2023-06-26 14:40:40
It is a week of celebration that begins in Muslim countries, with Aïd-el-Kébir. In West Africa, the festival is better known as “tabaski”. Depending on the country, it will be celebrated on different days of the week… “Tabaski” is a moment of piety, but also a moment of reunion, around a dish of mutton. And, like every year, the purchase of the favorite animal is a headache for many families.
On this rainy day, there are few customers at the Adjamé market, one of the sheep sales outlets in the Ivorian economic capital, Abidjan. Here is a buyer all the same, relieved to have found his animal and happy with the prospects of reuniting with his relatives: “I came to buy the tabaski sheep, explains Sanga Coulibaly to the RFI correspondent, Bineta Diagne, because he there is the family who comes to the house, neighbors, people from everywhere who will be there to celebrate the party at home. » How many will there be around the table? Hard to tell in advance. At the Coulibaly’s, we are preparing to welcome people.
The sheep, central character of the “tabaski”
Roukiatou Keïta talks about it with relish. This 49-year-old mother lives in Conakry. If she is looking forward to the coming celebration for her moments of prayer, her great reunions, she is also delighted in advance to be able to change the ordinary on her plate. In Guinea, the meat that is prized is beef and tabaski is an opportunity to awaken the taste buds. “I like mutton, I even prefer it to beef,” she told Matthias Raynal, RFI correspondent in Conakry. But, unfortunately here, it is beef that is consumed a lot. So I’m going to be able to have fun, Yesss! »
The preparation of these family celebrations does not, however, eclipse the causes of concern. One of them comes back with insistence, every year: where to find the money which will allow to prepare the party. Civil servants, for example, are impatiently awaiting their salaries in order to be able to buy the sheep. In Niger, one of them, Sani Mamane, confided his impatience to Moussa Kaka, RFI correspondent in Niamey: “Sheep prices have increased and the state has not yet paid salaries. Really, it’s not good at all! Because the party falls with the end of the month and therefore if salaries are slow, not everyone will have the means to celebrate well. »
In Senegal, cautious sellers and customers
In Senegal, the “tabaski” is a bit special this year because of the political context. The authorities are reassuring that the market is well supplied with sheep, but there are fewer sales outlets than usual in the capital, Dakar. Because of the violent demonstrations at the beginning of the month, some breeders and sellers did not make the trip
Those who are there have noticed in recent days a certain timidity of customers. At the side of the road, on the main avenue Cheikh-Anta-Diop in Dakar, RFI correspondent Charlotte Idrac met Abdoul Aziz Sy, who was offering around fifteen sheep for sale. Customers, he told him, are still rare. “We have taken out the sheep, but we have not yet managed to sell them. It is true that sheep are a bit expensive. And, maybe the customers are scared, because we don’t know what’s going to happen. For the moment even, there is no sale, frankly. Customers, that’s not good…”
Beyond the Senegalese context, the approach of the festival sees in many countries, as usual, prices climb in the countries of the region. In Mauritania, a member of the scientific consumer forum greeted RFI correspondent Léa Breuil for a less significant price increase than usual. However, he estimates that, this year again, many families risk going into debt to bear the cost of the celebration.
RFI
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