Lopsided Senegal election heralds pro-Wade walkover

May 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment

By Diadie Ba
Reuters
Thursday, May 31, 2007; 9:40 AM

DAKAR (Reuters) - "The Old Man is strong!" is a favorite chant of supporters of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, whose rule over the West African state looks set to become stronger still in parliamentary polls on Sunday.

An opposition boycott of the polls will leave the field clear for a sweeping victory by the octogenarian president’s Sopi coalition, whose name means "change."

But the one-sided polls, coming three months after Wade won a surprisingly easy re-election in a presidential ballot rejected as flawed by opponents, threaten to take the gloss off Senegal’s carefully nurtured image as a model working democracy.

A dozen opposition groups led by Senegal’s Socialist Party (PS) announced last month they would boycott Sunday’s ballot, accusing Wade’s Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) of buying votes and doctoring the electoral roll in February’s poll.

While the critics have failed to provide proof of widespread fraud, they say Wade used state funds and the PDS party machine to steamroller his way to victory with 56 percent of the votes.

This has left the ageing but feisty president, who has bluntly refused to discuss the electoral issues with opponents, looking more like one of Africa traditional "Big Men" rulers than the world-class democratic statesman he aspires to be.

"It is like a struggle between a heavyweight against a lightweight," Alioune Tine of the Dakar-based African human rights group RADDHO said of Sunday’s lopsided elections.

Wade’s Sopi coalition already controlled 89 seats in the previous 120-member parliament and seem certain to extend this in the new assembly, expanded earlier this year to 150 seats.

Many see the opposition boycott as a pointless political suicide which will remove any check to Wade, who has already been criticized for harassing political foes and media critics with temporary detentions.

"People used to say that other countries should follow the democratic example of Senegal but now everybody is saying avoid the Senegalese example," Tine said.

NOT TACKLING POVERTY

Nevertheless, Senegal remains a beacon of peace and stability in an otherwise troubled region. The former French colony, most of whose inhabitants live through farming and fishing, has never had a coup since independence in 1960.

But Wade, whose first election in 2000 ended four decades of Socialist rule and who is well regarded by foreign investors, has faced criticism for not doing enough to end poverty, unemployment and frustration among young Senegalese.

Thousands have risked their lives trying to reach Spain in rickety open boats in a bid to start a new life in Europe.

Since the opposition boycott makes victory for Wade’s coalition a foregone conclusion on Sunday, campaigning for the vote has been lackluster, with little popular enthusiasm.

"They (the opposition) should have taken part in the elections, to be in the parliament and raise their voice there. But now they will be just like any normal citizens which is not very productive," said Dakar University student Sidiya Diop.

But opposition leaders are hoping high voter abstention will dent Wade’s democratic credentials at home and abroad.

"Senegalese should take the opportunity to show to Wade they reject his economic policy and his refusal to hold a dialogue," said Ousmane Tanor Dieng, the Socialist Party chief who came third in February’s presidential election.

Facing 13 insignificant parties in Sunday’s poll, Wadi’s Sopi coalition says it is confident in can obtain a good turnout at the polls, which were originally due in June 2006 but have been twice delayed.

Senegalese Opposition Enters Final Days of Election Boycott

May 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment

By Phuong Tran Dakar 29 May 2007

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade greets crowd at the Independence Day parade (File)

In
Senegal, more than a dozen opposition political groups enter the final
days of their boycott against this coming Sunday’s legislative
election. They point to this past weekend’s low turnout for the
military as proof the boycott is working. But some say the boycott is a
losing battle and are deserting the opposition to join the ruling
party. Phuong Tran has more from Dakar.

The opposition coalition called "Front for the Restoration of
Senegal" continues its call for a nationwide legislative election
boycott because of what its leaders call widespread fraud during the
presidential election, earlier this year, when President Wade won
almost 56 percent of the vote.

Despite the opposition’s efforts to delay the vote, through a court
ruling, the already-twice-delayed legislative election is scheduled to
take place this Sunday.

One of the coalition’s leaders, Moustapha Fall, says his group’s campaign to keep voters away from the polls is working.

He says the fact that only one-third of the military voted, this
past weekend, shows how voters agree with the boycott. He says the
higher military turnout for the presidential election shows the boycott
has had an effect.

About 80 percent of the military and security forces voted in the presidential election.

But election observers and members of the president’s coalition say
legislative elections typically attract less attention than
presidential ones and that the military and security forces are voting
separately for the first time and cannot be used as a gauge for the
nationwide vote.

Senegalese writer Mody Niang, who has written critical books about
the president that he says are banned in Senegal, says the president’s
coalition is trying to prove it has voters’ support, despite the
boycott.

Observers say election was fair

The
writer says President Wade has been fighting a possible drop in voter
turnout by going to the countryside and treating villagers to
extravagant feasts of chicken, sheep and beef. He says the ruling party
plans to bus voters to the polls.

Niang says the boycott has actually worked in President Wade’s
favor, in one way: opposition members who do not want to wait five
years until the next election to have a voice in the government are
joining the president’s coalition.

For the past eight years, Paul Ndong has been the mayor of Joal-Fadiouth, a fishing village 100 kilometers from the capital.

He says he was born into the Socialist Party and has been a committed Socialist his entire life until two months ago.

He went through what he calls a personal political upheaval and
joined the president’s ruling coalition, the Democratic Party of
Senegal.

