Gambia Fails in Freezing So-called Ghadafi’s Assets (#Libya)

(Daily News) - Gambia government’s decision to close down so-called assets of embattled Libyan leader, Ghadafi has failed. Business is instead bustling at Jerma Hotel, Laico Hotel and Dream Park, The Daily News confirmed from official sources.
Gambia government had on Friday, Aril 22, pronounced the freezing of all assets owned by Ghadafi in the country. Laico Hotel, formerly known as Atlantic Hotel, Jerma Hotel, and Dream Park are said to be part of Ghadafi’s assets and therefore freezed with effect from April 22. Over a week on, business is as usual at these places.
The Daily News has confirmed that none of the said investments are owned by Ghadafi. All the three investments are owned by private Libyan citizens.
Gambia’s Tourism Minister has also confirmed that the said investments are neither freezed nor closed down yet.
“I don’t think we can close them down like that,” an unnamed senior government official told The Daily News. “What we can do is to appoint an administrator to oversee the operation of the businesses.”
Eugen Dielthelm is the general manager of Laico Hotel. He stared in astonishment when informed by a The Daily News reporter, who went to him for interview about the development. But he said he wasn’t aware. This was the sixth day after the pronouncement. “It’s a surprise,” he spoke softly, “When was that announcement made?”
“Can I see the press release?” he enquired further, this time looking worried. He logged onto the State house website: www.statehouse.gm to be assured. He then telephoned a person, he said, was the tourism minister, Fatou Mass Jobe.
“Fatou,” he said on the telephone, “I am with a journalist and he told me that my hotel is to be closed-down by the Gambia government.”
After a brief conversation, he looked positive. “My hotel is not closing down,” he said. “If Gambia government is having issues with the Ghadafi’s government that is not my problem and that should not affect my hotel.”
He added: “I am the general manager and I am still the general manager, nothing has changed here as far as I am concerned.”
Mr Muhammed, proprietor of Jerma Hotel, was however aware of the development. But he declined to comment any further after saying the issue has been cleared up with the ministry.
“I can tell you that this [Jerma] hotel is a private investment,” a man who prefered to be anonymous has said. “Yes, the owner is a Libyan, but the ownership has nothing to do with the Libyan government or Ghadifi.”

Author: Lamin Jahateh

Gambia:Yahya Jammeh organizes Prayer Fest to ward-off political unrest in The Gambia

By Mathew K Jallow

In what can only be described as unprecedented and unconventional, Yahya Jammeh over the weekend ordered the Gambia Supreme Islamic Council to hold a two-day prayer vigil in the town of Gunjur 30 miles south of Banjul. According to our sources, the objective of the two days of prayer is to help ward off the turmoil and political upheavals that are ravaging North Africa, the Middle East, Kenya, Zimbabwe and most recently, Burkina Faso.

The prayer vigil, which was performed by over 400 hired Islamic scholars, mobilized from around The Gambia and neighboring Senegal, who each received a cash payment of 1000 dalasis and a bag of rice, and attended by hundreds, were tasked to pray throughout the day and all night for Allah to prevent what is dubbed the “spring of discontent” from taking hold on Gambian shores.

As a benediction of the prayer fest, twelve bulls were slaughtered as sacrifice to the “gods” and two trucks filled with rice were also donated for distribution by the highly superstitious Yahya Jammeh, whose brand of religion combines traditional Islam and primitive African idol worship.

A section of beach where a mosque and a shrine are located was ordered closed to the public, and residents of a nearby beach-side motel were evacuated and relocated. It can be recalled that nearly five years ago, Yahya Jammeh banned pilgrimages and offering of sacrifice at the same mosque and shrine, which were built as a dedication to Shiek Umar Futuyou, a famous 19th Century Islamic cleric from Senegal, whose name the locals attribute to miracles, only to reverse that ban a year later.

Spearheading the prayer vigil was the President of Gambia Supreme Islamic Council, Imam Momodou Lamin Touray, who my sources describe as “Jammeh’s errand Boy. The Gambia Supreme Islamic Council, which consists of 50 Islamic scholars, has over many years acted as a political arm of the Gambian dictatorship, in the process benefitting and regularly accepting large sums of bribe money and vehicles from Dictator Yahya Jammeh. As it is, the political turmoil that began in Tunisia early this year has toppled or are on the verge of toppling many decades-long dictatorships across North Africa and the Middle East, have only recently turned south towards Sub-Saharan Africa. In the West African, Burkina Faso, the first causality of black Africa’s “spring of discontent,” spontaneous and violent uprising demanding an end to the twenty-three year dictatorship of Blaise Campoare, who took over power in a military coup back in 1987, have flared up throughout most regions of that country.

