Sall, Nguema Mbasogo grace Gambia’s 48th independence anniversary - Senegal’s President Macky Sall and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea on Monday graced Gambia’s 48th independence anniversary in the capital, Banjul, where they attended a march past of security officers and school children.
According to sources on Saturday, a Gambian pressure group abroad wrote a letter to the Senegalese president asking him to turn down the invitation of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh because of continued human rights violations in the country.
However, the group, Civil Society Association Gambia (CSAG), said should Mr Sall decide to visit Banjul, they wanted him to encourage President Jammeh to address and improve his record on human rights, freedom of assembly, religion and the media as well as human and sub-regional security. The Senegalese leader did make any public statement at the event.
Sall is seen as an emblem of democracy in Senegal and Gambia in particular and sub-regional economic bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in general.
In a speech President Jammeh said the biggest disaster facing Africa was ignorance which would be eradicated only through education.
The Gambian leader told the school children that the sky was the limit for those who took education seriously.
“My policy is not who I know, but what you know; it is not what tribe you belong to, but how well you are ready to perform; my rule is not which village you are from, but how dedicated you are to national development,” President Jammeh said.
On Africa, the Gambian president said: “If Africa wants to be free from poverty, we need to unite and work together. Africa is the richest continent in terms of mineral resources, but in economic terms we are the poorest of the poor.”
Pana 19/02/2013