Ndong says he was not personally informed about the boycott. He says
he learned about it from watching the news and does not understand why
the opposition is boycotting and that he does not agree.

The mayor says the opposition could have won many of the 150 elected positions.

But the long-Socialist mayor says he is now faithful to the president’s coalition.

In the streets of the capital, this taxi driver says he does not
know about the boycott. He says he plans to drive his taxi 200
kilometers to his home village, in the northern Louga Province, to vote
for President Wade’s party.

He says taxi drivers tend to like how the president is trying to fix Dakar’s congested roads.

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Another blow for Senegal opposition

May 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

afrol News, 24 May - It
was yet another striking blow for the Senegalese opposition yesterday
when the Council of State legalised the distribution of lawmakers in
the country, a move vehemently challenged by the opposition Parti
Socialiste (PS).

Until it was dislodged
from power by President Abdoulaye Wade’s ruling PDS in 2000, PS had
been ruling Senegal since independence in 1960. The party captured
third in the last Presidential polls.

Unsatisfied with the overruling of a decree on the distribution of
parliamentary seats per department ahead of the 3 June legislative
polls, angry PS officials filed an appeal, describing the act as
"unconsitutional."

In its petition, PS blamed President Wade for being unfair in
demarcating the country’s 36 districts. The party faulted the
demarcation, arguing that it has favoured the ruling party.

Senegalese government had earlier raised the number of legislative
seats from 120 to 150 earlier this year. This led to the postponement
of the legislative polls, resulting to a bitter confrontation between
striking opposition and police in last January.

Senegalese electoral commission would have been legally mandated to
postpone the 3 June elections had the council ruled in favour of the
opposition.

The council had earlier responded positively to the party’s queries
against the distribution of parliamentary seats. However, the
constitutional court would not agree with PS on its appeal on the
demography issue.

PS is among 15 opposition parties that insisted that unless they hold
talks with President Wade concerning the numerous irregularities in the
February Presidential poll, they would resort to a boycott.

Following President Wade’s refusal to give them audience, the 15
parties did not only boycott the polls, but they have since then been
asking their Senegalese in general to avoid being part of what they
call “assassination of democracy.”

The 25 February polls had been endorsed as free, fair and transparent
by international observers. And the opposition’s attempts to annul the
results also bite the dust.

Despite a boycott by major opposition parties, 15 political parties and
coalitions will be battling for Senegal’s 150 legislative seats.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Women lose foothold in Senegal government

May 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

(GIN)—An organization representing African working women has denounced
a decision to overturn a law guaranteeing a minimum number of female deputies in
Parliament in Senegal.

Rafet, the African Network of Working Women, said the recent decision by the
constitutional council to overturn the law was disappointing.

The council ruled that a law passed by Parliament late March violated the
constitution, which only grants rights to citizens and not to categories of
citizens. The law would have meant that at least 30 women would have been among
the 150 deputies of the parliamentary Assembly—20 percent of the total.

"Now the constitutional obstacle must be lifted," said Rafet President
Amsatou Sow Sidibe, a law professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar. "It
is a question of human rights and democracy."

Senegal, in any case, currently has about 19 percent female representation in
Parliament, which puts it 13th on the list of African countries, and 56th
worldwide—ahead of Italy and France.

We are throwing away a whole generation

May 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Africa risks losing its best, brightest as universities struggle in crisis and unrest looms

Lydia Polgreen

New York Times

DAKAR, Senegal–Thiany Dior usually rises before dawn, tiptoeing
carefully among thin foam mats laid out on the floor as she leaves the
cramped dormitory room she shares with half a dozen other women. It was
built for two.

In the vast auditorium at the law school at
Cheikh Anta Diop University, she secures a seat two rows from the
front, two hours before class.

If she sat too far back, she
would not hear the professor’s lecture over the two tinny speakers, and
would be more likely to join the 70 per cent who fail their first- or
second-year exams at the university.

Those who arrive later
perch on cinderblocks in the aisles, or strain to hear from the gallery
above. By the time class starts, 2,000 young bodies crowd the room in a
muffled din of shuffling paper, throat clearing and jostling.

Outside, dozens of students – early arrivals for the next class – mill about noisily.

"I cannot say really we are all learning, but we are trying,” said Dior. "We are too many students.”

Africa’s best universities, the grand institutions that educated a
revolutionary generation of nation builders and statesmen, doctors and
engineers, writers and intellectuals, are collapsing.

They are
victims of overcrowding, too little money, mismanagement and trends in
international development that have favoured primary education over
higher learning even as a population explosion propels more young
people than ever toward the already-strained institutions.

The
decrepitude is forcing the best and brightest from African countries to
seek their education and fortunes abroad. It is depriving dozens of
nations of homegrown expertise that could lift millions out of poverty.

As
a result, universities across Africa have become hotbeds of discontent,
occupying a dangerous place at the intersection of politics and violent
unrest.

In Nigeria, for example, elite schools have been
overrun by secret societies that have become violent criminal gangs. In
Ivory Coast, student union leaders played a large role in stirring up
xenophobic sentiment that led to civil war.

The Commission for
Africa, a British government research organization, said in a 2005
report that African universities are in a "state of crisis" and are
failing to produce the professionals desperately needed to develop the
poorest continent.

Far from being a tool of social mobility, the
repository of a nation’s hopes for the future, Africa’s universities
have instead become warehouses for a generation of young people for
whom society has little use and who can expect to be just as poor as
their uneducated parents.