The two day prayer vigil, which according to our sources brought unwanted attention to the seaside town of Gunjur, was marked by Yahya Jammeh’s usual pomp and pageantry, designed to deflect people’s attention from their miseries, if only while it lasts. Ironically, however, the two day prayer fest was marred by one tragedy and mishap after another.

The weekend prayer vigil began with the tragic death of a child, whose life was cut short by Yahya Jammeh’s “presidential” motorcade. Without coming off as insanely conspiratorial as the mad Glen Beck, this fifth child whose death was caused by Yahya Jammeh’s motorcades in as many years, is beginning to look more like “child sacrifice” as practiced by primitive African cultures.

This is not far-fetched for the deeply superstitious Yahya Jammeh, considering that in the early years of his reign in the 1990s, he was known to have fed the corpses of his victims to the crocodiles in his “personal zoo” located in his native village of Kanilai about 90 miles south of the capital Banjul. In another instance, a man carrying a bag of rice was seriously injured after he fell into a well as villagers scrambled and jostled for the rice Yahya Jammeh ordered distributed to Gunjur villagers.

Yet another man was also seriously injured in the process of slaughtering one of the twelve bulls Yahya Jammeh brought as sacrifice to his animist “gods.” But the attention grabber of the weekend’s prayer pomp and pageantry was not Yahya Jammeh, who has become stale news everywhere he travels in and outside the country, but a brave young man who hurled insults at Yahya Jammeh, blaming him for the dire economic and social problems the country has faced throughout the years of his dictatorship.

It goes without saying, the young Gunjur man, whose name is still to be released, was seen being arrested and taken away by Yahya Jammeh’s retinue of bodyguards and security personnel. The weekend prayer vigil itself symptomatic Yahya Jammeh’s fear of the widespread discontent in The Gambia, not just the harsh economic conditions Gambians find themselves living under, but the gross human rights abuses, which over the nearly two decades, have included extra-judicial executions, murders, and disappearances of citizens, tortures, arbitrary arrests and detentions and harsh conditions of incarcerations of political dissidents and members of the military and security forces.

But for now, whether Allah will answer to the town of Gunjur’s weekend prayer fest and immune Yahya Jammeh’s military dictatorship from the spreading political upheavals that have consumed Yahya Jammeh’s friend and next door neighbor, military dictator Blaise Campoare of Burkina Faso, will remain to be seen. But one thing is clear, conditions for a violent uprising in The Gambia are rife, and it may well be only a matter of time before the genie is pulled out of the bottle.

As it is, Yahya Jammeh’s prayers seem sixteen years too late; sixteen years that not even Allah is unwilling to sweep under the rug just for a little prayer and a little blood sacrifice.

Gambia News:Statement by Pamela Ann White, U.S Ambassador to The Gambia on World Press Freedom Day(#WPFD)

The Point -Social media users are playing a starring role in the drama unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa. In many countries in the region - including Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria - the Internet is serving as a catalyst for journalists, activities, and citizens alike to connect with each other and share their stories and calls for change with the world.

"We were unplugged for five days, no Internet connection no mobile devices. We were like in a big prison in Egypt," says Egyptian Blogger Dalia Ziada, in explaining what it felt like when former President Hosni Mubarak's regime switched off the power to the Internet and blocked mobile phone communications in an attempt to stifle press freedom and the freedoms of citizens to access information and assemble peacefully.

But the dark did not stop people from gathering in the streets to demand change.

"The civil rights movement is not new," Ziada explained, "but it did not succeed until the Internet appeared and social networks like Facebook and Twitter attracted larger number of Egyptians."

The Internet is the global gate which has amplified demands for freedom of expression, facilitated vibrant and open discussions on a wide range of topics and connected citizens with each other around the world. Indeed, access to information has been profoundly altered with the arrival of the digital age.

As Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said earlier this year: "The Internet has become the public space of the 21st century-the world's town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse and night club.  We all shape and are shaped by what happens there, all 2 billion of us and counting."

