Facebook is shifting to become “a privacy-focused messaging and social networking platform,” chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday as he outlined a broad vision for transforming the social networking giant.

Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page it would be less of “the digital equivalent of a town square” because “people increasingly also want to connect privately in the digital equivalent of the living room.”

The announcement suggests a new emphasis for Facebook as it seeks to navigate a crisis over privacy and data protection amid revelations on how it handles personal user data.

By Lamin Njie

Members of the Manjago ethnic group have met with the minister of lands, regional administration and religious affairs to seek for the government’s intervention in a festering land crisis, the spokesperson of the government has said.

Manjagos are embroiled in pockets of conflict over land in the Kombo areas of the country.

Ebrima Sankareh in a statement on Wednesday said the meeting took place on Monday “in the wake of communal tensions among members of the Manjago ethnic group within the Kombos and segments of their neighbours.”

He said: “The Government of The Gambia has assured Manjagos that they are coequals and very significant players in Gambian society and should therefore, never consider themselves as minorities or marginalized people.

“In a highly emotional yet very frank, amicable and productive meeting lasting almost two hours, the Minister of Lands, Regional Administration and Religious Affairs, Hon. Musa S. Drammeh who chaired the session on Monday, praised the Manjago community for their respect for law and order, discipline, hard work and peacefulness.

“Minister Drammeh told the crowded hall at the Quadrangle reflecting a cross-section of Manjago Alkalolu and representatives within the West Coast Region, that Government has been closely monitoring the unfortunate events among neighbours they have lived with peacefully for decades and that his ministry is determined to solve all these disputes amicably.

“Addressing the emotional graveyard issue at Tananeh village, Kombo South and all its sensitivities, Hon Drammeh assured the gathering that his ministry has since struck a deal with one Mr. Seedu Barrrow by compensating him with a piece of land at the Brusibi Layout. This according to Mr Drammeh, was meant to preserve the sanctity and respect befitting the dead and to consolidate on the gains made among neighbors lasting decades.

“Regarding the ongoing problems in Daya village in the same district and other Manjago settlements, Minister Drammeh assured the gathering that he has been in close consultations with the Chiefs, the Governor of West Coast and the Ministry of Justice as well as the office of the Chief Justice to ensure that this issue is resolved peacefully using our traditional mechanism and the law where necessary.

“In his remarks, the Minister of Fisheries and Water Resources, Hon. James Furmus Gomez, a respected elderly Manjago statesman among Gambian Catholics and Christians echoed similar sentiments and reaffirmed Government’s position in treating all citizens as equals. Mr. Gomez assured his tribesmen of Government’s unflinching resolve to promote peace at all times and its recognition of the Manjagos’ respect for the rule of law, hard work and dedication to duty in their respective spheres of life.

“In his contribution, the veteran broadcaster and Manager of West Coast Radio, Mr. Peter Gomez, himself a Manjago, thanked Ministers Drammeh and Gomez for their timely intervention, wise counsel and the seriousness and significance they attach to a very emotional matter confronting the Manjago ethnic group. Mr Gomez also admonished his people to continue to nurture their spirit of tolerance, hard work and respect for authority that they are known for.”

By Lamin Njie

Germany-based Gambian Abubacarr Sankanu has said that Germany doesn’t have to sign an agreement for it to be able to deport people.

The Gambia government is accused of signing a deal with the government of Germany for the most powerful nation in Europe to deport Gambian immigrants.

Sankanu who worked with the immgration and asylum department of the government of Germany exclusively told The Fatu Network that “anybody who comes to Germany without a visa, you’ve violated the law and that’s what many young people don’t understand.”

He said: “You enter the country without a visa, under normal circumstances you should be expelled. But why is it that our boys when they come they come they leave them? [It] is because of the Geneva Convention.

“If you come and say, ‘I have a problem in my country, I need protection.’ They give you that cover and you go through that legal process. If not, the moment you step on the territory without a visa you should be deported.”