"Without universities, there is no
hope of progress, but they have been allowed to crumble," said Penda
Mbow, a historian and labour activist at Cheikh Anta Diop who has
struggled to improve conditions for students and professors. "We are
throwing away a whole generation.”

Even those lucky enough to
graduate will struggle to find a job in their depressed economies. As
few as one-third of African university graduates find work.

The
disarray of Africa’s universities did not happen by chance. In the
1960s, universities were seen as the incubator of the vanguard that
would drive development in the young nations of newly liberated Africa,
and postcolonial governments spent lavishly on campuses, research
facilities, scholarships and salaries for academics.

But
corruption and mismanagement led to the economic collapses that swept
much of Africa in the 1970s. In the retrenchment, universities were
among the first institutions to suffer. As idealistic post-colonial
governments gave way to more cynical and authoritarian regimes,
universities, with their academic freedoms, democratic tendencies and
elitist airs, became a nuisance.

When the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund came to bail out African governments in the
1980s with their tough economic reforms, higher education was usually
low on the list of priorities.

Fighting poverty required basic
skills and literacy, not doctoral students. But money flowing into
primary and secondary education set up a time bomb: as more young
people got a basic education, more wanted to go to college.

At
Cheikh Anta Diop, for example, 9,000 students earned a baccalaureate in
Senegal in 2000, entitling them to university admission. By 2006, there
were more than twice that. The university cannot handle the influx. Its
budget is $32 million (U.S.), less than $600 per student.

Attempts
to reduce the student population by admitting fewer students are seen
as political suicide – student unions play a big role in elections and
Senegal’s leaders are fearful of widespread discontent among educated
youth.

"They fear us because we are the young, and the future
belongs to us," said Babacar Sohkna, a student union leader. "But where
is our future? We are just waiting here for poverty."

Senegal invests $45 mln to ward off power crisis

May 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

By Diadie Ba

DAKAR, May 21 (Reuters) - Senegal is pumping some $45
million in emergency funding into its state-run electricity
company so it can buy fuel to stave off a looming power crisis,
government officials said on Monday.

Energy sector sources said last week the former French
colony had a maximum of eight days’ fuel left to run its power
plants, meaning recent power cuts — some already lasting up to
10 hours a day — could reach "unprecedented" levels.

State electricity firm Senelec, hit by a cash crunch caused
by rising consumption and high fuel prices, owes local oil
companies more than 20 billion CFA francs ($41 million) and they
have said they will only deliver if paid up front.

"On the orders of the President, the state has injected 22
billion CFA francs ($45 million) into Senelec," the country’s
new energy minister, Samuel Sarr, told local radio.

"We have issued a 12 billion CFA guarantee to the fuel
companies so that Senelec can buy supplies 60 days in advance
rather than cash in hand," he said.

Power shortages across the Sahelian country of 11 million
people have steadily increased in recent years, tarnishing its
image as one of West Africa’s most developed states and
disrupting businesses unable to afford their own generators.

Blackouts tend to worsen during the steamy June-October
rainy season, when energy consumption climbs dramatically due to
widespread use of air conditioning in cities.

Officials said they were confident a crisis could be
averted.

 

"We are expecting 65,000 tonnes of fuel to be delivered
between May 20-25," Carmello Sagna, permanent secretary of
Senegal’s national hydrocarbons committee, told Reuters.

Last September, Senegal, which has no crude oil production
of its own, ordered oil firms including Royal Dutch Shell
(RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research to sell their
stocks of diesel to Senelec to run its oil-fired power stations.

Like many African countries, Senegal has suffered long-term
underinvestment and neglect of its power infrastructure,
hampering economic development despite being one of the region’s
most stable democracies since independence from France in 1960.

President Abdoulaye Wade, re-elected in February for a
5-year term in polls dismissed by opponents as flawed, has
ambitious plans to overhaul the country’s power infrastructure,
including building a nuclear power plant.

"The president is committed by the end of his term to ending
power cuts," Sarr said.

 

Senegal facing “unprecedented” power cuts- sources

May 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

By Diadie Ba

DAKAR, May 17 (Reuters) - A wave of power cuts in Senegal could
reach "unprecedented" levels as the West African state has a maximum of
eight days of fuel left to run its power plants, energy sector sources
said on Thursday. Power shortages across the poor country of 11 million
people have steadily increased in recent years due to rising
consumption, high fuel prices and a cash crunch at the state-run
electricity company, Senelec.

Many neighbourhoods of the breezy coastal capital Dakar have
recently suffered 10-hour power cuts several times a week, disrupting
local businesses unable to afford their own generators and undermining
Senegal’s image as one of West Africa’s most developed countries.

Blackouts tend to worsen during the steamy June-October rainy
season, when energy use climbs dramatically due to air conditioning
while the wet weather hampers infrastructure.

"There is only enough fuel to cover eight days of consumption in
the country," a senior energy sector executive, who asked not to be
identified, told Reuters.

"We have crossed the red line. If an urgent measure is not taken in
the coming hours, Senegal will face unprecedented power cuts."

Senegalese officials declined to comment on the issue.

However, other energy sector sources said fuel supplies would not
cover even eight days. A Senelec official, who asked not to be
identified, said the "situation is really worrying".

Last September, Senegal, which has no crude oil production of its
own, ordered oil firms including Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Exxon
Mobil to sell their stocks of diesel to Senelec to run its oil-fired
power stations.

