The UN refugee agency is pleased to announce the release of Hassan Mohammed Ali, head of UNHCR's office in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, after two months in captivity.

Ali, who is also known as Keynaan, is in good health and preparations are underway to reunite him with his family. He was abducted from his home near the Somali capital on June 21 by an unknown armed group.

UNHCR would like to thank all Somali organizations and members of civil society who organized demonstrations to call for his release. We are also grateful for all the expressions of public support and solidarity received during the difficult weeks of his captivity. UNHCR provided aid to displaced Somali civilians throughout this period and will continue to do so.

We extend our sympathies to aid workers who are still forcibly detained in Somalia. Abductions and attacks against humanitarian workers have increased over the past few months, jeopardizing the delivery of aid to vulnerable populations.

UNHCR

According to a press release from the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG), a copy of which was delivered to The Point yesterday, indicates that CBG on 14th August 2008 issued a licence to Oceanic Bank (Gambia) Ltd to do business in The Gambia.

Oceanic Bank (Gambia) Limited, according to the release, is a subsidiary of Oceanic Bank Plc. in Nigeria, with a market capitalisation of US$2.95 billion and subsidiaries in four (4) other West African countries.

The licensing of Oceanic Bank (Gambia) Limited brings to eleven (11) the number of commercial banks operating in The Gambia.

Central Bank Sets up Credit Reference Bureau

According to a press release dated 28th July 2008 and made available to this paper, Central Bank of The Gambia has set up a Credit Reference Bureau as an integral part of its Financial Supervision Department. The bureau, the release states, will seek to facilitate the mutual sharing of consumer credit information by commercial banks with a view to making for “accurate evaluation of credit risks.” The full text of the release is reproduced below:

As part of its continuing efforts to further strengthen the Financial Sector, the Central Bank of The Gambia is pleased to announce to the general public of the setting-up of a Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) within its Financial Supervision Department. The raison d’etre of the bureau is to enable commercial banks share consumer credit information reciprocally thereby ensuring a more accurate evaluation of credit risks.

The CRB is established to provide a platform for the financial institutions to strengthen their credit appraisal procedures with a view to enhancing credit quality and responsible Credit behaviour in the Gambian financial system.

The CRB is established with the objective of enabling the financial institutions to identify borrowers who default in servicing the credit facilities extended to them by other lenders with a view to preventing such customers from enjoying any new facilities from any other bank until they made good their outstanding delinquent credits in the former bank(s). It is also hoped that good debtors can enjoy concessionary rates from the banks for being rated low risk.

In order to facilitate the successful implementation of the CRB, Tax Identification Number (TIN) is an integral part. In that regard, all banks have been informed that henceforth, no account should be opened without a Tax Identification Number (TIN) as this is the main driver of the CRB. In addition, no new Credit facility should be granted or extended without a TIN.

Following its meeting with the Speaker of the National Assembly last week, the Executive of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), has issued a press release calling on the government of The Gambia to honour the decision of the ECOWAS court following a year-long trial in which the Media Foundation for West Africa brought a case against the Gambia government. The ECOWAS court’s decision, according to the release, followed the failure of the Gambia government to honour the notices from the court and the non-appearance of five security officials after being subpoenaed. A full unedited text of the release is reproduced as follows:

Today, June 7th, 2008 marks two years since the “disappearance” of Chief Ebrima Manneh, a journalist at the Daily Observer Newspaper. Despite several efforts by the Gambia Press Union, the media establishments and family members to trace his whereabouts the end of his disappearance is still not in sight. The Media Foundation for West Africa eventually took up the matter for his release before the ECOWAS Court.

Relying on uncontroverted testimonies given by witnesses, the ECOWAS Courtmaintains that in July 2006, Chief Ebrima Manneh was picked up by plain clothes security officials at his place of work, at Daily Observer.

The ECOWAS Courthas ordered for his immediate release and has awarded him compensation amounting to US$100,000

Today, as everyday, the Gambia Press Union wishes to call the attention of the government in particular and the public at large, to the decisions of the court. We take this opportunity to call on the State to heed to the order of the

We wish to point out that democracy cannot prevail and development remains unattainable without the participation of an independent, free and pluralistic press. The media has a crucial role to play in the good governance of democratic societies, by ensuring transparency and accountability, promoting participation and the rule of law, and contributing to the fight against poverty.

