RNW - June 1 - During her first three pregnancies she would either forget her appointments or she just wouldn't bother to go to the health center. Fatou Tine, a 25-year-old mother of four from Khombole village east of the Senegalese capital Dakar, had the habit of missing her appointments with health specialists.
By Sheriff Bojang Jnr
She had no access to basic health information until two years ago. She also didn’t have a cell phone. The explosion of mobile technology across the world didn’t make her life any different.
But when Fatou was pregnant of her fourth child, she never missed an appointment thanks to a mobile text message service introduced to her village by Plan International and a consortium of six other organisations to promote safe motherhood.
The project started in Khombole 2009 in response to women’s habitual failure to visit the health centre for checkups and counseling. According to Deguene Fall of Plan International, 150 women were given free cell phones initially as an experiment.
Messages send to illiterates
Through the project, women receive regular text messages sent from a central server in Dakar about their antenatal, delivery, postnatal and newborn care. They are monitored during the pregnancy, and those at high risk are brought in for check-ups.
Khombole women display their phones
Showing her basic Nokia cell phone, Fatou says “Over the past few months, I’ve received at least four text messages about my appointments with doctors and the vaccination of my children. I have personally seen its effect because my last pregnancy was much easier than the three previous ones thanks to the messages I received on my phone.”
RNW - May 12 - Open any tour guide book on Senegal and you will come across the same warnings: Be careful of robbers, watch out for thieves and be aware of pick-pockets when you are in a crowd.
By Sheriff Bojang Jnr, Dakar
Besides its beautiful weather, sandy beaches, attractive architecture and the warm hospitality of its people, the Senegalese capital Dakar is known for its high rate of street robbery.
Snatch and run
With tourists and expatriates as main victims, the robbers normally snatch bags, wallets, cell phones and other belongings from people in the streets, markets, nightclubs and other public areas. Usually, the robbers would be suspicious-looking disgruntled youths in their dirty clothes and their trick would be snatch and run.
RNW - May 12 - Princess Maxima has already won the hearts of the Dutch people and now she looks set to win those of Africans. As part of her West African tour of Senegal and Mali, the Crown Princess of the Netherlands is acting as a UN advocate for inclusive finance in the fight against poverty. Her goal? To prove that microfinance can turn dreams into cash and self-reliance.
By Sheriff Bojang Jnr
Inside the PAMECAS microfinance office in Dakar, about a dozen middle-aged women sit quietly waiting to be served by one of the microfinance officers.
All these women are brought together by a common enemy: poverty. And they turn to microfinance for a way out.
Princess Maxima of the netherlands
Escaping poverty
Ndeye Toure is a 48-year-old mother of three young children. Her husband was a factory worker in the suburbs of Dakar in the 1990s but was laid off due to poor health. With no job or earnings, Ndeye couldn’t send her kids to school.
In order to put food on the table for her family, she cooked for people in her neighborhood whenever they have occasions such as weddings and christening ceremonies. She earned just enough to buy three loaves of bread for her sick husband and the three kids.
On Sunday May 29, 1994 Senegalese army captain, Mbaye Diagne rang his wife, Yacine Mar Diop from a military base in Rwanda, where he was serving with the UN peacekeeping team.
By Sheriff Bojang Jnr.
RWN - April 15 - Cpt. Diagne’s final words to his wife: ‘We are completing our mission in 12 days and I’ll come home. Tell everybody at home to pray for me’. Similar name
Two days later on the fateful day of May 31, Yacine was at home when a relative informed her that RFI had announced the death of a UN soldier with a similar name as her husband. When she tuned in to listen, she was confused as the radio broadcaster announced the family name of the dead soldier as Ndiaye instead of Diagne, even though the rank and first name were right and it was clear the soldier was a Senegalese UN peacekeeper in Rwanda.
RNW - 19 March 2011 - Momodou Ba, Asse Sylla and thousands of others met at Dakar’s Independence Square this morning where they have gathered for one of the biggest anti-government protests in Senegal.
Holding placards with messages like ‘Enough is enough: Senegalese are fed up with lies’, Ba and Sylla stand shoulder-to-shoulder among the crowd. It is the first time they have ever met but it doesn’t take long before they become true friends. The two men are united by one thing: unemployment.
By Sheriff Bojang Jnr.
26-year-old Ba has graduated from college in 2007. His initial plan was to find a job, save some money and start his own business.
He has been searching for a job for more than three years now. Ba fills his days hanging out in front of electronic stores in Dakar asking tips from foreigners, showing them directions to places they already know in order to earn some money. He earns a maximum of 10 dollars every week.