According to Sankanu, while the debate rages as to whether the government signed an agreement, 90 percent of Gambians in Germany are not supposed to be in that country.

He said: “This deportation issue is not as easy as… People are talking about it. I stayed out of it because I’m in the centre of it. I know what is going on. The debate is that the government signed, the government did not sign. It’s about denial, it’s about credibility issues.

“My own observation would have been let us move the debate further because the issue is that 90 percent of who are there, if you are to tell the truth, they are not supposed to be in Germany.

“They have either exhausted their procedure for asylum or they have no reason to stay in the country. But because German law says you cannot deport someone to a country with poor human rights record under Jammeh so many young boys.

“They call it Article 60. So that Article 60 of the German asylum law covered a lot of Gambians under Jammeh law. They had no reason to get asylum to stay in Germany but Germany gave them that protection because the law says you cannot deport somebody to a country where there is death penalty, where there is abuse of human right and that covered them. And now that Jammeh is gone, that protection is over.”

By Lamin Njie

United Democratic Party spokesperson Almamy Taal has said the Gambia Democratic Congress is a party comprising nobodies.

The national chairman of GDC at the weekend said his party doesn’t want any UDP member including its leader Ousainou Darboe to lead The Gambia for even two days.

Dr Demba Sabally said because UDP is fraught with hypocrisy his party prefers President Adama Barrow to Vice President Ousainou Darboe.

The UDP spokersperson Almamy Taal reacting to Dr Sabally’s comments told The Fatu Network: “They [comments] are ridiculous and they are complete rubbish and as a party we are not going to be responding to all kinds of rubbish coming from…

“Mamma Kandeh was the one against the coalition when we were going to election. Everybody was approached, he did not join the coalition. We are all familiar with the history of these people. These people have been playing that kind of politics where you say all kinds of rubbish and the journalists are very happy to put it out there.

“This is what has happened here. Mamma Kandeh refused to join the coalition. The coalition has won. The coalition was led by somebody from UDP now everybody is trying to gang up and saying things about UDP. Election after election, UDP has been winning. I just don’t know why the journalists don’t find the responsibility to tell these people but UDP has been winning elections after elections.

“If you claim that there is hypocrisy within UDP, what are you saying exactly? UDP is a united party. These one-man parties are no-man parties that people are giving time of day. They are nothing, quietl frankly. I just don’t understand why the journalists are not looking at the facts and putting it before these people when talking this kind of rubbish.

“Who are these people representing, going around saying that there is hypocrisy between Almamy and his brother. How is that your business? It’s not even true. Why don’t you sort out your party? Your GDC, sort it out. Win elections so that people can see.”

By Lamin Njie

Concerned Gambians will hold a peaceful gathering on Thursday to protest against the deportation of Gambians from Europe.

It comes after the Gambia Police Force on Wednesday granted permit to the anti-deportation group to stage their planned protest.

“Please be informed that permission has been granted to you to go ahead with your peaceful demonstration slated for the 7th March 2019 at the Youth Monument in Westfield from 11:00hrs to 12:30hrs,” a letter seen by The Fatu Network and signed by Assistant Inspector General of Police for Operations Landing Bojang said.

The letter dated March 6, 2019 is addressed to the spokesperson of Concerned Gambians, Omar Saibo Camara.

Meanwhile police have asked the anti-deportation campaigners to ensure their gathering is held within the ambits of the law.

“No derogatory words or remarks should be addressed to any person that will eventually result to the breach of the peace. Failure to comply will result to revocation of this permit and or criminal prosecution,” the police said in their letter.

By Lamin Njie

A sense of sanity returned to Marina International High School on Wednesday after almost a week of disquiet over an incident involving the school’s principal and a student.

Marina International High School last week made headlines following the expulsion of a 13-year-old student.

The student was purged after school authorities found him wanting of driving a car to school.

The family of the student took the matter to court and an injunction was handed for the student to be allowed back in the distinguished private school until the matter was resolved.