Like many African countries, Senegal has suffered long-term
underinvestment and neglect of its power infrastructure, hampering its
economic development despite one of the region’s most stable
democracies since independence from France in 1960.

President Abdoulaye Wade, re-elected in February at polls dismissed
by opponents as flawed, has contacted foreign experts to advise on
building a nuclear power plant — part of an ambitious programme to
overhaul the country’s infrastructure.

Together with Guinea, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, Senegal is also
planning two hydro-electric power plants on the Gambia river, which
would enter operation by 2012.

Wade has called on oil companies to invest more in fighting poverty
in Africa. Senelec owes local oil companies more than 20 billion CFA
francs ($41.24 million) and they will now only deliver if paid in cash.

"The company (Senelec) has to buy fuel in cash from oil companies,"
said Daniel Sarr, union leader at Senelec. "This is unacceptable. We
need fuel to be given to us and we pay later."

Senegal: seven teachers injured by police

May 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Senegal Low-Income Workers Open Bank Accounts

May 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

By Naomi Schwarz Dakar 19 May 2007

Schwarz report - Download 1.6MB



Listen to Schwarz report

In the West African nation of Senegal,
fewer than 10 per cent of people have accounts at traditional banks.
Such accounts have traditionally been seen as only for the very rich.
But a growing network of branches extending into more remote areas
means that more people than before have access to banks. Naomi Schwarz
visited on the outskirts of Dakar with a new mother who has a savings
account.

Margot Seck

In a
one-room apartment on the outskirts of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, Margot
Seck is cooking lunch on her small balcony. She is using her short
maternity leave from her job as a cashier to set up the apartment.

Since she is not working now, she has been spending from her savings. But ever since the 25-year-old came to Dakar from her

family’s village and began working, she has been putting aside a
small portion of her paycheck for just such an occasion. "When I was
paid my salary, I would spend what I needed, and I would bring the rest
to the corner shopkeeper to hold on to for me," she says.

Two years ago, with the help of her boss, Seck opened an account at one of Senegal’s commercial banks.

Seck’s boss advanced to her and three co-workers the 150-dollar
minimum deposit the bank required, and she helped them acquire the

necessary papers.

Seck goes to a small bedside cabinet and pulls out a simple wooden box with a lock.

She unlocks the box and takes out the papers, explaining that before
she moved in with her husband, she shared a room with many single
cousins, and the locked box was needed to keep her finances private.

She says she told only her brothers and sisters about the bank
account, and just recently, her husband. "Ah, when you say that you
have an account, people will think that you have a lot of money, even
though it is nothing."

Seck says the bank takes money out of her account for various fees.
"The first month, they took out 10 dollars. We were shocked, why did
they take out this ten dollars. When we went to the bank, they told us
it was for insurance," she says.

Seck says the bank also debits just over two dollars every three months for maintenance costs.

Some Senegalese save money at corner shops like this one

But
despite these costs, she says the bank account has helped her save more
money than before. "In the house, it is no good, because you can spend
the money. At the boutique it was better, but when you have problems,
you can go straight to the boutique and take the money. But when it is
at the bank, sometimes you are slower to withdraw your savings," she
says.

Despite Seck’s story, most Senegalese do not have bank accounts.

Oumar Diene, of the Senegalese non-governmental organization CRESP,
says this may be changing. "We have the impression that these days,
there is an accent on potential clients who, until now, have not been
taken into account by the big banks," he says.

He says that banks are directing their marketing campaigns at
university students, many of whom have little or no income. He also
notes the increasing number of bank branches across the country.

But obstacles are still keeping many Senegalese from opening accounts.

Mohammed Wilson, a director at Senegal’s CBAO bank, says one
obstacle is a culture that prefers cash transactions. He says
Senegalese are wary of entrusting their money to someone else, and they
are unfamiliar with how banks work.

But even for those who are interested in bank accounts, the minimum
deposit can seem overwhelming, especially for non-salaried workers
whose income varies from week to week. Wilson says the minimum deposit
is required for the banks to cover their operating costs. He says if
more people had bank accounts, the banks would be able to reduce the
minimum deposit and also the fees.

Since so many businesses rely on cash transactions, Wilson says his
branches must be prepared for large cash withdrawals. This would be
less of a burden if more people had accounts, and money could change
hands invisibly, through checks.

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Brazil and Senegal sign biofuel agreement

May 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

BRASILIA, Brazil:
The presidents of Brazil and Senegal on Wednesday signed an agreement
opening the way for the production and use of biofuels in Senegal and
in the rest of Africa.

"Biofuels will provoke a revolution in Africa," Senegal’s leader
Abdoulaye Wade said in a speech after the meeting. "The entire
(African) continent wants to explore all possibilities … to become a
major biofuel supplier."

The agreement was one of three signed by Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva and his guest, who is on a two-day visit to Latin America’s
biggest country.

"We have abundant, clean and cheap sources of energy," Silva said in
a speech. "Under Senegal’s leadership, we want to take this initiative
to other African nations that do not produce oil."

Brazil is the world’s No. 1 sugar producer and exporter, and the
leading exporter of ethanol made from sugarcane. It also is the world’s
second-largest ethanol producer after the United States, and is ramping
up production of soybean-based biodiesel.

Brazilian ethanol makers produced 17 billion liters (4.5 billion
gallons) last year, and exported 3.4 billion liters (900 million
gallons).

