Senegal

Main article: Africa

Colonial dependence on France

For 2023, Senegal is in colonial dependence on France, which exercises control over all significant processes in politics and economics. For more on specific instruments of influence, see French Foreign Policy.

Population

Main article: Population of Africa

South-north standoff: Separatism of Casamance

Senegal is a multi-ethnic country: in the north and south there are tribes that are significantly different from each other.

In the second half of the 19th century, ethnic contradictions were aggravated by religious and geographical factors. The population of the south was highly susceptible to the spread of Christianity, unlike the north at that time of the French colony, which to this day remains Muslim.

Also playing into the growth of antagonism was the fact that the south of the country is partially separated from the north by the former British colony - the Gambia.

Over time, oppression of the Christian minority, which makes up approximately 8% of the population, began.

After independence in 1960, Senegal became a unitary state. Residents of the south were unhappy with weak economic development compared to the north of Senegal.

Also, the administration of the southern regions, overwhelmingly, consisted of northern Muslim nationalities.

Due to the political, economic, geographical isolation and oppression of Christians, movements for the independence of Casamance began to form in the country.

In 1982, supporters of southern independence formed the "Casamance Democratic Forces Movement." At the end of that year, separatists began organizing multiple demonstrations throughout the Christian regions. The more radical wing of the Movement began a partisan struggle.

After the discovery of oil in the region in 1990, Senegalese armed forces began brutally suppressing any protests against the central government. This pushed the forces of the Casamance Democratic Forces Movement into a full-scale armed uprising.

The rebels were actively supported by the Gambia, whose president advocated closer ties with the southern regions of Senegal.

According to the UN, by the end of 2022, more than 5,000 people had already died in the conflict.

In 2014, there was a split in the Movement: some of the leaders agreed to conclude a peace agreement.

However, the paramilitary wing, although gradually losing its position, refuses to negotiate and continues to fight. And the ceasefire was repeatedly violated on both sides of the conflict.

In 2017, Gambian President Yaya Jammeh, who has supported Senegal's separatists since the 1990s, was ousted in a military intervention by the joint forces of the West African Economic Community, whose troops still remain in the country. Casamance's rebels lost an important ally.

Nevertheless, at the beginning of 2023, the separatists are still able to secure funding. Rebels are directly involved in the smuggling of expensive wood (see below).

Migration

2023: Nearly 1,000 Senegal migrants killed in Spanish territorial waters in half a year

28.8% of young people do not have a job, and many, desperate to improve their situation at home, go on a dangerous journey to the shores of Europe. In the first 6 months of 2023 alone, about 1,000 illegal migrants from Senegal died in Spanish territorial waters.

2021: Net outflow over 4 years

Marriages

Allowed to have more than one spouse

Overweight

Mortality

2018: Accident death rate

2016: Number of opioid deaths

Domestic politics

2024: Senegal's new president is Bassiru Diomay Fai, backed by Ousmane Sonko, ousted from the election

On January 30, 2024, the popular politician Usman Sonko, who was removed by the authorities from the elections, announced the little-known Bassira Diomaye Fei as his successor, calling him a "little brother" in his address, handing him huge electoral support. Despite the fact that Fey was also imprisoned at that time, he was admitted before the election.

To be in time against the backdrop of the rise of Sonko's successor to earn political points, Maki Sal decided on February 3 to postpone the elections until the end of the year, in which he was supported by parliament. However, such a decision caused large-scale protests throughout the country and only more rallied the opposition. At the same time, ECOWAS, the African Union and the Constitutional Court of Senegal demanded that elections be held on time.

The failed attempt to delay the elections, which caused condemnation of all segments of the population and regional organizations, forced the government to schedule elections for March 24, as well as an amnesty, according to which Usman Sonko and Bassiru Diomaye Fei were released from prison.

As a result, Bassira Diomay Fai, who previously worked as a tax inspector, won the presidential election in Senegal in March 2024. Read more here.

2023: Protests in support of opposition leader Usman Sonko

For several days in early June 2023, mass anti-government rallies were held in the Senegalese capital in support of Usman Sonko, a popular opposition leader of anti-colonial and pan-African views among young people, whom individual bloggers dubbed pro-Russian.

On June 1, the criminal court sentenced the politician to two years in prison for "immoral behavior against persons under the age of 21," which significantly reduces Sonko's chances of running for president in 2024.

