The Way Forward for The Gambia Press Union in The U.S.

By Mathew K Jallow, Associate Editor

Lady and Gentlemen,

“This email, as we all know, is coming to you at this critical juncture in the life of the independent media in The Gambia. The past several years have afforded us all a rich experience of learning, making mistakes and learning to grow from them, and falling down and raising up against all the odds, and today we should all be very proud of our accomplishments as members of The Gambian media fraternity.

Tortured Gambian journalist

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To appreciate the degree of ridicule and shame that Gambian president, Yahya Jammeh brings to his country and people is a pretty Herculean task. However, in the wake of the witchcraft debacle last week and the international coverage that the madness generated, one may now begin to see the level of sickness that Gambians go through in their daily lives.

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Journalist Pap Saine’s “False Pretense Case” Finally Takes off

Following weeks of fatally flawed prosecutorial documents and sickening incompetence in the drafting and formatting of charge sheets, the much-published false pretence case against veteran Reuters West and Central Africa dean, Pap Saine is now in high gear.

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Pioneering Historian John Hope Franklin Dies at 94

By MARTHA WAGGONER

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — John Hope Franklin, a towering scholar and pioneer of African-American studies who wrote the seminal text on the black experience in the U.S. and worked on the landmark Supreme Court case that outlawed public school segregation, died Wednesday. He was 94.

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Halifa Sallah Has Beaten all the Odds

BY TIJAN NIMAGA, Bronx New York

A few weeks ago Halifa Sallah, Opposition leader, Socialist Revolutionary and one of the most outstanding humanitarian figures of this century did what any responsible Gambian should have done to stop Yaya Jammeh’s witch hunt and bring the whole world’s attention to this unbelievable inhuman activity, which has shown the entire world what a pathetic and mentally unstable government our country has.

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Vacancy Announcement

The National Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in The Gambia (NMRD-G)

The National Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in The Gambia (NMRD-G) invites applications for volunteer radio broadcasters and television newsreaders at The Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS) in exile. NMRD-Gambia is recruiting broadcasters in English, Mandinka, Fula, Wollof, Jola, Serahule and Manjago.

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Pap Saine Faces New Criminal Charges

By Pateh Kinteh, Kanifing Court, The Gambia

 In the on-going bogus seditious and false publication trial of Reuters’ West and Central Africa dean, Pap Saine, The Gambia’s errant Director of Public Prosecution- Mr. Richard Chenge on Monday 23 March 2009 told the Kanifing Magistrate Court that the state is filing another charge sheet dated 19 March 2009 to substitute the previous charges against Mr. Pap Saine, publisher and Managing Editor of the Point Newspaper.

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The Gambia: State Terrorism as a Population Heads for the Hills

By Mathew K. Jallow, Associate Editor

It was a week of disquiet, exasperation and frustration; a week that began with a bang and ended with a simple thud. But, before the week was over, Gambians were again put under the spotlight and subjected to the curiosity of an international community fixated as much on Yahya Jammeh’s medieval buffoonery, as it was held captive to the asinine character and the maddening comedic impulsiveness that he represents.

The most feared and most lethal Libyan trained Green Boys

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Commentary

Detention of a Freedom Fighter

By Foday Samateh, New York

Nothing about Yahya Jammeh can shock me anymore. You know you have reached the nadir of contempt for someone when you are not alarmed when he assigns hirelings and underlings to accuse defenseless innocent citizens of being “witches” and drag them from their homes. For all those who like to pretend there is rule of law in The Gambia, well, Yahya Jammeh has once more raised the curtain on his unending series of bizarre

Hon. Halifa Sallah, Gambian Human Rights Crusader, Politician & Sociologist

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Breaking News

As Alhaji Jahateh fights for his Life; Samba Sowe retells ordeal with President Jammeh’s witch hunters

By EBRIMA G. SANKAREH Editor-In-Chief

Alhaji Jahateh, 70, one of the witch-hunters’ first victims at Barra village in The Gambia’s North Bank Region, 7 sea-miles off the capital, Banjul is according to unassailable family sources, “fighting for his life.” This follows intense pummeling, torture and beatings by armed military men, presidential guards and the most feared green boys who accused Jahateh of possessing evil powers with the potential to wreak havoc on The Gambia.

Gambian President Jammeh in classic display of quackery

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Ghana Cannot forget 44 murdered citizens in The Gambia

 Accra, March 20, GNA – Vice President John Dramani Mahama has re-echoed the commitment of the government of Ghana to work towards unraveling the circumstances that led to the death of 44 Ghanaians in The Gambia. Meeting with a joint United Nations - ECOWAS Commission Mission, which is investigating the incident at the OSU Castle in Accra on Friday, Vice President Mahama stated that in as much as Ghana would like to improve her relation with its West African neighbour, it would, nonetheless, not gloss over alleged killing of her citizens.