Next Page »

Lopsided Senegal election heralds pro-Wade walkover

May 31, 2007

By Diadie Ba
Reuters
Thursday, May 31, 2007; 9:40 AM

DAKAR (Reuters) - "The Old Man is strong!" is a favorite chant of supporters of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, whose rule over the West African state looks set to become stronger still in parliamentary polls on Sunday.

An opposition boycott of the polls will leave the field clear for a sweeping victory by the octogenarian president’s Sopi coalition, whose name means "change."

But the one-sided polls, coming three months after Wade won a surprisingly easy re-election in a presidential ballot rejected as flawed by opponents, threaten to take the gloss off Senegal’s carefully nurtured image as a model working democracy.

A dozen opposition groups led by Senegal’s Socialist Party (PS) announced last month they would boycott Sunday’s ballot, accusing Wade’s Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) of buying votes and doctoring the electoral roll in February’s poll.

While the critics have failed to provide proof of widespread fraud, they say Wade used state funds and the PDS party machine to steamroller his way to victory with 56 percent of the votes.

This has left the ageing but feisty president, who has bluntly refused to discuss the electoral issues with opponents, looking more like one of Africa traditional "Big Men" rulers than the world-class democratic statesman he aspires to be.

"It is like a struggle between a heavyweight against a lightweight," Alioune Tine of the Dakar-based African human rights group RADDHO said of Sunday’s lopsided elections.

Wade’s Sopi coalition already controlled 89 seats in the previous 120-member parliament and seem certain to extend this in the new assembly, expanded earlier this year to 150 seats.

Many see the opposition boycott as a pointless political suicide which will remove any check to Wade, who has already been criticized for harassing political foes and media critics with temporary detentions.

"People used to say that other countries should follow the democratic example of Senegal but now everybody is saying avoid the Senegalese example," Tine said.

NOT TACKLING POVERTY

Nevertheless, Senegal remains a beacon of peace and stability in an otherwise troubled region. The former French colony, most of whose inhabitants live through farming and fishing, has never had a coup since independence in 1960.

But Wade, whose first election in 2000 ended four decades of Socialist rule and who is well regarded by foreign investors, has faced criticism for not doing enough to end poverty, unemployment and frustration among young Senegalese.

Thousands have risked their lives trying to reach Spain in rickety open boats in a bid to start a new life in Europe.

Since the opposition boycott makes victory for Wade’s coalition a foregone conclusion on Sunday, campaigning for the vote has been lackluster, with little popular enthusiasm.

"They (the opposition) should have taken part in the elections, to be in the parliament and raise their voice there. But now they will be just like any normal citizens which is not very productive," said Dakar University student Sidiya Diop.

But opposition leaders are hoping high voter abstention will dent Wade’s democratic credentials at home and abroad.

"Senegalese should take the opportunity to show to Wade they reject his economic policy and his refusal to hold a dialogue," said Ousmane Tanor Dieng, the Socialist Party chief who came third in February’s presidential election.

Facing 13 insignificant parties in Sunday’s poll, Wadi’s Sopi coalition says it is confident in can obtain a good turnout at the polls, which were originally due in June 2006 but have been twice delayed.

Senegalese Opposition Enters Final Days of Election Boycott

May 29, 2007

By Phuong Tran Dakar 29 May 2007

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade greets crowd at the Independence Day parade (File)

In
Senegal, more than a dozen opposition political groups enter the final
days of their boycott against this coming Sunday’s legislative
election. They point to this past weekend’s low turnout for the
military as proof the boycott is working. But some say the boycott is a
losing battle and are deserting the opposition to join the ruling
party. Phuong Tran has more from Dakar.

The opposition coalition called "Front for the Restoration of
Senegal" continues its call for a nationwide legislative election
boycott because of what its leaders call widespread fraud during the
presidential election, earlier this year, when President Wade won
almost 56 percent of the vote.

Despite the opposition’s efforts to delay the vote, through a court
ruling, the already-twice-delayed legislative election is scheduled to
take place this Sunday.

One of the coalition’s leaders, Moustapha Fall, says his group’s campaign to keep voters away from the polls is working.

He says the fact that only one-third of the military voted, this
past weekend, shows how voters agree with the boycott. He says the
higher military turnout for the presidential election shows the boycott
has had an effect.

About 80 percent of the military and security forces voted in the presidential election.

But election observers and members of the president’s coalition say
legislative elections typically attract less attention than
presidential ones and that the military and security forces are voting
separately for the first time and cannot be used as a gauge for the
nationwide vote.

Senegalese writer Mody Niang, who has written critical books about
the president that he says are banned in Senegal, says the president’s
coalition is trying to prove it has voters’ support, despite the
boycott.

Observers say election was fair

The
writer says President Wade has been fighting a possible drop in voter
turnout by going to the countryside and treating villagers to
extravagant feasts of chicken, sheep and beef. He says the ruling party
plans to bus voters to the polls.

Niang says the boycott has actually worked in President Wade’s
favor, in one way: opposition members who do not want to wait five
years until the next election to have a voice in the government are
joining the president’s coalition.

For the past eight years, Paul Ndong has been the mayor of Joal-Fadiouth, a fishing village 100 kilometers from the capital.

He says he was born into the Socialist Party and has been a committed Socialist his entire life until two months ago.

He went through what he calls a personal political upheaval and
joined the president’s ruling coalition, the Democratic Party of
Senegal.

Ndong says he was not personally informed about the boycott. He says
he learned about it from watching the news and does not understand why
the opposition is boycotting and that he does not agree.

