Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: BBC E-mail: UK regrets Gambia Commonwealth exit

woody allen made a movie once called Bananas about a crackpot dictator
who made his subjects wear their underparts on the outside to make sure
they were wearing them.
sounds like jammeh has gone bananas.
ken

On 10/4/13 5:33 AM, Assensoh, Akwasi B. wrote:
>
>
> UK regrets The Gambia's withdrawal from British Commonwealth
>
> Gambian President Yahya Jammeh told the UN he was determined to defend Gambia's dignity "by whatever means necessary". It was after the UN statement that the Gambian leader decided to withdraw his country from the British Commonwealth, which he labeled as being a "neo-colonial institution".
>
> The Gambia's decision to withdraw from the British Commonwealth 48 years after joining is something to "very much regret", the UK Foreign Office has said.
> The West African nation branded the 54-member grouping, which includes the UK and most of its former colonies, a "neo-colonial institution".
> The withdrawal was announced on state TV but no other reasons were given.
> Two years ago President Yahya Jammeh accused the UK of backing his political opposition ahead of elections.
> Commonwealth officials said they only heard about the move through the media and had not yet been contacted by The Gambia.
> A spokesman said Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma had seen the reports with "dismay and disappointment" and had asked for "clarification" from the country.
> Continue reading the main story
> Guide to The Gambia
> Official name is The Gambia to distinguish it from the River Gambia
> One of Africa's smallest countries, it is surrounded on three sides by Senegal
> Its borders are said to have been set in the 19th Century by the distance a naval cannon could fire from a British gunboat on the river
> Tourism, fishing and peanuts are major industries
> Governed since 1994 by President Yahya Jammeh, who seized power aged 29
> Last year he vowed to stay in power for "a billion years", if God willed it
> Claims he can cure Aids and infertility with herbal concoctions
> Warned in 2008 that gay people would be beheaded
> There is a history of tension between President Jammeh, who came to power in a 1994 coup, and the UK.
> Earlier this year, a Foreign Office report singled out The Gambia for its human rights record, citing cases of unlawful detentions, illegal closures of newspapers and discrimination against minority groups.
> On Thursday a Foreign Office spokesman said: "Decisions on Commonwealth membership are a matter for each member government. We would very much regret Gambia, or any other country, deciding to leave the Commonwealth."
> In August last year The Gambia was criticised by Amnesty International and others for executing nine prisoners by firing squad.
> 'Colonialism extension'
>
> The Commonwealth was founded in 1931 but acquired its modern shape after 1949 as former British colonies and protectorates, including The Gambia, started to achieve self-government and varying degrees of independence.
> According to the Commonwealth's charter, member states should communicate and co-operate "in the common interests of our peoples and in the promotion of international understanding and world peace".
> In its statement, The Gambian government said it had "withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth".
> It said it had "decided that The Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism".
>
> President Jammeh's action is a "disaster", says Gambian journalist Ebrima Sankareh
> But Bakary Dabo, former vice president of The Gambia and chairman of the country's campaign for democratic change, said people there are generally "very happy" to be part of the Commonwealth.
> He said the government had recently begun "picking up war against poorly specified enemies called 'western powers'".
> Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Dabo said this rhetoric had "accelerated" in recent years and been used when President Jammeh gave a "rambling" speech at the United Nations General Assembly last month Aids claim.
>
> Also at the UN, President Jammeh said homosexuality was one of the three "biggest threats to human existence".
>
> He has as well drawn international criticism for claiming he can cure Aids with a herbal body rub and bananas.
> BBC Africa analyst Farouk Chothia said despite its image as an idyllic holiday destination, The Gambia, and its population of less than two million, were kept under tight control by its eccentric leader.
> The latest decision was bound to come from him, our analyst added.
> [END]
>

--
kenneth w. harrow
faculty excellence advocate
professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
619 red cedar road
room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
harrow@msu.edu

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