Amnesty International Report: Journalist in Senegal at risk of disappearance

Yahya Danfa, who got into trouble with the authorities for working with Amnesty International representatives in The Gambia, and who had to flee to Senegal, is apparently not safe even there, according to an Amnesty International report which seems to have slipped under the radar of even the usually quite watchful Foroyaa. I don't know about the veracity of the claims here, but if it is indeed true that his family got harassed, and that he himself is in fear of being kidnapped and brought back to the country to be punished, even after he fled to another country where he poses no danger whatsoever, then that's very sad, and will only serve to further soil the already pretty grimy human rights record of the current Government. 

Roundup March 10th 2008

International Women's Day Commemorated [foroyaa]

Gambian women still get the short end of the stick in a lot of cases - they are the poorest amongst the poor, massively under-represented (though this is changing, in some ways), and still manage to run the nation: cooking, cleaning, washing, doing all the back-breaking work that gets no recognition and no thanks. So any day organized to draw attention to their plight and call for change is a good thing. A nice quote from Dr Touray, the executive director of GAMCOTRAP:

"[Dr Touray] highlighted the concept of Gender Equality, which she said seems to raise a lot of intellectual and political debates, particularly among the epistemologists, as well as men, women and highly placed decision makers who, she said, tend to politicize the issue and thereby miss its essence."

Fighting for Gender Equality (which often as not gets all the men in the conversation to turn away with knowing smirks on their faces) for Gambian women is important, but at the moment it is probably more productive to begin by fighting for just the right to, for example, share some of the housework/babysitting duties with their male partner instead of having to sweep the backyard with the latest baby on their backs, whilst he sits in the living room chewing gerrteh saaf and watching football, after having spent the whole day cooking, cleaning, washing, etc. [if you're a Gambian male reading this and you gasped at the - gasp! - mere idea of sharing the housework with your wife, there's my point, proven].

There is a also a related story in Foroyaa, which you can read here, and one from the Observer.

Gambia: Country Immigration to Crackdown On Illegal Immigrants Today!! [Freedom]

OK I'm going to stop linking to stories from Freedom, and I know I've made this promise in the past, but I find it extremely hard to pass up the chance to make fun of their stories [exclamation marks and all: they seem to think the more exclamation marks they add to a story the more! believable! it! is!!!].

And right from the first paragraph the slinging starts:

The Gambia Immigration was over the past month training to be able to harass as in the past, people purportedly believe to be without their Alien Card or their Residential or Work permit, the third month of the year.

training to be able to harass people, no less. Who writes these things?

The sad thing is that there actually is a story of note here: it's very disheartening to hear about people from neighboring countries being arrested, roughed up, and deported for not paying an "aliens tax". Where is the "pan-Africanism" in this? [to use a word much beloved by the President and his supporters]. 

There's a press release about the issue over at foroyaa.

Five Security Agents to Appear Before the Ecowas Community Court in the ?Disappeared? Journalist?s Case [Media Foundation for West Africa]

Accusations and counter-accusations have flown over this one, but it still remains very, very mysterious. Maybe this will help get to the bottom of it (should the security agents actually appear). [more coverage from foroyaa].

Many Vehicles Impounded [foroyaa]

Concerning a story we covered in the last news roundup, which was (as usual) wildly over-reported by the usual suspects [hint: their name starts with an F! and they like their exclamation points!!!!]

ICE in Turmoil [foroyaa]

News story about a "brawl" erupting at ICE [Institute for Continuing Education] high school, which is sad, though the reporter gets rather carried away, calling ICE-students the "flowers of our nation", which was rather stretching the point... But I hope this gets resolved soon.

Freedom Newspaper Blocked

Freedom Newspaper apparently finally got blocked by the Gambia Government, much to their consternation - that link is to a breathless article published in Freedom, in which various sources supposedly decry the blocking of their site, calling it their "University" and main source of news (I am trying very, very hard to stay neutral and unbiased here, but anyone who makes a hate-rag like Freedom, the sorriest excuse for a newspaper the Gambia has ever seen, their main source of information needs professional help). The article ends:

The Freedom Newspaper is a household name in The Gambia, but Jammeh cannot stand the paper. He fears the paper to death. The paper has been banned in The Gambia.

which, alas, is how it's going to be spun the next few days ad nauseam: that the Government, now scared to death by the privileged "information" being revealed by Freedom, has shut it down.  

In the past we have spoken about Freedom, and the distaste any "news" story (and Freedom does "news", not news - the quotes are there for a reason) on their site brings to our mouths. But shutting them down does not really solve the problem, because:

1) It gives them legitimacy. This is not the first time this has happened - a few months ago they were blocked, only to have the block lifted, for some reason. They, of course, milked this for all it was worth, going on about free speech and democracy and how the rule of the masses could not be kept down. (Freedom is very good at manipulating words like "democracy", and its eponymous "freedom", to its twisted aims - on the front page and every other page of their site there is a picture of Deyda Hydara, with the words "Who Killed Deyda?" underneath it).

2) The block is not total, and only makes it a little harder to access the site, even for the most technically unsavvy users - it is a direct block on the site itself, which can be easily circumvented by using google or any number of anonymous proxies found online, or even allafrica's Gambia portal. And so it becomes more symbolic than anything, showing that the Government cares enough about what Freedom is saying to try and stop citizens from reading it. Which, in the eyes of Samba Ordinary Citizen, is the final piece of evidence to make them give up any doubts they had about the paper and its legitimacy.