The principal failed to comply with the injunction leading to court law enforcement officers storming Marina and bringing him in to court where he was charged with contempt.

The embattled principal on Wednesday told The Fatu Network the court has granted him bail on conditions which include allowing the student back in school.

“It is a standing court order and we’ll respect the order because it is also a condition of my bail. So, if I refuse I’m sure I will be put in jail,” William Arthur said.

Arthur also said the school is back in full operation.

“The students are back in school, those who are writing exams are writing their exams. There’s a 100 percent sanity and calm in school,” he said.

By Lamin Njie

The national chairman of the Gambia Democratic Congress, Dr Demba Sabally, has said that his party doesn’t want vice president Ousainou Darboe to be president of The Gambia.

Sabally speaking at a meeting held by GDC at the party’s bureau at Latrikunda Sabiji at the weekend said because of the hypocrisy within the United Democratic Party, the Gambia Democratic Congress neither wants Darboe nor any member of his party to lead The Gambia.

He said: “Today if Barrow resigns, for us we have asked a lot of people who are experts in the constitution. He (Barrow) will not be able to organise elections. He has only one power which is to resign and if he resigns, there is no elections in 90 days. God forbids if he dies today, it’s the speaker who can organise elections in 90 days but if resigns the one serving as vice president is the one who should complete the term. That is to say if the three years ends and Barrow resigns, the vice president there now Darboe will be the president for the remaining two years.

“For us at GDC, Barrow’s two years is better than Darboe’s two days as president. So before we say, ‘Barrow resign, Barrow resign’, for us as a party, what is our interest? If Barrow is there today, we don’t want that. We want Hon Kandeh to be there but for Barrow to resign, if we as a party do the pressuring until he resigns we will end up having Darboe.

“And Darboe and his party, the hypocricy that is in UDP, if that person becomes president for two years… And today IEC, you should know three people at IEC this year is there 13 years of service. At the end of this year, their 14 years would be complete. On the appointment of IEC commissioners, the act says seven years and there is automatic renewal for another seven years. So that makes it 14 years. When that finishes, the president can reappoint.

“In 2020, there are three commissioners including the chairman Momar Njie will be replaced. If we put pressure on Barrow for him to step down, in 2020 if Darboe becomes president, he will go ahead and appoint his own people and one among them will be the chairman of IEC.

“UDP today with their hypocrisy, if they control all of the government’s wealth, they control the security system, they become president, they become vice president, they appoint all IEC commissioners, appoint the IEC chairman, how can we as a party win?

“So anyone who says Barrow should resign… Left to me alone Hon Kandeh tomorrow will be the president. But whatever we do as a party, we should calculate our interest first. Because in as much as we don’t want Barrow there, but between Barrow and Darboe, Barrow can be there and after the end of five years we can go to elections. [That] is better than Darboe’s two days.

“To say that Barrow should step down now when there is no new constitution is a big gamble. I want people to understand this. For Barrow to be in power is not something we want but he’s the one God put there. But right now, for him to complete five years, we place more sense in that than Darboe spend two days there or anybody UDP member to spend two hours there.”

By Lamin Njie

Madi Jobarteh on Tuesday said the sacking of a sitting national assembly member by President Adama Barrow is tantamount to a coup.

“The act of removing Hon Ya Kumba Jaiteh clearly manifest that the President can as well sack the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker and appoint in their place a person of his choice,” the polemical political commentator said in an opinion piece.

President Barrow last week dismissed Ya Kumba Jaiteh as a member of the national assembly. She was one of five people who were hand-picked by the president in 2017 to be members of the national assembly.

But according to Mr Jobarteh, “when the president can have such power and audacity it means therefore the independence and security of the National Assembly has been damaged hence a direct threat to the sovereignty and democratic governance of the Gambia.”

“I am ready to join any Gambian to go to the Supreme Court to challenge this most unconstitutional act.

“I urge the political parties to stand up and take this matter to court.