The mayor says the opposition could have won many of the 150 elected positions.

But the long-Socialist mayor says he is now faithful to the president’s coalition.

In the streets of the capital, this taxi driver says he does not
know about the boycott. He says he plans to drive his taxi 200
kilometers to his home village, in the northern Louga Province, to vote
for President Wade’s party.

He says taxi drivers tend to like how the president is trying to fix Dakar’s congested roads.

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Another blow for Senegal opposition

May 28, 2007

afrol News, 24 May - It
was yet another striking blow for the Senegalese opposition yesterday
when the Council of State legalised the distribution of lawmakers in
the country, a move vehemently challenged by the opposition Parti
Socialiste (PS).

Until it was dislodged
from power by President Abdoulaye Wade’s ruling PDS in 2000, PS had
been ruling Senegal since independence in 1960. The party captured
third in the last Presidential polls.

Unsatisfied with the overruling of a decree on the distribution of
parliamentary seats per department ahead of the 3 June legislative
polls, angry PS officials filed an appeal, describing the act as
"unconsitutional."

In its petition, PS blamed President Wade for being unfair in
demarcating the country’s 36 districts. The party faulted the
demarcation, arguing that it has favoured the ruling party.

Senegalese government had earlier raised the number of legislative
seats from 120 to 150 earlier this year. This led to the postponement
of the legislative polls, resulting to a bitter confrontation between
striking opposition and police in last January.

Senegalese electoral commission would have been legally mandated to
postpone the 3 June elections had the council ruled in favour of the
opposition.

The council had earlier responded positively to the party’s queries
against the distribution of parliamentary seats. However, the
constitutional court would not agree with PS on its appeal on the
demography issue.

PS is among 15 opposition parties that insisted that unless they hold
talks with President Wade concerning the numerous irregularities in the
February Presidential poll, they would resort to a boycott.

Following President Wade’s refusal to give them audience, the 15
parties did not only boycott the polls, but they have since then been
asking their Senegalese in general to avoid being part of what they
call “assassination of democracy.”

The 25 February polls had been endorsed as free, fair and transparent
by international observers. And the opposition’s attempts to annul the
results also bite the dust.

Despite a boycott by major opposition parties, 15 political parties and
coalitions will be battling for Senegal’s 150 legislative seats.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Women lose foothold in Senegal government

May 28, 2007

(GIN)—An organization representing African working women has denounced
a decision to overturn a law guaranteeing a minimum number of female deputies in
Parliament in Senegal.

Rafet, the African Network of Working Women, said the recent decision by the
constitutional council to overturn the law was disappointing.

The council ruled that a law passed by Parliament late March violated the
constitution, which only grants rights to citizens and not to categories of
citizens. The law would have meant that at least 30 women would have been among
the 150 deputies of the parliamentary Assembly—20 percent of the total.

"Now the constitutional obstacle must be lifted," said Rafet President
Amsatou Sow Sidibe, a law professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar. "It
is a question of human rights and democracy."

Senegal, in any case, currently has about 19 percent female representation in
Parliament, which puts it 13th on the list of African countries, and 56th
worldwide—ahead of Italy and France.

We are throwing away a whole generation

May 28, 2007

Africa risks losing its best, brightest as universities struggle in crisis and unrest looms

Lydia Polgreen

New York Times

DAKAR, Senegal–Thiany Dior usually rises before dawn, tiptoeing
carefully among thin foam mats laid out on the floor as she leaves the
cramped dormitory room she shares with half a dozen other women. It was
built for two.

In the vast auditorium at the law school at
Cheikh Anta Diop University, she secures a seat two rows from the
front, two hours before class.

If she sat too far back, she
would not hear the professor’s lecture over the two tinny speakers, and
would be more likely to join the 70 per cent who fail their first- or
second-year exams at the university.

Those who arrive later
perch on cinderblocks in the aisles, or strain to hear from the gallery
above. By the time class starts, 2,000 young bodies crowd the room in a
muffled din of shuffling paper, throat clearing and jostling.

Outside, dozens of students – early arrivals for the next class – mill about noisily.

"I cannot say really we are all learning, but we are trying,” said Dior. "We are too many students.”

Africa’s best universities, the grand institutions that educated a
revolutionary generation of nation builders and statesmen, doctors and
engineers, writers and intellectuals, are collapsing.

They are
victims of overcrowding, too little money, mismanagement and trends in
international development that have favoured primary education over
higher learning even as a population explosion propels more young
people than ever toward the already-strained institutions.

The
decrepitude is forcing the best and brightest from African countries to
seek their education and fortunes abroad. It is depriving dozens of
nations of homegrown expertise that could lift millions out of poverty.

As
a result, universities across Africa have become hotbeds of discontent,
occupying a dangerous place at the intersection of politics and violent
unrest.

In Nigeria, for example, elite schools have been
overrun by secret societies that have become violent criminal gangs. In
Ivory Coast, student union leaders played a large role in stirring up
xenophobic sentiment that led to civil war.

The Commission for
Africa, a British government research organization, said in a 2005
report that African universities are in a "state of crisis" and are
failing to produce the professionals desperately needed to develop the
poorest continent.

Far from being a tool of social mobility, the
repository of a nation’s hopes for the future, Africa’s universities
have instead become warehouses for a generation of young people for
whom society has little use and who can expect to be just as poor as
their uneducated parents.