RNW-Dec 2010- Late October, news came in that Nigerian police in Lagos had seized a ship carrying 13 containers with heavy arms and ammunition. Estimated price tag: some 20 million US dollars. Origin: Iran. Destination: the Gambian presidency. Now, two months later, relations between Senegal and Iran have reached breaking point.
By Bram Posthumus and Sheriff Bojang Jnr
Three questions. First, why would Iran send arms to West Africa? Second, does the Gambia, a small country along the river of the same name, need such a copious quantity of arms? Thus: third, who were they for?
Gambia's ambiguous role
Let us begin with that last question. Since 1982, there has been a low-intensity conflict going on in the southern Senegalese region of Casamance, which shares a border with the Gambia and another with Guinea Bissau. Northern Guinea Bissau was a rear-base for the Casamance rebels for years but recent incursions into Senegal from there have been rare. While still a nuisance, the rebel force itself is weak and splintered.
So what of the Gambia? Its role in the Casamance has been ambiguous. It has tried to facilitate peace talks but it has also been a shelter to the rebels and arms have reached Casamance through the Gambia before. So the news of this particular shipment caused consternation in Dakar, especially since the stated destination was the home village and permanent residence of Gambian president Yahya Jammeh, Kanilai – a few kilometres from the Casamance border.
Mutual suspicion
Gambian diplomats have denied that their country was the destination for the arms and the country has now also severed ties with Iran. But Senegal remains unimpressed and suspicious. That feeling, by the way, is mutual.
But even though the arms saga has further soured the mood between Dakar and Banjul, things still do not add up. As we said, the rebel movement in Casamance is hardly worthy of the name and such a quantity of arms and ammunition would be wasted on them. So: who were these arms for?
"We have looked at several possibilities," says Mark Schroeder, the Africa analyst at Stratfor, a global intelligence company. "Individual countries such as the Gambia don’t need so many arms. Another one, like Ivory Coast runs its own ports and can source weapons independently. So then we thought about various insurgent groups in the region, like MEND in Nigeria and the Casamance rebels. And we have certainly been thinking about AQMI (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a loosely organised series of groups that has been involved in kidnapping foreigners in among others Mauritania, Mali and Niger)."
Schroeder thinks that the weapons shipment could easily have had multiple destinations. "And I’m sure the US government would love to get proof if AQMI were to be one of the recipients of these arms. The US is concerned about AQMI and has worked with various countries in the region to keep it in check."
The Iran connection
The sender, Iran, does not have the habit of shipping arms directly to its clients, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon. One Iranian deputy has declared that it’s all a set-up by Western intelligence, designed to cause embarrassment between Africa and Iran. Stratfor’s Mark Schroeder does not rule that out. "This is not a high cost activity for Western intelligence," he says, "and the US is always trying to put pressure on Iran’s behaviour. Every little bit helps."
If so, they have succeeded and Senegal is a case in point. Iran was a welcome guest at the summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference that was hosted by Dakar in 2007. Two years later, Iranian president Ahmadinejad paid a high-profile visit to the same city. Iran runs development projects in Senegal, Iranian Khodro taxis (assembled locally) ply the streets of Dakar – and crucially, Senegal supports Iran’s quest to go nuclear.
Tehran maintains that the intercepted arms were part of a private business transaction. But Nigerian newspapers report that the two Iranian businessmen involved, Azim Aghajani and Sayed Akbar Tahmaesebi, were operatives of the Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s chief military force.
Two losers
That would confirm Senegal’s view that you do not organise a private arms shipment of this magnitude without the Iranian state knowing about it. Dakar recalled its ambassador to Teheran on December 14th “for consultations”. A break-up seems imminent.
So far, the fallout appears to affect mostly Iran and the Gambia. Both have dreadful reputations internationally, in part thanks to their human rights record. In addition, there is controversy over Iran’s nuclear plans, while the Gambia is mostly known as a regional hub for money laundering, drugs trafficking and now weapons smuggling. But it is even worse for Iran.
According to Mark Schroeder, it has just lost a valuable pipeline. "This is an old supply chain that Iran has used for channelling political interest and also drugs, weapons and money. Now it’s blocked. Things may still go through Lagos but they will have to find new ways."
New African – Dec 2010 - Senegal’s 84-year-old president, Abdoulaye Wade is one of the African leaders championing the course of a United. But while he is busy solving problems across the continent, resentment and discontent over his government back home are growing.
By Sheriff Bojang Jnr.