“I call on the Speaker and all NAMs to go to court and refuse to entertain this undemocratic and unconstitutional misconduct by the President,” he said.

By Lamin Njie

Foday Gassama has rejected claims that he is a member of the President Barrow Youths for National Development.

The former regional youth coordinator for the United Democratic Party was on Monday hand-picked by President Adama Barrow to be a member of the national assembly. He replaces Ya Kumba Jaiteh who was sacked in brutal fashion last week.

Gassama has come under sharp criticism in recent weeks, with some mainstream supporters of his party accusing him of being a member of President Barrow’s movement, the President Barrow Youths for National Development.

But Gassama on Monday rejected the accusations as he reacted to his nomination to the national assembly.

“What Barrow Youth Movement are you talking about? I’m not a member of Barrow Youth Movement, because being a member of the movement you need to understand their constitution and their manifesto,” Gassama told The Fatu Network on Monday.

Analysts have said Gassama’s tapping is as a result of his blind loyalty to President Barrow.

A London patient has become the second known man to be cleared of AIDS virus after receiving a bone marrow transplant from an HIV resistant donor, according to his doctor.

The patient has shown no trace of previous HIV infection since he underwent the transplant operation three years ago.

“There is no virus there that we can measure. We can’t detect anything,’’ said Ravindra Gupta, a professor and HIV biologist who co-led a team of doctors treating the man.

However, Gupta described his patient as “functionally cured’’ and “in remission,’’ rather than “cured. It’s too early to say he’s cured,” he said.

The first known patient to be functionally cured of HIV is an American man, Timothy Brown, who also underwent similar treatment in Germany in 2007.

Both patients received bone marrow stem cells from donors with a rare genetic mutation known as “CCR5 delta 32,” which confers resistance to HIV.

Between Brown and the new London patient, scientists made several attempts to cure other AIDS patients using the same method, but failed in all of them.

Gupta said the method used is not appropriate for all patients but offers hope for new treatment strategies.

The study is to be published on Tuesday in the journal Nature.

As of 2017, there were approximately 36.9 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS.

AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by more than 51 per cent since the peak in 2004, according to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS.

The authors of the study published Tuesday have also said the technique may not necessarily be effective for all HIV-infected individuals, specifically those carrying the gene CXCR4.

CCR5 is the gene allegedly edited by Chinese scientist He Jiankui, which led to the birth of babies in 2018, who are said to be HIV resistant.
Sarah Palmer, the Deputy Director of the Centre for Virus Research at The Westmead Institute for Medical Research in Sydney, said the study “further confirms the promising HIV curative effects of bone marrow transplantation from the relatively few persons, who have the HIV resistant cells.

“However, this curative process is not yet applicable to tens of millions of other HIV-infected individuals worldwide. The next steps should be focused on how to do so,” she added.

Anti-deportation campaigners under a group called Concerned Gambians on Tuesday called on the spokesperson of The Gambia government to stop giving false information to Gambians regarding Gambian immigrants in Europe.

Ebrima Sankareh on Monday said the Gambia Government has supported more than 200 Gambians to integrate successfully in Germany.

Campaigners against deportation said Sankareh’s statement is inaccurate and misleading.

They said in a statement signed by their spokesperson Omar Saibo Camara: “I write on behalf of concerned Gambians and members of the Gambia Refugees Association in Europe to express our disappointment in the premature and negligent manner in which Ebrima G. Sankareh, Spokesperson of the Gambia Government responded to our press release calling on Gambians to join our proposed peaceful protest scheduled for March 7, 2019, at West Field in the Kanifing Municipality.

“We expect the Gambia Government to communicate effectively and professionally on issues of national concern such as the current trend of deportation but not to use a propagandist in the person of Ebrima G. Sankareh to discriminate and castigate Gambians in the Diaspora especially migrants and refugees. This approach is ill-advised and the Government must improve on its communication strategy.