"Without universities, there is no
hope of progress, but they have been allowed to crumble," said Penda
Mbow, a historian and labour activist at Cheikh Anta Diop who has
struggled to improve conditions for students and professors. "We are
throwing away a whole generation.”

Even those lucky enough to
graduate will struggle to find a job in their depressed economies. As
few as one-third of African university graduates find work.

The
disarray of Africa’s universities did not happen by chance. In the
1960s, universities were seen as the incubator of the vanguard that
would drive development in the young nations of newly liberated Africa,
and postcolonial governments spent lavishly on campuses, research
facilities, scholarships and salaries for academics.

But
corruption and mismanagement led to the economic collapses that swept
much of Africa in the 1970s. In the retrenchment, universities were
among the first institutions to suffer. As idealistic post-colonial
governments gave way to more cynical and authoritarian regimes,
universities, with their academic freedoms, democratic tendencies and
elitist airs, became a nuisance.

When the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund came to bail out African governments in the
1980s with their tough economic reforms, higher education was usually
low on the list of priorities.

Fighting poverty required basic
skills and literacy, not doctoral students. But money flowing into
primary and secondary education set up a time bomb: as more young
people got a basic education, more wanted to go to college.

At
Cheikh Anta Diop, for example, 9,000 students earned a baccalaureate in
Senegal in 2000, entitling them to university admission. By 2006, there
were more than twice that. The university cannot handle the influx. Its
budget is $32 million (U.S.), less than $600 per student.

Attempts
to reduce the student population by admitting fewer students are seen
as political suicide – student unions play a big role in elections and
Senegal’s leaders are fearful of widespread discontent among educated
youth.

"They fear us because we are the young, and the future
belongs to us," said Babacar Sohkna, a student union leader. "But where
is our future? We are just waiting here for poverty."

Senegal invests $45 mln to ward off power crisis

May 28, 2007

By Diadie Ba

DAKAR, May 21 (Reuters) - Senegal is pumping some $45
million in emergency funding into its state-run electricity
company so it can buy fuel to stave off a looming power crisis,
government officials said on Monday.

Energy sector sources said last week the former French
colony had a maximum of eight days’ fuel left to run its power
plants, meaning recent power cuts — some already lasting up to
10 hours a day — could reach "unprecedented" levels.

State electricity firm Senelec, hit by a cash crunch caused
by rising consumption and high fuel prices, owes local oil
companies more than 20 billion CFA francs ($41 million) and they
have said they will only deliver if paid up front.

"On the orders of the President, the state has injected 22
billion CFA francs ($45 million) into Senelec," the country’s
new energy minister, Samuel Sarr, told local radio.

"We have issued a 12 billion CFA guarantee to the fuel
companies so that Senelec can buy supplies 60 days in advance
rather than cash in hand," he said.

Power shortages across the Sahelian country of 11 million
people have steadily increased in recent years, tarnishing its
image as one of West Africa’s most developed states and
disrupting businesses unable to afford their own generators.

Blackouts tend to worsen during the steamy June-October
rainy season, when energy consumption climbs dramatically due to
widespread use of air conditioning in cities.

Officials said they were confident a crisis could be
averted.

 

"We are expecting 65,000 tonnes of fuel to be delivered
between May 20-25," Carmello Sagna, permanent secretary of
Senegal’s national hydrocarbons committee, told Reuters.

Last September, Senegal, which has no crude oil production
of its own, ordered oil firms including Royal Dutch Shell
(RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research to sell their
stocks of diesel to Senelec to run its oil-fired power stations.

Like many African countries, Senegal has suffered long-term
underinvestment and neglect of its power infrastructure,
hampering economic development despite being one of the region’s
most stable democracies since independence from France in 1960.

President Abdoulaye Wade, re-elected in February for a
5-year term in polls dismissed by opponents as flawed, has
ambitious plans to overhaul the country’s power infrastructure,
including building a nuclear power plant.

"The president is committed by the end of his term to ending
power cuts," Sarr said.

 

Senegal facing “unprecedented” power cuts- sources

May 28, 2007

By Diadie Ba

DAKAR, May 17 (Reuters) - A wave of power cuts in Senegal could
reach "unprecedented" levels as the West African state has a maximum of
eight days of fuel left to run its power plants, energy sector sources
said on Thursday. Power shortages across the poor country of 11 million
people have steadily increased in recent years due to rising
consumption, high fuel prices and a cash crunch at the state-run
electricity company, Senelec.

Many neighbourhoods of the breezy coastal capital Dakar have
recently suffered 10-hour power cuts several times a week, disrupting
local businesses unable to afford their own generators and undermining
Senegal’s image as one of West Africa’s most developed countries.

Blackouts tend to worsen during the steamy June-October rainy
season, when energy use climbs dramatically due to air conditioning
while the wet weather hampers infrastructure.

"There is only enough fuel to cover eight days of consumption in
the country," a senior energy sector executive, who asked not to be
identified, told Reuters.

"We have crossed the red line. If an urgent measure is not taken in
the coming hours, Senegal will face unprecedented power cuts."

Senegalese officials declined to comment on the issue.

However, other energy sector sources said fuel supplies would not
cover even eight days. A Senelec official, who asked not to be
identified, said the "situation is really worrying".

Last September, Senegal, which has no crude oil production of its
own, ordered oil firms including Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Exxon
Mobil to sell their stocks of diesel to Senelec to run its oil-fired
power stations.

