
Online has opened for business in West Africa, setting up in
Ivory Coast as a step towards its dream of becoming the
continent's main gateway to the World Wide Web.
Africa Online, a company developed in Kenya from the
Internet activities of a group of Kenyan students abroad, is now
a subsidiary of the U.S. group Prodigy INC, which has more than
one million customers worldwide.
``Our strategy is Pan-African,'' Africa Online President Ayisi
Makatiani told Reuters in an interview at the Ivorian launch on
Thursday. ``Our intention is to be in the whole of Africa and to
be the largest on-line service provider in Africa.''
A range of competing commercial and diplomatic interests are
racing to plug the world's poorest continent into the Internet,
a worldwide computer network with tens of millions of regular
users.
France is helping some of its poorest former colonies such
as Mali by providing the use of servers through its development
and cooperation programmes.
The United States is helping around 20 selected countries as
diverse as Ivory Coast and war-ravaged Sierra Leone under the
so-called Leland initiative, which combines the expertise of
federal agencies and the private sector.
Africa Online says that through its Kenya operation it is
the largest Internet provider in East Africa. ``We are also
looking at expanding to Tanzania and Uganda,'' Makatiani said.
Ivory Coast gives it a foothold in both West and Francophone
Africa. A launch is planned next month for Anglophone neighbour
Ghana, the other emerging economy in the region.
Africa Online has also set its sights on Senegal in West
Africa but Makatiani said the South and southern African market
held the key to its development plan.
``We are hoping to launch in South Africa before the end of
this year,'' he said.
``Our goal is to go into the Southern African market with a
partner or work together with someone who is already established
because there are already 45 Internet service providers there.''
He declined to name the strategic partner, but added: ``We're
going in with one of the larger providers. We intend to have at
least 100,000 customers by the end of next year.
Makatiani, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
graduate in electrical engineering, described the South African
market as one of the most competitive in the continent and
similar to one in which Africa Online operates in the United
States, where it is incorporated in Boston, Massachusetts.
``Our goal is then to use that base as a platform to expand
what we offer to the rest of the African continent,'' he said.
He said that from South Africa they hoped to spread into
Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola, where they would use
Portuguese. ``We have also learned how to translate what we have
into other local languages,'' he added.
Makatiani said Africa Online's development plan was closely
linked to the expansion plans of Prodigy -- ``whose aims are also
to expand into Asia, India, China and using more or less a very
similar strategy to what we are doing in Africa.''
------------------------------
Date: 04 Oct 96 14:39:39 EDT
From: "Dr. S. G. Kamara" <73244.2701@CompuServe.COM>
To: GAMBIA-L <gambia-l@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Prospects for the Future (Part 1)
Message-ID: <961004183939_73244.2701_FHO70-1@CompuServe.COM>
Hello Gambia Netters,
I have been following the Gambian post-election debate with
keen interest, which I must say has been on the whole
objective and intellectual, though sometimes sentimental.
Two days ago over lunch with my friend Tony Loum, some
points we grappled with were echoed by Kevin Connors,
Yaya Jallow, and others. I want to add some dimensions as
food for thought, as well as some suggestions.
The continuing post mortem of the elections focuses on
comparing Mr. Jammeh and The Gambia to the situations in
Egypt, Zaire, Ghana, and more recently Niger. However, few
people have argued in favor of the contrasts between Gambia
and all of these countries, or any other African country for that
matter. Whereas no country can develop in a vacuum, let us
examine Gambia within the West African or African context but
as a sovereign nation with its own unique characteristic
potentials. The following might be a few points worth noting:
(1) Comparing Gambia to West African countries which have
been under military rule (be they former British of French
colonies), without exception, Gambia comes out on top in
terms of prospects. None, other than The Gambia, has been
able to make the transition from military to civilian rule in so
short a time. It took Ghana 13 years (from 1966 and 1979) to
achieve what Gambia did in 2 to 3 years. Further, no military
regime can boast of so much development (per capita) at the
end of the day as The Gambia is currently witnessing. (Case
example: Sierra Leone after the Strasser/Bio regime).
(2) Speaking in per capita terms, the developments which
some postings have credited to Mr. Jammeh during his tenure,
part of the reason for his victory, outweigh those of many
civilian or military African governments in comparative time
spans.
(3) One everlasting damage which some African countries
have suffered is the irreversible currency devaluation
undertaken particularly by military regimes. In Sierra Leone
in 1980, the Leone (the national currency) was 1:1 with the
U.S. dollar, and like the dollar 2:1 with the British Pound.