On the other hand, whilst I think the Internet would be a much better place without the likes of Freedom polluting it, I think it is worrying to consider the possible implications of having the Government have the power to simply drop the axe on any website which publishes information not to its liking. Freedom has any number of arguments supporting its blocking, but how far of a step is it for a Government to take from blocking Freedom, to blocking other websites which publish articles monitoring it, or exposing it in an unfavorable light, or even promoting ideas which it would rather its citizens not have access to? 

Gambian Litter Laws

This week the Daily Observer have been running a crusade to stop littering, and get the NEA/Police to actually start enforcing the new anti-litter laws which got created a while back. Here are some of the articles published:

- Any anti-litter prosecution?

 

- NEA Boss Speaks

- Litter and the Law

There seems to be a bit of confusion between the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Police, over who should enforce the laws (understandably - no one wants this extra work added to their already tight schedules). 

The Observer's campaign is actually quite commendable - less litter on the streets is a good thing. I think the anti-litter laws are a good first step. However, in addition to making laws against littering, the area councils (BCC, KMC, etc.) should also enable people to dispose of their litter in non-law-breaking ways, by putting trash cans everywhere, and making sure they are collected every week without fail by council service men. Otherwise people will choose convenience (disposing of an empty drinks can immediately, on the street) over saving the environment (carrying it around with you until you find a trash can, which could take a while) any day.

Not all Doom And Gloom #1

Meanwhile, in The Gambia, it's not all doom and gloom (as some online papers would have you believe, naming no names or anything). I received this report from a friend of mine who goes to work in Banjul everyday, from Taborkoto:

There's been a transport problem for a very long time, going to Banjul in the morning, and going home from Banjul after work. The problem is that there are more passengers than vans and also that, whilst people congregate at West Field in the morning, the van drivers would rather run the Serekunda/Taborkoto-Westield route, than the Banjul-Westfield one, because the latter has only one-way traffic in the mornings (to Banjul), whilst the former has guaranteed two-way full trips.

So, in order to solve the problem and keep the wheels of the country running (most of the passengers who wait for vans at West Field are civil servants or students), there are police officers now posted at Westfield every morning. They don't use force (not even having truncheons on them) but talk to the drivers instead - any driver with an empty van trying to run the more lucrative Taborkoto-Westfield route is asked nicely to turn around and run the Banjul one instead (drivers who already have passengers are allowed to go on). All the drivers I've seen asked have complied. This has made it much easier to get transport in the mornings, and made the work day as a whole much more pleasant. I think this is a very good example of how the government can step in to help citizens, in small but ultimately important ways.

News Review 7th March 2008

Gambia: Hundreds of Banjul/Serre-Kunda Left Stranded Wednesday!!

Typical Freedom hate-spiel, typical Freedom misrepresentation of facts and completely getting wrong their interpretation of what actually is happening. The car shortage is actually due to the police impounding vehicles which have not renewed their licenses, a perfectly reasonable activity, given that drivers have ample time to do this (once-a-year) activity. From the article: "It could be recalled that several times after these monies are collected one man steals and disappears in the thin air, this has several times hit the Immigration department and people are hoping that it would not happen this year as many are only trying to fill their pockets and get away from the government.".

Seriously as long as Freedom continues to pull allegations like this seemingly out of thin air, with no backing and no hard facts whatsoever to back them, I do not see how people can take them seriously.

Gambian Students Flying Our Flag High in Taiwan

- A very reasoned, well-thought-out reply to the Freedom article concerning the same topic, which I will not dignify by linking to here. The only sad thing is that so much energy has to be spent defending against smear campaigns like this one - surely we have enough REAL issues to discuss, that we don't need to make new ones up.

Man Collapses, Dies While Approaching President Jammeh

"In an interview shortly afterwards the President said that he had spotted the man at a distance and knew his intentions were motivated by hate but that he was better prepared for any eventuality."

Seriously. Someone. Tell. This. Guy. He. Is. Not. Jesus. Reincarnate. !!!(And funnily enough it's The Point who are reporting this, myth-building aspects and all, whilst the usually eager-as-puppies-for-propaganda Daily Observer didn't say a word).

Armed Robbery Becoming Habitual in CRR - Governor Touray

The evidence sounds a bit too circumstantial to me. If Mr Jallow owned his own shop, why did the supposed armed robbers not rob him? Why would armed robbers who had planned enough to get a truck and choose a time of night and everything then not know how to get to the place they wanted to rob, and have to ask for directions? And, if they were armed, why did they ask nicely?

Gambia: Lieutenant Bakary Camara Still Not in Court

No matter what else you have to say against Foroyaa, I think it still is very, very admirable that they not only keep pressing the Government to account for missing persons, and downright noble of them that they don't limit this to just opposition figures, but also Government personnel as well, people who on a normal day would probably consider Foroyaa mortal enemies. Not that anything gets done about it. Ah well - at least in the future, when we are all dust and all that, archivists and historians will have quite a comprehensive record of the current Government's disappearings and human rights abuses, simply by going through back issues of Foroyaa.

“We are happy and grateful to DOSE” - Gambia College Students


Very nice. How it's supposed to work really - the citizens speak, the Government hears them and tries to make things better. And teachers are the public servants about whom all the clichés are true: they are the bones in the backbone of the country, the masons and bricklayers right at the bottom whose work is so very important for building a strong, durable foundation for the nation-as-building-metaphor.

PETITION DEMANDING THE DISCHARGE OF MS. FATOU JAW MANNEH

An online petition demanding the discharge of Ms. Fatou Jaw Manneh's case has been summoned and accessible online at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/Manneh/petition.html