Like many African countries, Senegal has suffered long-term
underinvestment and neglect of its power infrastructure, hampering its
economic development despite one of the region’s most stable
democracies since independence from France in 1960.

President Abdoulaye Wade, re-elected in February at polls dismissed
by opponents as flawed, has contacted foreign experts to advise on
building a nuclear power plant — part of an ambitious programme to
overhaul the country’s infrastructure.

Together with Guinea, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, Senegal is also
planning two hydro-electric power plants on the Gambia river, which
would enter operation by 2012.

Wade has called on oil companies to invest more in fighting poverty
in Africa. Senelec owes local oil companies more than 20 billion CFA
francs ($41.24 million) and they will now only deliver if paid in cash.

"The company (Senelec) has to buy fuel in cash from oil companies,"
said Daniel Sarr, union leader at Senelec. "This is unacceptable. We
need fuel to be given to us and we pay later."

Senegal: seven teachers injured by police

May 28, 2007

Senegal Low-Income Workers Open Bank Accounts

May 28, 2007

By Naomi Schwarz Dakar 19 May 2007

Schwarz report - Download 1.6MB



Listen to Schwarz report

In the West African nation of Senegal,
fewer than 10 per cent of people have accounts at traditional banks.
Such accounts have traditionally been seen as only for the very rich.
But a growing network of branches extending into more remote areas
means that more people than before have access to banks. Naomi Schwarz
visited on the outskirts of Dakar with a new mother who has a savings
account.

Margot Seck

In a
one-room apartment on the outskirts of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, Margot
Seck is cooking lunch on her small balcony. She is using her short
maternity leave from her job as a cashier to set up the apartment.

Since she is not working now, she has been spending from her savings. But ever since the 25-year-old came to Dakar from her

family’s village and began working, she has been putting aside a
small portion of her paycheck for just such an occasion. "When I was
paid my salary, I would spend what I needed, and I would bring the rest
to the corner shopkeeper to hold on to for me," she says.

Two years ago, with the help of her boss, Seck opened an account at one of Senegal’s commercial banks.

Seck’s boss advanced to her and three co-workers the 150-dollar
minimum deposit the bank required, and she helped them acquire the

necessary papers.

Seck goes to a small bedside cabinet and pulls out a simple wooden box with a lock.

She unlocks the box and takes out the papers, explaining that before
she moved in with her husband, she shared a room with many single
cousins, and the locked box was needed to keep her finances private.

She says she told only her brothers and sisters about the bank
account, and just recently, her husband. "Ah, when you say that you
have an account, people will think that you have a lot of money, even
though it is nothing."

Seck says the bank takes money out of her account for various fees.
"The first month, they took out 10 dollars. We were shocked, why did
they take out this ten dollars. When we went to the bank, they told us
it was for insurance," she says.

Seck says the bank also debits just over two dollars every three months for maintenance costs.

Some Senegalese save money at corner shops like this one

But
despite these costs, she says the bank account has helped her save more
money than before. "In the house, it is no good, because you can spend
the money. At the boutique it was better, but when you have problems,
you can go straight to the boutique and take the money. But when it is
at the bank, sometimes you are slower to withdraw your savings," she
says.

Despite Seck’s story, most Senegalese do not have bank accounts.

Oumar Diene, of the Senegalese non-governmental organization CRESP,
says this may be changing. "We have the impression that these days,
there is an accent on potential clients who, until now, have not been
taken into account by the big banks," he says.

He says that banks are directing their marketing campaigns at
university students, many of whom have little or no income. He also
notes the increasing number of bank branches across the country.

But obstacles are still keeping many Senegalese from opening accounts.

Mohammed Wilson, a director at Senegal’s CBAO bank, says one
obstacle is a culture that prefers cash transactions. He says
Senegalese are wary of entrusting their money to someone else, and they
are unfamiliar with how banks work.

But even for those who are interested in bank accounts, the minimum
deposit can seem overwhelming, especially for non-salaried workers
whose income varies from week to week. Wilson says the minimum deposit
is required for the banks to cover their operating costs. He says if
more people had bank accounts, the banks would be able to reduce the
minimum deposit and also the fees.

Since so many businesses rely on cash transactions, Wilson says his
branches must be prepared for large cash withdrawals. This would be
less of a burden if more people had accounts, and money could change
hands invisibly, through checks.

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Brazil and Senegal sign biofuel agreement

May 28, 2007

BRASILIA, Brazil:
The presidents of Brazil and Senegal on Wednesday signed an agreement
opening the way for the production and use of biofuels in Senegal and
in the rest of Africa.

"Biofuels will provoke a revolution in Africa," Senegal’s leader
Abdoulaye Wade said in a speech after the meeting. "The entire
(African) continent wants to explore all possibilities … to become a
major biofuel supplier."

The agreement was one of three signed by Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva and his guest, who is on a two-day visit to Latin America’s
biggest country.

"We have abundant, clean and cheap sources of energy," Silva said in
a speech. "Under Senegal’s leadership, we want to take this initiative
to other African nations that do not produce oil."

Brazil is the world’s No. 1 sugar producer and exporter, and the
leading exporter of ethanol made from sugarcane. It also is the world’s
second-largest ethanol producer after the United States, and is ramping
up production of soybean-based biodiesel.

Brazilian ethanol makers produced 17 billion liters (4.5 billion
gallons) last year, and exported 3.4 billion liters (900 million
gallons).

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