Soon after the devastating earthquake struck Haiti killing up to 200,000 people in January, President Abdoulaye Wade surprised the world when he offered free land and repatriation to the Haitians.
He said ‘Haitians are sons and daughters of Africa and they have the right to return to Africa’. He offered them an estate ‘if they come in small numbers and a fertile region if they come en masse’.
Nine months after the offer, a group of 163 Haitian students arrived in Senegal to take up Senegalese government scholarship to condition their studies at various universities across the country.
Their arrival marked another phase of President Wade’s long quest for African renaissance. The students landed at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Airport to a thunderous welcome and jubilation by Senegalese students and traditional musicians who sang ‘Africa for Haiti, Senegal for Haiti’ and chanted ‘Welcome to the land of your ancestors’.
At a lavish welcome ceremony at the site of the African Renaissance Monument attended by the president of neighbouring Guinea Bissau, Prime Minister of Niger and dignitaries from at least six African countries, President Wade was hailed a hero and ‘true son of Africa’ by various speakers.
Early this year, the President launched the $27 million dollar bronze African Renaissance statue of three figures looming over the Atlantic to ‘give flesh to African renaissance’ and to serve as a symbol in ‘fight against racism.
Power broker
Since he came to power in 2000 after unsuccessfully vying for the Senegalese presidency for 22 years, President Wade has seen himself more than a leader of just Senegal.
From his role in the formation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to his regular advocacy for a United States of Africa, the 84-year-old leader has made a name for himself well beyond the boundaries of his tiny country of about 12 million people. He has become a regional and continental power broker.
In August, President Wade flew to neighbouring Guinea following political a deadlock over transition to civilian democracy. President Wade told the media his role was ‘to advise Guineans to understand the situation and to contribute in unblocking the situation’.
In April, President Wade was invited by stakeholders to mediate in the political crisis in Cote d’Ivoire. Two months earlier, the regional economic bloc, ECOWAS had appointed Wade as mediator in Niger’s political crisis following military overthrow there. Thanks to the mediation of people like him, Niger is still calm despite the fact that the ousted president is still in military captivity.
After a similar coup d’état in neighbouring Mauritania in 2008, President Wade quickly took it upon himself to mediate between the coup leaders and the political elite. There is now a civilian government in Mauritania thanks to mediation like his.
Wade was also involved in political mediation in Chad, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Madagascar. Outside the frontiers of the continent, President Wade even offered to negotiate in the Middle East crisis and has invited Israeli and Palestinian leaders to talks in Senegal.
In 2005, UNESCO awarded the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize to Wade for ‘his contribution to democracy in Senegal and for his role in mediating political disputes in the region.’
Criticism at home
However, as he mediates crises across the continent, the conflict over secession in the Southern Senegalese region of Casamance is today one of Africa’s oldest wars, starting in 1981. Rebel attacks in the region have resulted in the death of at least a dozen soldiers and the displacement of thousands in recent years.
When Wade came to power in 2000, he promised to resolve the conflict in 100 days time. But more than 10 years into his presidency, the Casamance rebels are still fighting. Thus, Wade has been under intense criticism from his people for ‘failing to initiate a serious plan for the crisis.’
On the economic front, his people his people do not have high mark for him. The high unemployment rate in the country has forced thousands of Senegalese youngsters to emigrate to Europe.
The high unemployment rate has forced thousands of Senegalese youth embark on clandestine migration to Europe through the Atlantic by death-trap boats.
While Wade was applauded and hailed as a great leader for giving the 163 Haitian students an academic opportunity of a lifetime, education continues to be a luxury for most Senegalese. The main Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar has become synonymous with protests. Students regularly protest against bad conditions on the campus. Armed police men are now permanently based outside the campus to control any protests by students.
‘It's a good thing to help Haiti considering what it went through. But I don't think giving scholarship to over 160 Haitian students to study in Senegal is the best thing. Students here are facing so many difficulties and the government should have helped them instead’, said an unimpressed female student of the University of Dakar.
Regular power cuts across the country have been met with mass street protests mainly by opposition supporters and the consumers association.
There is also discontent over Wade’s attempt to grooming his son to succeed him as president. Karim Wade is currently the state Minister of Energy, International Cooperation, Territorial Management, Aviation, Air Transport and Infrastructure. Many Senegalese see him as an outsider. His first official entry into politics was in March 2009 when local government elections were held and overwhelmingly won by the opposition.
President Wade’s supporters say he is still the right man for the job, making reference to the tarred roads he constructed mainly across Dakar and other infrastructures.