“We hereby inform Gambians that Sankareh’s statement, dated 4th March, 2019, indicating that the Gambia Government has supported more than 200 Gambians to integrate successfully in Germany is inaccurate and misleading. We challenge the Government of The Gambia to provide evidence to that effect that they help any citizen with integration. In Germany, integration is handled by German social workers but not any foreign nation.

“Mr. Sankareh should know his job better and stop giving false information to Gambians. Besides, the Government must stop being defensive and effectively communicate with those concerned about the deportations, especially the manner in which they are handled and in ensuring that the legal rights of citizens are not violated and are exhausted therein.

“In his release, Sankareh addressed us as detractors and people looking for cheap popularity. We frown upon this disrespect to our plights and it shows the inefficiency of the government in providing solutions to problems. A government that is unable to bring about solutions to challenges it is facing always results to the use demeaning descriptions to those it has divergent views with, painting them as detractors or political pundits looking for popularity. It is a shame that Gambia government officials continue on this mediocre path of dealing with citizens that raise concerns about issues affecting them.

“We are not detractors and we are not interested in cheap popularity. What we want is for our government to address the deportation issue or communicate in a very clear and effective manner to Gambians once and for all regarding the issue. We have tried several diplomatic approaches to reach out to the government and appealed for their intervention but they ignored us.

“We have applied for a permit from the police but they are still delaying it that we should wait on the government, and that they will discuss about the deportation. Lest we remind them: we have the right to peaceful assembly.

“We have since January reached out to the government and have written letters to President Adama Barrow; Vice President Ousainou Darboe; the ministers of Youth, Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Justice; all the National Assembly Members, including the Speaker of the House and the heads of all political parties but to no avail. Enough is enough! We are going ahead with our peaceful protest as necessitated by the lack of response and concern by those we have elected to protect and serve us as citizens.

“We are, therefore, inviting every Gambian to our peaceful protest to be held at West Field on Thursday, March 7, 2019.”

The Gambia Police Force on Monday dismissed reports it arrested and charged the head teacher of Marina International School.

Marina International School is entombed in crisis after an incident involving its head teacher and a student.

Gainako News, an online portal, over the weekend reported that a 13-year-old student was expelled by the head teacher of Marina International for driving a car to school, which is against the school’s policy.

The paper also reported that the police intervened and arrested the principal after they were bribed by the family of the boy.

The Gambia Police Force in a post on its official Facebook page on Monday said the media reports are not “only unfounded but lacks merit as we have investigated and found out that no such case was reported at any of our police stations, nor has the head teacher been charged or bailed by the Police.”

“The management of the Gambia Police Force frowns seriously over professional misconducts and will not hesitate to apply the Police Disciplinary Code on any officer who is found acting in contravention.

“We do understand that orderlies attached to judges at the high court were sent to Marina International School to execute a high court order inviting the school head teacher to appear before the court.

“The Office of the Inspector General of Police is in receipt of a complaint regarding the manner in which those officers conducted themselves at the school and the general public is assured that investigations will be conducted,” the GPF said.

A teenager from Gambia who was visiting his family in the UK was viciously slashed across the chin in an unprovoked attack.

Police say the 18-year-old who was visiting relatives in Yorkshire, was in Crow Nest Park, Dewsbury, on Tuesday evening when the attack by three males took place as he walked by a duck pond.

West Yorkshire Police Duty Inspector Darren Brown said a call was received by his colleagues at 6.21pm.

He said: ‘It happened near the duck pond and initial reports were that he was attacked by three white males.

‘We struggled to find him, but eventually he was located at Dewsbury & District Hospital receiving treatment for his injuries before he was transferred to Pinderfields Hospital.

‘Police identified the scene at Crow Nest Park and couldn’t find the suspects on the day.

‘The victim has sustained facial injuries including deep wounds to his chin, but they have not gone all the way through this cheek.

‘Enquiries are ongoing and no-one has been arrested. We are appealing for witnesses and anyone with any information should get in touch on 101 and quote crime reference 104924 of the 26th.’