Dissatisfied with the court's decision, they massively took to the streets of Dakar and began to burn cars, as well as throw stones at law enforcement officers. In turn, the police use tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the protesters: at least nine people were killed.

Nevertheless, it is unlikely that protests or Sonko's victory in the elections will lead to changes in the foreign policy course, the Rybar channel wrote. Senegalese ruling elites are completely controlled by France, and the opposition has long used the rhetoric of pan-Africanism and the fight against colonialism only to score points.

It is likely that the source of stuffing about the connection of opposition leader Sonko with the Kremlin was the entourage of the current President of Senegal, Maki Sall. Their task is to discredit the opponent and once again convince the curators in Paris of their irreplaceability. They did the same back in 2019 with exactly the same goals.

Foreign policy

2023: Refusal to condemn Russia in Ukraine conflict

Economy

ECOWAS membership

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional organization established in 1975 to strengthen economic cooperation between West African countries .

GDP $1,485 per person

Currency: CFA franc

Main article: Frank CFA (CFA)

Inflation

2022: Inflation in November - 13%

Oil production

2020: Lukoil acquires 40% in RSSD project

In July 2020, the second largest oil production in the Russian Federation, Lukoil, entered into an agreement with Cairn energy PLC to acquire a 40% stake in the RSSD project in Senegal for $300 million.

The RSSD project includes the Rufisque, Sangomar and Sangomar Deep fields and will be implemented under the terms of a production sharing agreement (PSA). The deal must be closed after approval by the Senegalese authorities. The agreement also provides for the possible payment of a bonus to Cairn Energy PLC in the amount of up to $100 million after the start of production.

The project operator is Woodside with a 35% share. Other partners are FAR (15%) and state-owned Petrosen (10%).

Foreign trade

2023:60% of wheat supplies come from Russia and Ukraine

Illegal export of polysander

In 2012, the West African rosewood was granted almost extinct status in the Gambia, with the country remaining one of the largest exporters of the tree species to China.

The reason is that most of the rosewood exported through the Gambia comes from Casamance (Senegal), which is much closer to the Gambia than to the large Senegalese ports.

According to local environmentalists, available at the beginning of 2023, since 2010, Senegal has lost more than 1 million trees worth $10 billion.

Alcohol market

Minimum age to purchase alcoholic beverages

R&D

2020: R&D costs - $149m

Senegal IT Market

2022: More than 20 start-ups

Agriculture

2019: Low use of pesticides in agriculture

Consumption

2023: Fish consumption is higher than meat consumption

2019: Average rice consumption: 115.3 kg per person per year

2018: Vegetable consumption - 64 kg per capita

Power

2020: Energy consumption per capita

and

2019: Electrification

Education

Percentage of people who can read

Health care

2021: Maternity leave

in

2020: Part of the population defecates on the street

Culture

Cinema

Films by Usman Semben

In the early 1960s, Senegalese director Usman Semben raised issues in his films that hung over the entire continent. The release of his first short films, shot on grainy black and white film, "The Man with the Cart" (Borom sarret, 1963) and "Nyay" (Niyaye, 1963) becomes a big event.

In the first, a driver in a horse-drawn cart from a typically African quarter admires Dakar's modern look - high-rise buildings billowing to the sky, manicured streets and asphalt roads. But there seems to be no place in this world for people like him. The entry of horse-drawn vehicles into the city is prohibited, and, running into a policeman, the unfortunate person loses not only his earnings, but also his horse.

At the same time, somewhere here, the author reminds in the second film, next to the brilliant city art nouveau is a harsh patriarchate, in which the young daughter of the village leader is guilty of being raped by her own father.

Semben's main calling card was his first full-length film, which is also the first African full-length game - "Black from..." (La noire de…, 1966). This picture has raised the level of cinema to the height that, even in 2024, seems difficult to achieve on the continent. In it, the Senegalese villager Diouana gets a governess job from a French family, and then moves with them to France. A real girl with her biography could have dreamed of such a fate, but in a new place Diouana feels uncomfortable. Finding herself literally locked in the four walls of the owner's apartment, she plunges into depression and commits suicide in the finale.

The film captures the marginalization of Africans in the European world and explores the reasons for their alienation from the entire colonial project, which stated its goal to "civilize" the Black Continent. A crime, freely or involuntarily committed against Africa, now all the time will persecute Europeans, like the ritual mask following the owner of Diouana, wrote Alexander Panov in his review of African cinema in 2024.

