Dakar in Flames

By Bai Wally Ndiaye, Dakar Senegal

Dakar is being burnt to the ground.  The flea marketers, 'modou modulus' who display their wares on the streets of Dakar were being removed when all hell broke loose.  They have already burnt down Medina City Hall, burnt and ransacked the Medina Office of SENELEC, the local electricity company and made with the safe full of cash.  Several persons have been injured.  The new Prime Minister has invited the 'bana banas' to a meeting, which is currently on.  Perhaps being the non-politician that he is, he might be able to calm an otherwise tense and highly explosive situation. 
 

Recently, Pierre Goudiaby ATEPA, the Senegalese architect/businessman has been campaigning for government to get rid of street peddlers. May be he has succeeded but this could prove expensive for a government that is increasingly becoming both autocratic and nepotistic. The timing of the exercise is poor; coming at close to 'Tabaski' when these street vendors have to fend for themselves and their families. The Senegalese economy is not faring any better than Gambia's with high unemployment and people becoming increasingly hostile to a government that seems to tolerate, if not encourage, corruption.  The succession issue which has cost former PM Macky Sall his post as Deputy Secretary General of the ruling party PDS and will lose his Speakership in the coming days, has made Senegal a highly unstable place to be.  In addition to all of the above, there is currently a team of FBI, CIA and State Department investigators in Senegal looking into laundered drug money including the recent monies involved in the purchase of the Cell phone license by SUDANTEL, a Sudanese company to the tune of $200M. This, the American authorities are convinced is laundered money.  Jammeh has problems but Wade has enough problems of his own.  That is one of the reasons why the MFDC issue has not been given the attention it deserves.