Vice President J. Dramani Mahama

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 Halifa Sallah’s Amended Charge Sheet-for The Record

By Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-In-Chief

The Gambia Echo has obtained Halifa Sallah’s amended criminal charge sheet from the Department of State for Justice in The Gambia and, for the benefit of our readers and human rights organizations, we herein reproduce the laughable legal instruments verbatim. That in this day and age, a government that came to power promising miracles will resort to such infantile legal gimmicks to silence its vociferous critics is really the height of folly.

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Halifa Sallah Released, Bogus Charges Dropped

Halifa Sallah, candidate in the 2006 presidential elections has been released unconditionally upon the withdrawal of all charges at the Brikama Magistrates Court late in the afternoon on Thursday, 19 March 2009. In his application to withdraw the charges, Mr. Chenge, the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court that the prosecution were withdrawing the charges in the interest of peace and justice.

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Gambian Diplomat Appears in Court After 3 Months in Detention Fabakary B. Ceesay Foroyaa Newspaper Mr. Lamin Sanyang, alias ‘Sabi’, the financial Attaché to the Gambia Embassy in USA, who has been in detention since early January, was on Monday, 16 March, arraigned before Principal Magistrate Edrissa F. Mbai of the Banjul Magistrates’ Court. The charge against Mr. Sanyang is “fund received by agents for sale”, contrary to Section 248 and punishable under Section 252 of the Criminal Code, laws of The Gambia.

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Commentary

Halifa Sallah’s Arrest & Detention

By Samsudeen Sarr

It’s over a week now since the horrible assassination of President Nino Vieira of Guinea Bissau, a subject I said I would discuss in my next paper. However, I will postpone it for now and take this opportunity to briefly comment on the arrest and detention of Mr. Halifa Sallah for his activities against the so-called-witch-hunting program. I guess that Halifa was merely asking a rhetorical question when he demanded clarification from the government as to whether they had something to do with the witch hunt or not, given that the hunters were accompanied everywhere by government military personnel.

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A Banker’s Guinea-Bissau Diary

By Yankuba Mamburay

The assassination of Guinea-Bissau’s two most powerful men, President Joao Bernardo Vieira and army chief of staff, General Tagme Na Waie, reminded me of a business trip I made to the country some years ago. In 1999, while working for the Arab Gambian Islamic Bank Ltd. as its Investment Officer, I was part of a team sent to Guinea-Bissau to conduct

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Socialist Model - Solution to Gambia’s Ailing Economy

BY TIJAN NIMAGA, Bronx New York,

In my last analysis of socialism, the discussion was geared towards a socialist market economy but this time the discussion is about how important nationalized markets and their values are to a socialist state. However nationalization cannot be achieved unless governments and responsible citizens come together to create that goal. It can only work better under a socialist state with principles and doctrines like the one advocated by the PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC ORGINAZATION FOR INDEPENDENCE AND SOCIALISM (PDOIS).

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The Way We Die

By Mathew K Jallow, Associate Editor

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STGDP Press Release

STGDP, in accordance with its constitution, has elected a new Executive, which is given the task of running the organization for the next two years. For the past fourteen years, Gambians have witnessed murder, torture, corruption and humiliation at the hands of a brutal dictator who has undermined the very fiber of our country and people.

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British Tour Operators React to German Tourist's Letter

-Say 'Jammeh Gov't  Acts Like Scared, Jealous Teenagers'

Dear Editor,

We have just read the article by your German reader yesterday. We would like to add our comments from the UK and hope they will be read by some of the Gambian government officials who care about their own livelihood, even if they don’t care about the people (as it seems from their behaviour of the past few years). Unlike our German friend, we do know The Gambia very well because we own a small chain of travel agencies in England and Wales.

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Commentary

Whither Heads The Gambia?

 By D. A. Jawo**

What is happening in The Gambia today is beyond the comprehension of any reasonable being. It is hard to imagine that in this 21st Century, Gambians could be subjected to such bizarre happenings like a group of people posing as 'witchdoctors' apparently hired by no one other than the Head of State himself, going round the country, escorted by armed soldiers, kidnapping innocent people from their villages and not only accusing them of practising witchcraft, but even forcing them to take concoctions in order to prove it.

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German Tourist Changes Holiday Destination Following Halifa Sallah’s Illegal Arrest

Dear Editor,

I am not a Gambian and I know nothing about the country, but my eye was caught by the headline “Gambian Opposition Leader Halifa Sallah Goes on Felony Trial” in a paper called the Senegambia News when I was searching the Internet for suitable holiday destinations and typed in “Gambia”. Over the past few days, I’ve tried to follow the story, in your own paper and others, and understand it.

