Hero abroad, Criticism at home: The two tales of President Wade

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.

Deported from own country for being black

 "They invited me for interrogation about my nationality. The next day I was arrested, put on a military plane and deported to Senegal just because I am black", says a victim of Mauritania's repression against black citizens.

By Sheriff Bojang Jnr.

RNW - Racial tension and animosity continues in Mauritania after violence erupted recently on a university campus in the capital Nouakchott. Students of African descent and those of Arabic origin recently clashed on the use of Arabic and French as common languages.

The racial tension is a result of Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohammed Lagdaff governments intension to introduce compulsory Arabic as the only official language in the country. Black students interpret this as an insult to their identity. Students of Arabic descent, on the other hand, hailed the Prime Minister's declaration as a wake-up call to their supremacy over blacks.

Racial repression effectively started in Mauritania in 1989 following a border dispute with Senegal. The government of President Maaouiya Ould Sid' Ahmed Taya used the opportunity to expel its black citizens to Senegal, accusing them of being Senegalese. According to Human Rights Watch, hundreds were killed or tortured, while those who remained in Mauritania were subjected to gross rights violations.

Sissoko's ordeal
Aldiouma Sissoko is one of the victims of racial repression. He was born in Senegal in 1951 to Mauritanian parents, who migrated to Senegal in 1946 for work. Sissoko moved to Senegal as maritime expert in 1973 after his father encouraged him to contribute to the development of Mauritania.

From Mauritania Sissoko was sent to Canada, USA, Portugal, France and Morocco as a maritime officer. He was later appointed to be in charge of all the fishing operations in Mauritania.

Deportation
On May 7 1989, Sissoko was interrogated for over seven hours before being arrested. "They asked for my national documents and when I handed them over they confiscated them because I was black and therefore not Mauritanian".

Within few minutes, the authorities put Sissoko on a military plane and deported him to Senegal. "It was the worst day of my life and I will never forget it. They sent me to Senegal with nothing but the clothes I was wearing. I was wise enough not to resist because they would have killed me as they did with others".

The memory will haunt him forever.

"I get very angry and bitter every time I think about it. They took away everything I worked so hard, my livelihood, everything. But the most important thing I lost is my nationality."

No to Senegalese citizenship
Despite being born in Senegal, Sissoko never took Senegalese citizenship. Since his deportation, he was approached several times by the Senegalese authorities to take citizenship and move on with life. But for him it is not as simple as that. “My father told me before he died that I must remain a Mauritanian and nothing else. It is a struggle for justice and dignity. It's a mental obligation to me and my father. I will die struggling to reclaim my Mauritanian citizenship and to go home to Mauritania.”

Sissoko is jobless and often struggles to provide food for his family.

“I shed tears sometimes when my children ask me why we are facing such hardships. But I always tell them the truth. When they grow up they can choose what nationality they want but for now, they must remain Mauritanians and nothing else.'

Hero
Mauritanians in Senegal look up to Sissoko as their hero. For Madame Ba, Sissoko gives hope and strength to all of us battling for justice. “He is well educated and he has a choice of taking Senegalese citizenship and acquiring a lucrative job in Senegal but he chose to stay in the struggle no matter what”.

As a jobless man in the streets of Dakar, Sissoko's day-to-day activities include helping other Mauritanian refugees with various paper works, solving disputes between them and taking up their cases at especially the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on their behalf.

"Sissoko represents all the Mauritanian refugees here. I don't know what life would have been for us without him. He is our hero", another Mauritanian refugee says.