By Alhagie Jobe
Gambia’s dictator, Yahya Jammeh unlike other world leaders did not attend the funeral of late former world heavyweight champion Mohammad Ali, he instead dispatched a delegation to represent him.
Since December 30, 2014, Mr Jammeh only travelled outside The Gambia on few occasions for fear of a possible takeover of his government. He has survived several coup attempts in the past, most of which did not find him in the country.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali – one of the world’s greatest sporting figures died on Friday, June 3 at the age of 74 at a hospital in the US city of Phoenix, Arizona, after having been admitted. He had been suffering from a respiratory illness, a condition that was complicated by Parkinson’s disease.
The Gambia’s delegation to the funeral was headed by Foreign Affairs minister Neneh Macdouall-Gaye and included The Gambia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Mamadou Tangara, and the Gambia’s Ambassador to the United States Sheikh Omar Faye.
Ali’s funeral took place in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky with a procession carrying the body passing through thousands who lined up the streets until it arrived at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, where he was laid to rest in a private ceremony on Friday, June 10, 2016.
According to reports monitored from the website of The Gambia’s embassy in Washington, Neneh Macdouall-Gaye hand-delivered a letter of condolences to the wife of the late great African American icon on behalf of President Jammeh, the government, and the people of the Gambia.
Neneh Macdouall-Gaye thanked Ali’s family, Louisville’s authorities, and the funerals’ organizers for accommodating the Gambian delegation within a very short time frame. She stressed President Jammeh’s ‘deep care for the American people, his Muslim brothers and sisters and for humanity in general’.
After the funeral, Mrs. Macdouall-Gaye and her delegation paid a visit to the human rights activist Reverand Jesse Jackson.
Tributes
In earlier tributes, US President Barack Obama said ‘Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it’.
Former President Bill Clinton – husband of Democratic frontrunner Hillary – said the boxer had been “courageous in the ring, inspiring to the young, compassionate to those in need, and strong and good-humored in bearing the burden of his own health challenges”.
Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that Ali was “truly great champion and a wonderful guy. He will be missed by all!”
American civil rights campaigner Jesse Jackson said Ali had been willing to sacrifice the crown and money for his principles when he refused to serve in the Vietnam war.