In this new public space crowded with news and chatter, journalists play an essential role in searching for truth, analyzing trends, maintaining credibility, and providing reports to serve the public good. Undoubtedly, the arrival of the digital age - the evolution of the Internet, the emergence of new forms of media and the rise of online social networks - has sparked debate as to what it means to be a journalist, what role bloggers play, and what the effect of a blurring of lines between citizen journalists and professionals will be on the media of today and tomorrow. These imperative debates can be highlighted and further discussed through press related initiatives such as World Press Freedom Day.

World Press Freedom Day, observed annually across the world on May 3rd, was established by the United Nations to celebrate the principle of press freedom and commemorate those who died in trying to exercise them. For these reasons, the United States has partnered with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to hold the official global commemoration of World Press Freedom Day for the first time.

This year's theme could not be more prescient: "21st Century Media - New Media, New Barriers." The establishment and fostering of an independent, pluralistic, and free press is essential to the development of civil societies and democracies across the globe.  

"When a free media is in jeopardy," Secretary Hillary Clinton has said, "all other human rights are also threatened. So in that spirit, let us continue to champion those who stand for media freedom - and expose those who would deny it.  And let us always work toward a world where the free flow of information and ideas remains a powerful force for progress."

We are facing a critical transformative moment in our history. Around the world people are calling out for freedom, transparency, and self-determination. New digital tools are supporting this cause in a way that is faster and more widespread than ever before, and journalists are playing a central role in this effort.  Unfortunately, many of them have been killed or injured as they've sought to report on the grave challenges facing our world today. It is up to each of us to honor their legacy and do all we can - both virtually and in reality - to support press freedom as a fundamental right to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. 

Much closer to home, there has been an explosion in mobile phone ownership and internet usage, over the last few years. There has also been an increase in the number of new radio stations and newspaper companies. Gambians, in particular the youth, now have a great opportunity to explore and communicate effectively with their peers across the world through these new flagship mediums. The opportunities presented by the current communication climate are great, especially in supporting press freedom nationally and civic engagement.

Gambia News:Veteran Politician Questions President Jammeh’s Source of Wealth

Daily News -The national president of the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), Dembo Bojang alias Dembo By Force questioned Gambian President Yahya Jammeh’s source of wealth.
The veteran politician says President Jammeh dishes out money and other forms of gesture to students, musicians, military personnel and others like a benevolent king without disclosing to Gambians his source of wealth. 
President Jammeh came to power in 1994 through a military coup when he was a Lieutenant with a monthly income of less than D2000.00. But he appears to have amassed enough wealth during his 16-year rule. He once responded to such queries by saying that his source of wealth is God.

However, Dembo is not convinced by this explaination. Addressing a mass political rally at Tallinding on Saturday, Bojang said, President Jammeh should disclose his source of wealth and to make a declaration of his bank account.
According to him, Jammeh is fond of dishing out money to people and delivering vehicles as personal gift, noting that it is about time that President Jammeh tell Gambian where he gets the money he is dishing out. 
“We don’t mind President Jammeh’s enjoyment of his presidential privileges but let the wealth of the nation not be squandered by him,” he cautioned.
Dembo By Force said, Gambian currency has suffered a long depreciation under the Jammeh regime coupled with skyrocketing of prices of daily commodities. 
He said they bear no hatred for President Jammeh, but rather, his system as a result of his comportment towards governance of the country that, he said, leaves much to be desired.
He described Jammeh as the Alpha and Omega of the Gambia who is enjoying all privileges of his position, while the economic situation of Gambians is worsening.
He stated that the president is ‘fooling Gambian’ women by making himself a champion of women empowerment.
“The women that he claimed to have empowered are those adding the numbers of people in his propaganda by involving them in march passes, providing them with “ashobi” (uniforms) just to hoodwink them,” Dembo said.
“I want to tell women that Jammeh is selling all what they (women gardeners) are selling, ranging from vegetables like cabbages and other garden and farm produces and still he claims to be empowering you,” he alleged.
He alleged that landlords and bread winners of families are missing, jailed and others fled the country, stressing the country cannot afford to be governed in such a manner.
He called on Gambians to throw their weight behind UDP to effect, as he puts it, “the desirable change to salvage the country from its present predicament.”

Author: Baboucarr Ceesay

An Open Letter Ms Reine Alapini Gansou, Chairperson of the African Commission

Balangbaa: The Campaign for Civil Disobedience in The Gambia.