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Breaking News

Mathew K. Jallow and Colleagues Launch- National Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in The Gambia

(NMRD-G)

Press Release

Fellow Gambians and friends of The Gambia around the world, we are extremely pleased to introduce to you, the National Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in The Gambia (NMRD-G). The organization was incorporated in February 2009, in the state of Wisconsin, United States. The primary objective of NMRD-G is the restoration, nurturing, and institutionalization of democracy in The Republic of The Gambia.

Mathew K. Jallow

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For the past few weeks The Gambia and Gambians have been preoccupied with the strange story of unknown and unidentified people engaged in hunting witches and cleansing them of their devilish disposition.  Banjul, the Kombos, the Fonis and Niumis have so far been the areas in which the witch hunters have operated or been operating...

Veteran Gambian Human Rights Lawyer Ousainu N.M. Darbo is UDP's Leader 

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By EBRIMA G. SANKAREH, Editor-in-Chief

Appearing before a jam-packed courtroom in The Gambia’s western regional town of Brikama, 35km off the capital Banjul, famed Gambian sociologist, human rights crusader and politician Hon. Halifa Sallah pleaded not guilty to a barrage of sedition and spying charges. The veteran politician and former Pan-African parliamentarian as well as 2006 presidential candidate for the opposition National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) was today charged with “controlling an unlawful procession in Makumbaya village,

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Commentary

The Gambia Descending into Chaos

By Mathew K. Jallow, Associate Editor

On Monday morning, Gambians woke up to the news of PDOIS’ politician and 2006 Presidential Candidate for the opposition National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD), Halifa Sallah’s arrest, but by the afternoon, more bad news were circulating around the world about the mass arrest and detention of yet more innocent civilians from the remote village of Sintet, in the Fonis.

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Barely a week after the brutal murder of Guinea–Bissau’s long serving authoritarian President, Nino Vieira, some graphic images have started to surface that give the reader an idea of the gruesomeness of it all. Below we reproduce some photos courtesy of the AP. Viewer discretion is urged, as some of the images are disturbing.

After President Vieira was shot, he was still alive, soldiers then took his bleeding body to his mother-in-law's house and with a machet, cut him into pieces.

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Ismaila Jammeh Dies, Account Set Up For Kind Donations 

The death has been announced of Ismaila Jammeh, a Gambian resident of Omaha, Nebraska. Jammeh 38, reportedly died of liver cancer at a local hospital today. The deceased was resident in Raleigh, NC until 2004 when he relocated to the mid-western state of Nebraska. Before coming to the US in late 1990s, Islmaila affectionately called IS was a sports freelancer for The Point Newspaper.     

The Late Ismaila Jammeh far left

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Analysis

Good-bye Nino Vieira; hello Yahya Jammeh

By Mathew K. Jallow, Associate Editor

The death, over the weekend, of Guinea-Bissau’s President Nino Vieira, has heightened tensions in the tri-state area, imperceptibly it seems, but in a substantive way nonetheless. The Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau axis, is at a cross-roads, yet no one is trying, from a political point of view, to figure out, much less map out clear direction that can offer lasting peace and stability for our peoples.

Slain Guinea-Bissau President, Nino Vieira

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As Jammeh intensifies efforts to gag The Point Newspaper, RSF urges Commonwealth’s intervention

Reporters Without Borders (htt://www.rsf.org)

Press Release

4 March 2009

GAMBIA

Commonwealth Secretary General Urged to Help "Save The Point Newspaper"

Reporters Without Borders has called on the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma, to intervene with President Yahya Jammeh to immediately halt the Gambian authorities’ hounding of the country’s last independent daily newspaper and its editor. Editor of The Point, Pap Saine, is to go on trial on 11 March for “publishing and distributing false information” and “obtaining personal documents on the basis of false statements”.

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Breaking News: Speaker MB Njie Dies

The death has been  announced of Speaker Momodou Baboucarr Njie (alias Njie BP) of Fajara in the Kanifing Municipal Council today March 3^rd. 2009 around 2pm. His remains will be laid to rest at 11:00am local Gambian time.

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Coup Follows Lansana Conte's  Death, Guinea-Bissau President shot dead, who is Next?

Renegade soldiers have shot dead the president of the West African country of Guinea-Bissau, officials say. The killing of Joao Bernardo Vieira is thought to been a revenge attack, after the army chief of staff died in an explosion a few hours earlier. The army denies there is a coup, and the capital Bissau is said to be quiet.

Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira killed by soldiers 

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