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.
Fears country cannot afford generous gesture to earthquake victims as 163 chosen from 2,000 scholarship applicants
By Sheriff Bojang Jr. Guardian.co.uk
Guardian, London- It is one of Africa's poorest countries, with simmering discontent over power cuts and unemployment with nearly half the population living in poverty. But Senegal has made good on a promise to give free homes and education to a group of Haitian students who lost everything in January's devastating earthquake.
President Abdoulaye Wade poses with Haitian students
Traditional dancers and singers – and the leaders of three African countries – turned out to greet 163 Haitians who arrived in Dakar on Wednesday night. The students stepped off a chartered plane to a rapturous welcome from hundreds of people chanting: "Senegal for Haiti, Africa for Haiti."
Senegal's octogenarian president, Abdoulaye Wade, the president of neighbouring Guinea-Bissau and the prime minister of Niger were also at the welcoming ceremony.
Adonis Verad, a 24-year-old medical student from Port-au-Prince who lost his entire family in the earthquake, was overcome with emotion. Punching his fist in the air, he said: "I have heard people saying that Haitians are originally from Senegal and right now I'm feeling that this is my root. I can smile now after many months of tears and trauma."
Outside, dozens of Senegalese students held up signs reading: "Welcome to the home of your ancestors."
But the scheme has been criticised as a grandiose gesture which the country can ill afford. Nearly half the population is out of work and the average wage is just $130 (£81) a month.
The Haitian students were driven in a motorcade to a reception hosted by Wade, and then taken to the westernmost point of Africa, where a 49-metre bronze statue of a family rising triumphantly from the ground looms over the Atlantic.
"Your ancestors left here by physical force," Wade told the students. "You have returned through moral force … When the slaves embarked on the ships, this is the last piece of African earth they saw … Dear students, it is on this point of land that sticks out farthest into the Atlantic that we have chosen to receive you," he said. "You are neither strangers nor refugees. You are members of our family."
The enormous monument, built by North Korean engineers, was unveiled this year, and is supposed to symbolise Africa's renaissance. But, like the relocation of the Haitians, it has received mixed reviews locally and has come to represent government profligacy.
The Haitian students were selected from more than 2,000 applicants in what officials described as a "very tough" selection process. They will benefit from a scholarship and free housing from the Senegalese government.
Nelsen Menendez said he planned to study statistics. "All our universities in Haiti are in ruins and we have spent months wondering how we were going to get back to school. But then came President Wade's offer and we are very grateful to him and the people of Senegal for standing by us," he said.
Wade has said that Senegal will pay for the students to complete their studies, but the country's universities have become the focus for discontent and are frequently paralysed by protests over the non-payment of scholarships.
Armed police have been posted at the main university, while many Dakar schools have been closed by flooding. Thousands of families displaced by floods are also sheltering in schools across the country.
Aissatou Thioune, a third-year law student at the university, said: "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."
Every year, thousands of Senegalese brave the Atlantic to reach Europe in flimsy wooden boats – just as many Haitians risk their lives trying to reach Florida.
"We are giving the rest of the world a lesson in humanity. Senegal has shown that it's in the hearts of the poor that you can find the gift of generosity," historian Iba Der Thiam, vice-president of Senegal's national assembly, told the Associated Press. "A country that is neither rich nor developed has agreed to share the little it has with its brothers."
RNW - Every day at 7pm, 23-year-old Rama carefully packs her cosmetics in a lady bag and heads for a popular bar nearby. The bar is a regular for rich Senegalese men and expatriates with posh cars and big bank accounts.
By Sheriff Bojang Jnr.
"You have sex with some men and they give you a fortune. It's a real business. No one loses." Rama is one of thousands of young sex workers flourishing in the streets, bars and nightclubs of Dakar. Most of them say they are driven into prostitution by poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunities.
Busy night for sex workers in a Dakar pub
Bilkisu is a 31-year-old Nigerian who moved to Dakar in 2008 after her friends told her about the booming sex trade in Dakar. "I was reluctant to come to Dakar because I did not speak French. But once I discovered the amount of money my friends were making and what kind of houses they live in, I packed my bags and moved. Today I say Senegal is my home, because I have better opportunities here. Men are interested in prostitutes and they mostly pay you what you ask for - I'm home!"
In Senegal, prostitution has been legalised for decades. The official reason for this is to keep track of the health status of the prostitutes. But others say legalising prostitution is just a way of attracting tourists.
Police registry
Any woman over 21 can become a prostitute as long as she is registered with the police, has regular health checks, carries a valid sanitary card and is discrete. But many of the prostitutes on Dakar's streets do not meet these requirements.
Rama, for example, thinks registering with the police is a waste of time: ""Why should I register with the police when I know that it will put me in funny situations? Lots of my friends who registered were discriminated against. The police would harass them, call them names and treat them like trash."
When Bilkisu arrived in Dakar, she was also advised by her room-mate and co-sex worker to register. It turned out to be a nightmare: "I was arrested. The police had a go at me for leaving my country. They said I was bringing disease and immoral behaviour to Senegal."
Rama's scar
Rights groups and NGO's have raised concerns over exploitation of sex workers. One group says sex workers are frequently victims of physical violence.
Rama once was a victim of an attack. She shows her scar in the back of her neck: "I was hit with a torch by a customer who refused to pay after sleeping with me. And sometimes customers deliberately break the condom because they don't like the idea it. They put both of us at risk."
For Bilkisu, however, customers aren't the biggest problem - it's the police. "They often pick you up from the street and trick you into bribing them. If you are unlucky, they take all you earned that night and warn you not to tell anyone."
Although Dakar is reportedly one of the biggest commercial sex capitals of Africa, it is unknown how many unregistered prostitutes work on the streets. So far the Senegalese government has no plans to outlaw prostitution.
So, as long as men are willing to flash their cash, no amount of risk or exploitation will keep Rama, Bilkisu and many of their colleagues from going onto the streets.
At 6pm Sunday, 24-year-old Bachir Diallo hopelessly stood in front of his popular game shop in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, where just about ten football fans turned up to watch the world cup final clash between Spain and the Netherlands.
At the beginning of the world cup in June, at least 50 fans paid money on a daily basis to watch games on one of the three 55-inch screens in the shop. Watching the games at the overcrowded shop give fans an opportunity to shout and yell at each other and according to Bachir, "sometimes exchange blows out of love for their teams. Everybody loves it."
But more and more fans stayed away from watching games at the shop since the German-based octopus Paul started predicting the results successfully.
“A world cup final is the biggest football match in the world and it is every football fan’s dream to watch it. I was expecting my business to boom come this final but look at the shop… only a handful of people. Everybody’s telling me that they wouldn’t pay to watch a game which is already predicted by that so-called seer Octopus”, says Bachir.
About 100 meters away from Bachir’s shop is a sandy and dirty empty land where dozens of boys were busy playing football while the Spain-Netherlands game was about to start.
Serigne, one of the lads playing football there said "everybody said that octopus never predicted wrong. And now it predicted Spain would win. So why should we bother watching the game when we already know the winner? There’s no point. That’s why we decided to play our own game here. We’ll watch the Spanish victory celebration later”.
Many households in Dakar watched a Latin American soap opera on TV instead of the world cup final.
While the Spanish team was lifting the trophy, thousands of Senegalese football fans were at various beaches enjoying music with their loved ones.
And for Bachir Diallo, “congratulations to the octopus, but it has spoiled my business and it has spoiled the world cup for thousands of fans. Now that the world cup is over, someone should just fry this sea food with pasta or something and eat it once and for all”.
"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.
