2024-03-27 06:45:36
Oppositionist Bassirou Diomaye Faye is the youngest elected president of Senegal. At 44 years old, this tax inspector has obtained an overwhelming 57% of the votes, according to provisional data, so it would avoid a second round. His main opponents have conceded victory. An election without incident, which is expected to put an end to a turbulent period: months of protests, repression, death of protesters and imprisonment of opponents that raised fears for the democratic future of one of the most stable countries in West Africa. He has already been congratulated by the European Union or Emmanuel Macron. At the time of going to press, the Spanish Government had not yet done so.
Diomaye Faye is Muslimlike most Senegalese, and it is bigamist. His first wife is Marie Khone Faye, the one who appears with a veil in the photo above, and mother of his four children. The second is Absa Faye.
He will be president almost by accident. First, because just 12 days ago he was still in prison, accused of spreading false news and defamation, which his defenders consider a setup to prevent his candidacy. And, second, because Faye ran as a candidate after the imprisonment and disqualification of Ousmane Sonko, a very popular leader, especially among the youth, who led the dissolved African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF).
“I am surprised that the person who is going to lead the country is someone unknown; Without Sonko he would never have been president, he was his right-hand man,” he explains to this newspaper. Back Sene Thiandoum, Senegalese former secretary of the Association of Senegalese Immigrants in Spain (AISE) and now a professor of science and technology in Paris. In the photos of the electoral program and on the campaign posters, in fact, Faye appears with Sonko. “Now we’re wondering what he’s going to do, and whether Sonko is going to manipulate him or whether Faye is going to make her own decisions.”
Diomaye Faye’s ballots at the polling stations of the first round of the Senegal elections. / EP
In the Senegalese diaspora in Spain, Faye has swept. She has obtained 16,023 votes out of the 19,870 cast in our country, according to the first data obtained by El Periódico de España, from the same editorial group, through the Reflection and Action group of Senegalese in the Diaspora. The second, Amadou Ba, has remained at 2,763 votes. An important Senegalese diaspora lives in our country. more than 85,000 people registered. Senegal has 17 million inhabitants.
Renegotiate fishing agreements
The Senegalese coast is one of the most important fishing grounds for the Spanish fleet operating in the Atlantic. Spain has several companies, especially Gallegians, like Profand o Pereira, fishing on the coasts thanks to the “collaboration agreement for sustainable fishing” between this country and the European Union. In 2022, the Senegalese authorities unlocked the licenses for 15 Spanish vessels.
Diomaye Faye’s program suggests that these agreements will be renegotiated. “We will suspend and evaluate all fishing agreements of the exclusive economic zone and we audit Senegalese-flagged ships,” reads point six of the program titled “The project: for a sovereign, fair and prosperous Senegal.” The PASTEF party, from whose ideology the new president draws, is known for its toughest stance on foreign interference and colonialism, especially from France. It promotes the fight against corruption as a priority, and combines it with touches of anti-colonialism and social populism, which has resonated especially among young people.
“The change will be profound and structural in terms of the governance of the country,” says Momadou Diagne, a Senegalese migrant living in Spain and member of the Reflection and Action Group of Senegalese in the Diaspora. “In the program he commits to renegotiate fishing contracts because he believes that they are unfair, that they benefit third countries like Spain and other powers.”
The problem with fishing is that some countries are depleting the waters, emphasizes Sene Thiandoum, who is participating in a remote laboratory to raise awareness among migrants and prevent them from taking the canoes and risking their lives at sea. “I have recently spoken with fishermen who had gone to Spain in a canoe and had been returned, who explained to me that they left because now there are fewer resources in the sea due to overexploitation, especially from Asian countries, which leave nothing behind.”
Both Sonko and Faye defend a kind of left-wing pan-Africanism, with greater regional integration, especially in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Another unknown is what type of relationship Senegal will maintain from now on with other countries in the area at a time of maximum upheaval. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are governed by military junta after several coups and interference by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, now Africa Corps.
Citizens of Senegal queue in front of a polling station in the capital, Dakar, to vote in the 2022 municipal elections (file). / EP
In his speech on Monday night, the president-elect sent a reassuring message to the African country’s foreign partners, among which is Spain. Senegal is and will continue to be a “safe and reliable ally” with those who commit to “virtuous, respectful and mutually productive cooperation.”
Migration control agreements
Spain has an agreement with Senegal to fight against irregular emigration. They have deployed in the African country 33 members of the Civil Guard and five from the National Police. To this end, they have four boats, a helicopter and 13 all-terrain vehicles to carry out joint patrol missions by land, sea and air, according to the Ministry of the Interior. In addition to this permanent device, since last October 17, a Civil Guard CN-235 aircraft has been deployed in Dakar to patrol the coasts of Senegal and Mauritania.
They carry out exit interception and fight against trafficking networks together with local security forces. Specifically, they locate and intercept cayucos and investigate and dismantle criminal networks of human trafficking.
“It is possible that [el nuevo gobierno senegalés] Also review the immigration cooperation agreements,” says Sene Thiandoum. “But the Police and the Civil Guard save lives. The people who take the cayucos do not receive good information from the human traffickers: they tell them that you go there and the next day you will find work.”
According to the Spanish Government, the operational collaboration of the Spanish security forces and the actions of local authorities have made it possible to intercept during 2023, with data up to October 29, a total of 7,132 people traveling on the Atlantic route heading to the Canary Islands. . Last year alone, that route left more than 6,618 dead, including 384 children, according to estimates by the organization Caminando Fronteras.
#elected #president #Senegal #promises #renegotiate #fishing #agreements #countries #Spain