The theme of the clash between tradition and modernity is devoted to Semben's first To Africa feature film "Postal Order" (Mandabi, 1968). Ibrahima Dieng, who embodies the image of authentic Africa, lives with a large polygamous family somewhere on the outskirts of Dakar and receives a France money transfer from his nephew. All attempts to cash him out are unsuccessful, since the hero does not have any identity documents. Upholstering the thresholds of bureaucratic instances, he eventually becomes a victim of fraudsters who leave him with an empty pocket, and even in debt.

According to the director himself, he sought to portray Africa at a crossroads. At the same time, the symbolism of the film came out ominously prophetic: having gained independence, Africa was not ready to live in a world created by Western civilization.

The beginning of cinema on the continent, when the film crew consisted of yesterday's students and city proletarians, and as actors had to be content with either amateurs or random people who saw the movie camera for the first time, somewhat resembled "going to the people." This is how Semben's other important film was created - "Emit" (Emitai, 1971). For his filming, the director and his team with a minimum of props and a single camera had to go to a distant village of the Diula people in Casamance. There they collected testimonies, negotiated with local leaders and literally on their fingers explained how and for what cinema is made.

Artistically inferior to Semben's early works, "Emit" turned out to be more radical in its message. The object of criticism in the film is the hypocritical imperial policy of France, mobilizing units of Senegalese shooters to participate in World War II. Having taken almost all the young men from the village, colonial officials, relying on the native troops loyal to them, also arrange a drill, forcing women to hand over the grown rice. And faced with resistance, they turn to terror.

So it turns out that, fighting with Nazi Germany for the liberation of Europe, in its colonies France behaves no better than the Nazi invaders. It is worth noting that from the lips of Semben, who served as a chauffeur during the war and went through battles on the fronts of North Africa and Europe, such accusations were especially weighty.

Films by Umaru Ganda

A prominent African director with combat experience gained as part of the French Armed Forces in Indochina was Senegalese Umaru Ganda, who in his work expressed a grudge against the former metropolis. The hero of his first film "Cabascabo" (Cabascabo, 1968), played by the director himself, also returns home from Vietnam, but does not yet know what kind of too long language he will get on the lists of unreliable and will not be able to get a job in either the local colonial administration or the gendarmerie. All the values ​ ​ brought to him differ in the hands of friends, drinking companions and women. Disillusioned with the city, Kabaskabo goes to the village to work on the land, thus returning to the roots.

The film was included in the program of the Moscow International Film Festival in 1969 and even received a prize for the best work of developing cinematography.

Crime

Drug transit

2023:3 tons of cocaine confiscated in Senegal

At the end of November 2023, 3 tons of cocaine were confiscated in Senegal. A patrol boat of the country's Navy intercepted a ship with a substance 150 km from the coast of the country.

2019

Another 800 kg of Brazilian cocaine confiscated in Dakar

Almost 800 kg of the drug were tried to be transported on a cargo ship in 15 cars at the end of June 2019. In a week, this is the second confiscation of cocaine in Dakar.

Western Africa serves as a transit point for cocaine traffickers en route from South America to Europe. In 2017, 3.4 tonnes of cocaine were seized in Africa.

Seizure of 238kg of cocaine from Brazil

In June, 2919 g in the port of Dakar intercepted 238 kg of cocaine, which was planned to be transported from Brazil to Angola.

How was he found? Just opened the trunk of cars. Even no one hid coke briquettes.

2007: 2.5 tonnes of cocaine seized

The largest seizure of cocaine in Senegal in 2019 occurred in 2007, when authorities found almost 2.5 tons of cocaine worth more than $300 million.

Prisons

2019: The minimum age for children to be jailed is 13

2018: Number of prisoners per 100 thousand citizens

History

2024: France's military cuts

1914

Sights

Massalikoul Djinane mosque is the largest in West Africa

In 2019, the Massalikoul Djinane mosque was completed in Dakar.

The seven-year construction of Senegal's largest mosque has come to an end. Massalikoul Djinane is five minarets, four prayer rooms, an open esplanade and a capacity for 30 thousand people.

Almost all the work was carried out by Senegalese, with the exception of the ceiling and decoration, for which specialists were called from Morocco. More than 800 people were involved in the construction process.

The building was estimated at €30 million in September 2019. The opening of the mosque took place on September 27, 2019.

And in November 2019, it was reported that the Muslims of Senegal raised $50 million for the construction of Massalikoul Djinane in Dakar.

Sport

2022: The most popular sport is football

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