Michael Ramsden, who lives in Dewsbury, said: ‘My brother-in-law was attacked and slashed with a knife in Crow Nest Park at 6pm on the 26th by three youths.

‘This was a random attack so could happen to anyone. Please be on your guard.’ (Metro)

By Lamin Njie

Foday Gassama on Monday said he takes President Adama Barrow’s decision to name him as a member of the national assembly in good faith.

President Barrow on Monday announced he was replacing Ya Kumba Jaiteh with Foday Gassama.

Mr Gassama had served as a regional youth coordinator for the United Democratic Party for West Coast Region.

Gassama, reacting to his picking, told The Fatu Network: “The 1997 constitution gives the president the prerogative to nominate or denominate a national assembly.

“So in exercise of that power, he decided to appoint me as new member of the national assembly of the republic of The Gambia. So I really appreciate and I take it in good faith.”

Gassama’s nomination comes as opinion remains bitterly split over whether the president has the power to fire a member of the national assembly.

President Barrow last week swung to action and sacked Ya Kumba Jaiteh as a member of the national assembly.

The constitution allows the president to nominate five people to the national assembly and Ms Jaiteh was among five people who were handpicked in 2017 by President Barrow to be members of the national assembly.

But the president’s decision to sack her has prompted controversy.

A group, Concern Gambians Against Deportation, will stage a march past on Thursday to protest against the deportation of Gambians from Europe.

The group in a statement signed by its spokesperson Omar Saibo Camara at the weekend said: “The general public is hereby informed that the Concerned Gambians will be organising a peaceful demonstration in The Gambia on Thursday, 7th March 2019 at West Field ground in the Kanifing Municipality. The demonstration will be organised in wake of the recent trend of deportation happening from Europe especially Germany.

“There will be a march past from Mobile Traffic Junction along Mamadi Maniyang Highway to the Youth Monument at West Field in the Kanifing Municipality.

“The Gambia Refugees Association-Europe Branch in collaboration with the Concerned Gambians are therefore appealing to the entire Gambian populace, youths, women, parents, activists, Human rights defenders, Civil Society Organisations, etc to join the demonstration and put pressure on Gambia Government to engage the European Nations to stop deporting Gambian migrants and refugees.

“Recently, Germany has announced that the it will deport 2,500 Gambians and the mass deportation has started since last year December. Several efforts have been made to convince the Gambia government to engage the EU but nothing has been done. Enough is enough and we urge our government to stop the deportation now.

“Additionally, we demand that the European police stop maltreating our brothers and sisters who are being deported. The latest group of 20 deportees that arrived at the Banjul International Airport on Monday, February 25, 2019, were handcuffed and have their legs shackled from Germany to Gambia. This is totally wrong and is against human rights. We demand that the European police stop such heartless, wicked and racist act now. And we call on the Gambia government to address the harrassments and rights violation meted out on our people during the process of deportation.

“Upon arrival at the Banjul International Airport, the deportees were escorted by the police and Immigration officers to the old buildings at the airport to undress and release them from the chains and handcuffs that were put on them. The journalists who were present at the airport were denied access by our very own Gambian security (Police, Immigration and GCAA security at the airport) and they could not get clear pictures of the handcuffed deportees with their legs schackled in chains until they were freed. This is very shameful and is undone. We are no longer in the time of slave trade and we will not tolerate such anymore.

“Therefore we are appealing to all Gambians to join the demonstration in Banjul on Thursday, March 7, 2019 to put an end to this inhumane and unfair treatment.

“Free vehicles will be available at various locations such as Bakau, Sukuta, Tabokoto, Brikama, Tanji, Brufut, Gunjur, etc, to transport people who want to attend the demonstration.

“T-Shirts and banners will be available as well. Come out in your numbers and let’s demonstrate to stop this unjustified deportation.

“Finally, we have applied for permit to organize this demonstration and we are hopeful that it will be issued on Monday. Equally the police have promised to provide escort for the protesters on Thursday.”