Letter to the Editor-National reconciliation is a two-way road and not a “cul de sac” |04 June 2013

If we are seriously interested to achieve lasting reconciliation, we must make it a point to avoid “rubbing salts in old wounds”. Would SBC agree to screen a piece which projects the 5th of June as the “day of treason and infamy?” It is in fact the coup d’état of the 5th of June which ushered in the One-Party State constitution of the Second Republic under which we saw the abolition of party politics; the rule by Presidential decree; the establishment of “garde batons”; the military-playing police; the arrival of Tanzanian, Malagasy and North Korean soldiers on our soil; the arrest without warrant; systematic acquisition of private properties; the disappearance and murder of individuals and the exodus of a large proportion of the population to seek a life in exile in far away nations.

Mr Editor, there is no statute of limitation where the crime of treason is concerned and it is also wise to acknowledge that no hurricane can eradicate the foundation of truth.

Do we wish the subjects surrounding the event of the 5th of June to be investigated into by the International Criminal Court of Justice or do we press for a Truth Commission or do we carry on bearing our pain stoically and in silence in the interest of the much needed national unity about which our President, who acknowledges to be a President for all Seychellois, often speaks?
Surely, national reconciliation is a two-way road and not a “cul de sac”.

James R. Mancham