Under the corrupt civilian regime, the Leone fell abysmally
to 250:1 in 1992. Under the millitary, it fell even worse from
250:1 to 870:1 in 1996. Similarly, in Ghana the Cedi, initially
as strong the Leone, is at about 1,600:1 with the US dollar
today. In comparison, the dollar to the British pound is still
at 1.65:1. Remember that in The Gambia, the Dalasi is still
at about 9 to the dollar. In countries like Sierra Leone and
Ghana, those mistakes of the 1980s and early 1990s will
forever haunt their economies.
There are many other examples, but these need no be
belabored here. However, the important point now is that
a few things must be viewed objectively within the context
of realism:
(1) First, the elections were won and lost when Mr. Jammeh
was allowed by the constitution and the people to contest.
When an incumbent military ruler contests the Office of Head
of State which he is abdicating, he is just trying to legitimize
his claim. Needless to say that the electoral game could not
be expected to be played fairly when patently or latently he
has all the tools at his favor and disposal: the military, the
media, etc. And this might well have been what happened
in The Gambia judging from the jubilations of the millitary
on the streets of Banjul after the results were announced.
But as Kevin Connors points out a hard fact (not withstanding
what one posting pointed this morning as a wrong analogy,
and for which I think he should be forgiven), there is never an
election without someone having some advantage, even here
in the U.S.
(2) If the above scenario had not occurred, the outcome of
the elections might well have been different with Mr. Darboe
as winner. But on the other hand based on Mr. Jammeh's
enumerated record, he might well have won. It is a hard call,
but even this situation has become a rare occurrence in Africa.
This is a hard fact to swallow, but again Gambia appears to be
a positive exception, deserving some credit.
(3) Now, the election results for all intents and purposes appear
to be final. The likelihood that the Gambian Supreme Court will
uphold a challenge by Mr. Darboe that will be strong enough to
result in the disqualification of the results is quite slim. Even if
it does, the repercussions could be disasterous; certainly more
reason for instability. This is not to justify what happnened, but
that being the case, there is need for reason to accept the
results of the elections particularly by Mr. Darboe and move on
with the larger national call of planning for the bright future of
The Gambia. I say a bright future because really Gambia has
an advantageous and enviable position, being on the upswing
in the the development scale. Unlike Sierra Leone or Liberia,
she is not faced with the burdensome task of reconstruction
of both physical and social infrastructure. Thus, energies
could be focused on its economic development "take-off".
(4) Although it is a little disappointing that the third party is
alleged to join the winning Party, the prospect is very bright
for Mr. Darboe's party to maintain a strong opposition in
Parliament as the best and perhaps most urgent means of
ensuring and protecting the new Gambian democracy. In
Sierra Leone for instance, this strategy has been the
greatest blessing. Without it, Mr. Jammeh will be given a
"de facto" dictatorship on a silver platter. No one needs that.
I seem to be more optimistic than many because too often
Africa has looked up to larger nations for economic and
political development examples. But now it seems the
smaller nations, such as Sierra Leone, Ghana, and The
Gambia, are begining to set brighter examples. The
Gambian case would have been even brighter were Mr.
Jammeh not to have contested like General Bio in Sierra
Leone. But the reality is that not only did he contest, he is
the declared winner. The Gambia must make the best
use of this unusual (even undemocratic) marriage
between the millitary and the presidency, and move on
to the future. I know some will criticize this, but remember
this is not my view but the reality of what pertains currently.
One debate that would benefit Gambia now immensely is
to focus on strategic planning for social, economic, and
indeed political development for the rest of this century and
the next! This is where the intellectuals and other contributors
on the Gambia net will do a great service to the nation.
I suggest that this debate be opened up. Constructive ideas
and suggestions should be solicited, discussed, and
compiled. Then concrete strategies should be developed
(perhaps into plans) and mailed to the new government in
The Gambia. Their implementation could only result in the
development of the nation. Doing this does mean
supporting Mr. Jammeh, but helping Gambia as a whole.
Thank you for your patience.
Sheikh Gibril.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 16:43:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: ABDOU <at137@columbia.edu>
To: gambia-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: wrong address
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.95L.961004163952.4401B-100000@ciao.cc.columbia.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Hi,
I have forgotten who recommended M. Corra for membership, but the
address is once again wrong. Just ask him to send email to either
LatJorr, Amadou (the sub managers) or Tony or Me.
*******************************************************************************
A. TOURAY.
at137@columbia.edu
abdou@cs.columbia.edu
abdou@touchscreen.com
(212) 749-7971
MY URL's ON THE WWW= http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~at137
http://www.psl.cs.columbia.edu/~abdou
A FINITE IN A LAND OF INFINITY.
SEEKING BUT THE REACHABLE.
I WANDER AND I WONDER.
ALL RESPITE IS FINAL.
*******************************************************************************
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End of GAMBIA-L Digest 36
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gambia-l: LOG9610B - Digest 36