The media, as a partner in development can bring about behaviour change and social mobilisation for effective and sustainable development through the dissemination of infom1ation that is crucial for the life and development of communities.

It could be recalled that Chief Ebrima Manneh until, the time of his “disappearance,” was a senior reporter at the Daily Observer Newspaper. In July 2007 the Media Foundation for West Africa sought legal redress through the ECOWAS court and on 5 June 2008 the Court ordered for his immediate release and his compensation with a sum of 100,000 dollars.

Following our yesterday story on the arraignment of two people for issuing false cheques of over D8 million, J-FIN financial services have issued a press release to clarify that the Muhammed Jagana mentioned in the story as one of the alleged culprits is not the one at J-FIN financial services whose name happens to be Muhammad M. Jagana. The full unedited version of the press release is reproduced hereunder:

TWO CHARGED FOR ISSUING FALSE CHEQUES OF OVER D8M

We refer to your Thursday 26th June 2008 Point Newspaper Edition captioned TWO CHARGED FOR ISSUING FALSE CHEQUES OF OVER D8M in which one Muhammed Jagana and Assan Njie were the accused.

The general public is hereby informed that the matter has nothing to do with Muhammad M. Janga of J - Financial Services, Kanifing, The Gambia.

Muhammad M. Jagana of J-FIN does not have any business relationship with regard to cement trading either with Amadou Samba or GACEM.

We thank all those who called to express their concern and assure them and the general public that J-Fin is a reputable financial institution.

We hope next time newspapers will always carry the addresses of accused persons to avoid confusion and damages in the personality of people who bear the same name with accused persons.

Editor’s Note:

We are sorry that the wrong man bearing the same name has been ruffled by the story in question. However it is worthy of note that the story is on a court proceeding and the material and the proceeding our reporter garnered his information from unfortunately has no mention of the addresses of the accused persons. 

Release Journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh

In a landmark decision delivered on June 5th, 2008, The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria declared the arrest and detention of Chief Ebrima Manneh illegal and ordered the Gambian authorities to immediately release him.
The court also awarded damages in the sum of US$ 100,000 in favour of Manneh against the Gambian Government.

It is refreshing to know that the court’s decision is final. The Gambian authorities cannot appeal against the decision.
However, the Government of the Gambia has consistently denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the journalist, and has never attended the court proceedings. Three witnesses testified in the case.
 The suit was filed before the regional court on behalf of Chief Manneh by MFWA.

Ebrima Chief Manneh disappeared without trace since July 7th 2006.

The Gambia will be hosting Global Education Conference tomorrow Saturday May 24th 2008, according to a press release sent to this paper.

The event, to be organised by US-based Delight Heritage Consultants, will be the first international conference on ‘Education and Development Initiatives’. It will be held at YMCA Centre in Kanifing.

According to the Banjul Representative of the organisers, Poncelet Ileleji of YMCA, the conference is expected to bring together “ top national and international educators, researchers, stakeholders and donor agency representatives from around the world. There will be information exchange and collaboration in education and development efforts in The Gambia.” Ileleji added that the event would promote systematic approaches to furthering the development of education and national growth in the country.

Highlights of the conference will include paper presentations by Joseph Peacock of YMCA, Mrs. Isatou Ndow of Gambia College and other Gambian educators. International scholars like Dr. Buba Misawa of Washington and Jefferson College, Dr. Emeka Obiozor of Bloomsburg University and Dr. Emil Nagengast of Juniata College Pennsylvania-USA will be participating.

There will also be a special presentation of ‘Special Education Books’ to The Gambia Methodist Special School teachers by an American University Professor.

“This free conference is open to all Gambian educators, students, teachers and the general public”, the release concluded.

All things being equal, Maria and Malendou collectively and widely known by their alias The Twin Sisters will present a big surprise package to the Gambian music-loving public by releasing two singles at a time.

Entertainment has gathered that The Twin Sisters are poised to take the Gambian population by storm as the duo launches their latest singles entitled Hiv/AIDS, President Promotion and Mbugel respectively.

The 20-year-old twin sisters explained in an exclusive interview that the singles were recorded by the Bakoteh-based TJ’s studio and the Kotu located Tarra record label. They postulated that one of the singles is intended to promote the President’s therapeutic treatment of Hiv/AIDS and that the singles are in both CD and tape format.

“ We thank Comium and other outfits for providing the financial support in the production of the singles. We are set to come up with an album once the financial support is available,” they enthused.