President Dr Alhaji Yahya Jammeh has described the Western democracy, human rights and good governance as a lot of propaganda nonsense and hypocrisy and called on Africans to work together for integration and good governance on African terms of honesty, social concern and development.

The Gambian leader made this remarks last Wednesday at State House while addressing the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff of Ecowas who were in The Gambia to attend the 21st session of the sub-regional body.

According to the Gambian leader, to ensure real democracy and respect for human rights which they are talking of every day, the West need to apply it to Africans who sacrificed their lives and spend their monies to enter Europe, by compensating them after been deported back to Africa.

“But they are never compensated by the Europeans because they are blacks. Equally, for me to believe that there is democracy, good governance and respect for human rights in the West, the British should also compensiate The Gambia for 400 years of colonisation and exploitation plus 25% interest in what they have taken away from The Gambia. They should also allow Gambians to travel to U.K freely for 367 years without visa” he said

According to the Gambian leader, this is for the fact that during the British 400 years of colonisation in Africa and the Gambia in particular, there is nothing that they have not taken away from Africa and the Gambia in particular.

“They took away the creams of Africa, the most strongest Africans to be slaves leaving us with starvation. This was 400 years of exploitation and after taking away the cream of the continent. they say ‘Africa is Poverty and Poverty is Africa, AIDs is Africa and Africa is AIDs, dictators are Africans and Africa is a continent of dictators”. This is hypocritical nonsense. Were they not dictators for 400 years?

He then urged the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff of Ecowas to note that they are part and parcel of the leadership of any African country and they will be held accountable for any crazy decision taken by any head of state or a foreign state (the west) to destabilise the continent. He advised them to ensure that the territories under each of their commands are not used by foreign rebels as a base.

“Ensure that the external forces, and anti - African forces do not use your territories as bases to destabilise any African country because if you harbour a rebel against a neighbouring state, another country will later be used as well to harbour rebels to destablise you own country and the end result will be to take Africa backwards. If you all stick to this, then it will be easy to say no to rebels” he advised.

He urged them to realise that all the conflicts in Africa today are in African countries rich in mineral and these conflicts take Africa back wards. “So one will ask what the chiefs of defense staff of Ecowas can do here. But note that you hold the key to peace and security in every country. You are indispensable to national development.

The Arm Forces of Africa will bring about development or unfortunately will bring no development if you agree to be influenced by foreign powers to destabilise the continent. The peace and security of any nation can be guaranteed by its security forces. Don’t allow foreign powers to use you. They use Africans to kill Africans. Let us understand that whether Angolophone or Francophone, we are all Africans”. he said.

African unity

President Jammeh further reminded them that the powers that divided Africa have today come together to form the European Union to an extend that if an African visa applicant is rejected in one country, the person cannot enter any other European country. “So why are we Africans waiting for integration and working together?” President Jammeh questioned. If those who divided us today forget about nationality among themselves and unite, why not Africa which was only two empires” he questioned.

Respect for Africa

He observed the little respect Africans are accorded by the West adding that Africa is today term as the poorest, carears of HIV/AIDs, drug dealers and illegal immigrants and non-black Africans are asylum seekers.

He added “if the continent that has contributed to the well-being of the West is been today carricatured by the same West, that exploited us for 400 years, Africans should be wise enough to think back and look for solutions to regain its lost glory and to realise that, all what the West are saying is a bunch of nonsense, they did not respect us and did not wish us well.

No respect in the sense that if a Head of State from Africa today should pay for insurance when he needs a Visa to Europe, this shows how bad the West are on us. But Heads of State of non-EU members don’t pay insurance to visit EU-member states. So why are we Africans obliged to do so? The “No Respect for Africans” attitude has gone to the extend that if an African who has no criminal record lands in a European country and is not wanted, the person is sent straight into a prison cell, an asylum-seekers prison camp and becomes a prisoner for having committed no offense but because of been a black.

But note that in these prisons, one will never find any European national. This is what we should understand and note that they have no respect for Africa and the democracy and human rights they are talking about is nonsense and a mere hypocrisy” he said.

President Jammeh then advised the sub-regional security chiefs not to allow the West to influence them in crazy ideas to destabilise the continent. “If they want to fool you to do things that are detrimental to the interest of Africa, dont allow it.

We politicians can fight and even a cattle will not die but only a diplomatic scandal. But if you security chiefs fight, thousands of Africans will die. So even if the politicians give you crazy instructions to invade a country, ask yourselves who is going to die. You will be the first casualty and the politicians will run to Europe and seek for asylum”. he said.

A stable, peaceful West Africa

President Jammeh then described the sub-regional security chief’s meeting as very important noting that every country in the African countries is yearning for sustainable development that will lead the citizens out of poverty. He then called on Africans to ensure that this millennium is Africa’s millennium. He further reiterated Gambia’s commitment towards the stand-by-force noting that it is a priority of his government. “A stable peaceful West Africa, will be a prosperous West Africa where everyone will respect us and the West will continue to need us” he concluded.

At the end of the meeting, Colonel Mohamane Toure, Commissioner in- Charge of Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the Committee of Ecowas Chief’s of Defense Staff on behalf of the member states presented a gift to President Jammeh.In return, President Jammeh equally presented gifts to each Chief of Defence Staff of the committee. Several cabinet members attended the ceremony.