An Open Letter
Ms Reine Alapini Gansou,
Chairperson of the African Commission
C/o Kairaba Beach Hotel
April 26, 2011

Dear Ms Gansou,
This no-confidence protest letter is addressed you in your capacity as Chairperson of the African Commission. The aim is bring the spotlight on the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), which is located in Banjul. And the intent is for you bring the concerns of the citizens of the host country of the 49th Ordinary Session, The Gambia, to the African Union (AU) body in order to educate policy-makers and the powers-that-be about what a sham the ACDHRS has become. First, allow me to diverge into another important area of concern to Africans all across the continent. As passive observers of the shenanigans that have dominated the operations of the African Union and its predecessor, the Organization of African Union (OAU), Africans have become frustrated with the redundancy, wastefulness and utter uselessness of the continental body and regional institutions such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The picture that has emerged is that the African Union and its predecessor the OAU have existed solely to serve the interests of the leaders of its member states. To that effect, these institutions have become white-elephants where millions of dollars are wasted each year for the purpose of preserving the selfish interests of corrupt leaders and brutal regimes. The past five decades have seen African leaders and their corrupt regimes squander the goodwill and economic fortunes of African countries and reduced their people to devastating poverty far worst than the one left behind by our colonial experience.
It is an absolutely disgraceful paradox that the continent with the largest share of the world’s natural resources, also shamefully boasts its poorest people. After fifty years of political independence, this lunacy and the political conundrum our continent is plunged into by the cruel machinations of greedy and self-centered despots and wayward bureaucracies, defies human imagination. This selfishness and greed, which cuts across Africa’s failed regimes is inexplicable in any rational way. Each year, for the past fifty years, the United States and European powers have transferred billions of dollars to regimes all across the continent, yet we have noting to show for it. Instead, Africa’s ever worsening poverty, which has generated civil wars and created civil strife in countries across the continent, will continue to fester and claim the lives of millions more Africans. And this is just the beginning. In the 1960s and 1970s, Africa was generally better off economically than the vast majority of Asian and Latin American countries such as China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, but today, African leaders visit these countries with their hands tucked between their legs shamefully begging for charity aid. Even today, almost every country in African is dependent on foreign aid to survive, and some, like The Gambia, depend on foreign aid from the United States and Europe for up to 80% of annual national budgets. Institutions like the AU and ECOWAS are still funded directly by benevolent Western governments and the United Nations. Despite this incredible transfer of wealth to the abjectly poor African countries, a World Bank study found that in 2005 alone, African politicians and bureaucrats looted $148 billion from their countries and stashed these funds in foreign bank accounts. This amount was more than the total foreign aid transfer to African countries for that year. This staggering amount of money is absolutely mind-bugling, yet it is true.
Now back to the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), an organization which has been in existence for nearly a quarter century, but which has done nothing to challenge the incredible human rights violations of Africa’s misanthropic  despots, in particular, the idiot we have in The Gambia; Yahya Jammeh. The ACDHRS has never issued a press release to condemn any one of the more than one hundred and thirty murders and executions of Gambians, Senegalese, Nigerians and Ghanaians, all of who met their sad fates at the hands of Yahya Jammeh’s agents of death. Never once has the ACDHRS made a public pronouncement or produced a document that challenges Yahya Jammeh’s criminal regime for its gross human rights violations. Meanwhile, the murders, executions, tortures, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and other serious violations perpetrated by Yahya Jammeh’s regime continue unabated. And now, the ACDHRS has turned into a white-elephant despite the inconsequential forums the organization is involved in, such the 49th Ordinary Session, taking place in Banjul right now. Each year, millions of dollars are being wasted in holding these meaningless meetings which have never produced any worthwhile results as far as we African are concerned. It would appear people who attend these useless meetings do so for the money and other perks they receive. Given its history of uselessness and inefficiency in the face of the ongoing human rights violations in The Gambia, which includes extra-judicial executions, forced disappearances, tortures and incarcerations in Africa’s worst prison, Mile 2 Prisons, The Gambia no longer deserves the privilege to host the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS). As a result, Gambians demand that the ACDHRS be moved to another country that deserves the unique honour of hosting the Center. As it is, the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) exists to throw millions of dollars down a bottomless pit. The money wasted to pay unearned salaries and other perks could be better utilized to serve other useful purposes. Since Yahya Jammeh uses the ACDHRS to project an unreal image of The Gambia, Gambians demand that the ACDHRS be defunded and relocated elsewhere.

By Mathew K Jallow: Balangbaa: The campaign for Civil Disobedience in The Gambia.