The Gambia and Seychelles

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Alan Johnston introduces insight, wit and analysis from correspondents around the world. In this edition, Chris Simpson examines the fraught relationship between The Gambia's press and its President, while Tim Ecott visits a remote archipelago to learn the secrets of the Seychelles' coco de mer tree. Stop the press? The Gambia sells itself to the world's tourist trade as the "Smiling Coast of Africa". But not everybody is smiling in this tiny West African state. Amnesty International has reported on its security forces using torture, killings and disappearances. And a particular source of concern is the treatment of journalists. Chris Simpson has been finding out just what the Gambian media are up against. Mysteries of the Seychelles' "love nut" The islands of Seychelles are very special. They lie so far out in the Indian Ocean that they're almost a world of their own. Being so remote, they are now home to some of the world's rarest species of bird and plant life. But perhaps the most remarkable is a special type of coconut - the "coco-de-mer", which grows only in one part of the archipelago. Tim Ecott has been finding out more about this strangest of fruit, and its notable associations with matters of love.