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Editorial: Yahya Jammeh’s hypocrisy is off-putting
Sunday, 12 December 2010 14:38
As time goes by it becomes ever obvious that President Yahya Jammeh will never change. His penchant
for inconsistency, a rather pathetic temperament that only reinforces the precarious situation Gambians find themselves engulfed in today, leaves him even more vulnerable to ridicule.Consequently, the foreign policy of the Gambia, thanks to Jammeh’s attitude towards outsiders (the West in particular), is the most bewildering of all, the world over.
First there was the special ECOWAS summit convened to discuss the situation in Ivory Coast. While leaders who are clearly serious about real peace in that country abandoned all their important engagements and attended the Abuja summit, Yahya Jammeh remained glued to his throne in Banjul - doing God knows what - and instead delegated his Foreign Minister.
And all of a sudden the ‘Champion of Peace’ in Africa, whose name, oddly enough, is on every forum that discusses oppression of political opponents, blames the West for the cause of a problem a plainly indifferent dictator like Laurent Gbagbo is clearly solely responsible for.
In a statement on Saturday, obviously aired on the orders of President Jammeh, the Banjul government said Western powers should stay out of Ivory Coast. "It is high time that foreign powers respect the independence and sovereignty of Africans and Ivorians in particular and stop interfering in their internal electoral processes, "the statement aired on state controlled GRTS said.
This statement is exactly reminiscent of what Gbagbo said earlier to the UN, after shamelessly disregarding the will of the people of Ivory Coast and insists on clinging onto power.
Anyway, this is not the first time we, Gambians, have had to put up with a stunt like this. But the question, as always, is: which Western powers is Jammeh referring to? The US, whose president expressed support for the rightful winner? Or is it the EU? Or yet still is it the UN?
Yahya Jammeh’s two-facedness is sometimes so piercingly off-putting that it is hard to ignore; very hard.
His attitude to the Ivorian crisis in fact marches that of Russia, which shamelessly sought to play the archaic cold war game by condemning ‘international interference’ and unnecessarily delaying a UN resolution which eventually condemned Gbagbo’s coup d’état.
Unless you are not familiar with the agreement that brought about the electoral process in Ivory Coast, which is clearly the case for Yahya Jammeh, you wouldn’t call the UN’s involvement interference. But this should be a warning shot for the gullible UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Remember that this is the same Yahya Jammeh who had just received a representative of the UN mission in Abidjan whose staff had been evacuated because of the political tension. Did Jammeh do it because he believed in what the UN stand for in Ivory Coast or did he do it as a much needed foreign relations stunt for his discredited image?
It might interest ECOWAS leaders also to know that Yahya Jammeh can not be a trusted ally. His latest tactics amounts to double standards, and is inimical to sub regional peace. While Jammeh wouldn’t want to be left out in a regional agreement supporting what is right, he sees a perfect opportunity for his usual show of the ‘bravest among the lot’. His statement holding "both leaders, Gbagbo, Ouattara and their supporters, responsible for any negative consequences of the current crisis," is nothing short of insincerity – unless he doesn’t subscribe to the stance of ECOWAS, AU or the UN. Or could this be an expression of trepidation for what awaits him in next year’s elections in Gambia, provided that the opposition comes to their senses?
Talking about hypocrisy of the West, which admittedly is not entirely refutable, what about reports of arms intercepted in Nigeria, where the name of The Gambia continues to feature? Don’t Gambians deserve any explanation for arms that did not come from the West but from a hitherto friendship that Yahya Jammeh cultivated from the East?
Anyway, the only rightful solution to the situation in Ivory Coast is to have the will of the people respected which is to install the rightful winner in place.
Laurent Gbagbo, after years of illegal tenure, was rejected by Ivoirians, plain and simple. He should be told to go, which is what both the AU and ECOWAS has done, as did the UN.
If any leader says differently, they better make it clear what they stand for!
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Comments
How many of us are ready to take Badara’s stand against d brutality meted to our illustrious sons. Are we ready to opt 4 d Afghan’s, Iraqi or Pakistan style of suicide bombing? You can use that to get rid of Jammeh & his immediate guards in certain ceremonies although am not an advocate 4 that. I challenge all those who r calling 4 violent change of regime whatever it takes to sincerely and honestly tell us if they r ready to put-up their lives to rescue us if not let them judge themselves.
I beg to defer from that idea & still hold on to d option of d ballot box though u may disagree but what is possible in our neighbourhood is possible in d Gambia. It's left to d oppositions.
Just calculate all the votes of d oppositions and those Gambians who reframed from voting and u will see that what was achievable with our neighbours 2ru d ballot box is very possible in d Gambia without pouring petrol in an already burning bush. We should value d lives of ordinary Gambians out there although we pay homage and respects to those distinguish sons of whose lives were brutally ended.
Majority of Gambians in d Gambia on my own opinion though r calling 4 regime change do not succumb achieving it 2ru violent means bcos of pass experience esp 1981. The consequences of such violent means r mostly disastrous and of great tragedy. We will not be fair to ourselves and people in d Gambia if we enjoy our peace here 4 one reason or d other and pugnaciously yarn 4 woeful situation even though d status-quo is not right.
Our obstacle is d disunity of d greedy oppositions back home who cannot also sacrifice 4 regime change by coming together & forego their individual selfish power hungry interest.
Jammeh is no more our problem if we r ready to be united & confront him head-on. The Gambia unfortunately has nothing like second round, we go by simple majority so d earlier opposition parties merge together d better.
Comment
Hypocrites are multifaceted; yaya jammeh’s one of them-clowns, & so got lost in jinx of masquerading. Time’s come for the wicked & twisted get the rot; form Camara in Guinea, Gbagbo of Coast; etc, to yaya jammeh in Gambia. In this era, even mighty US, took a limp in ‘de-feathering’? Yaya jammeh &supporters beware the “ides of March”???
Mr Obama came to power on a wave of peaceful "change"...against a backdrop of 10% unemployment...massive citizen debt and record home repossessions....and war upon war.
How can Mr Obama reconcile his "peace" mandate whilst securing from the senate...a record "war" budget of $708 BILLION dollars?
How can America reconcile supplying Suadi Arabia billions of dollars worth of the most advanced weaponry....while Iraq views Suadi Arabia..as a bigger terrorist threat to there homeland than Iran?
Mr Julian Arrange....of Wikileaks...has provided a shaddowy inside look at American foriegn policy...from Guantanamo Bay...to the way the US views its supposed allies.
To my mind America has developed an obscure and self interest.. view of the world.
But then this has been quite obvious since the second world war?
A Gambian friend in England (a British soldier incidentally) once said to me: 'no one is willing to go back and start a revolution because there is nothing to fight for back home. There is nothing but grief and illiteracy, so how can you even explain to rural people the benefits of a revolution, free speech and democracy?' While I thought that was sad to hear at the time, I do slightly empathise with his view. Gambians have always had 'ants in their pants' about leaving the country (even before Jammeh) and I am pretty sure most Gambian expats would have no qualms about never going back. You hear people saying it all the time: 'If it wasn't for mummy and daddy, I would never go back. The world is too big to explore'. That is why Gambians in Gambia need to sort their own problems and not rely on Gambian expats to return and put their lives on the line. After all, what thanks would we get for it?
You obviously don't have to agree with me, as it is your God-given right not to. I'm pretty sure other people agree with me though. No need to swear though - it makes you sound unintelligent.
ooh... that woff.. woff... needs a vet. keep on howling... woff! woff!... I can hear u loud but taking u for what u are, toothless bitch... u move no one
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