Africa’s leadership bright spots, dark blots and fading stars (2)

SENEGAL EASILY COMES to mind when considering countries of Africa having contrasting features with relatively different historical and contemporary experiences when juxtaposed with many other African countries after the continental wave of independence in the 1960s. Unlike most other countries, Senegal has enjoyed relative social, political and economic stability over the years. The country stands out among the few in Africa that have not experienced military incursion into politics. Reports on attempted coup d’état are rather scant, not in public domain or are non-existent. Dakar, the capital city of the country, is recognised for hosting the regional offices of many global development agencies. Notable among such organisations are the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) multi-sectoral regional office for West Africa, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) West and Central Africa, International Organisation for Migration (IOM or UN Migration), West and Central Africa regional office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), covering 23 countries and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). At the sub-continental level, the Inter-Governmental Action Against Money Laundering In West Africa, which is popularly known as GIABA,  the abbreviation of its French version – Groupe Intergouvernemental d’Action contre le Blanchiment d’Argent en Afrique de l’Ouest – is headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. In Africa, Dakar comes closely behind Nairobi and Abuja in the number and diversity of global organisations’ offices it hosts.

Senegal, a country with a 2021 population estimate of 16.88 million people and GDP of $27.63 billion, depends largely on services as a sector accounting for 62 percent of total

GDP, internal trade contributing 19 percent, administration, education and health adding up to 12 percent, while communications and real estate activities contribute 11 percent and six percent respectively. Specifically, fisheries and tourism in 2019 contributed 3.2 and 10 percent respectively to Senegal’s economy. To understand the relevance of tourism, a trip to the countryside during the day and an evening visit to the Dakar international airport would easily provide an immediate impression on its relevance as the numbers of visitors trooping in to board outbound flights could be of profound interest. To understand the advantages of political stability enjoyed in Senegal, by contrast, the experience of Côte d’Ivoire could find a contextual relevance here. Abidjan, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire, is an important city in Africa, serving as a base for the continent’s only multilateral development finance institution. It needed a stable polity to operate. But, following a civil conflict that began with a military rebellion in September 2002, the African Development Bank had to move its operations from its headquarters in Abidjan to its Temporary Relocation Agency (TRA) in Tunis, Tunisia, from February 2003. It had to operate from there for ten years till late 2013 after the cessation of hostilities in Côte d’Ivoire when it began to return to Abidjan.

The present days of Senegal as a country are rooted in the country’s past. Léopold Sédar Senghor, the first president of Senegal since the country gained independence from France in 1960, ruled Senegal till 1981, first on the platform of what started as Democratic Bloc, later on transforming to Socialist Party. His handpicked successor, following his resignation on 31 December 1980, had the path earlier paved for him by Senghor through the amendment of Senegal’s Constitution in 1976 to ensure Abdou Diouf’s ascendancy after Senghor’s resignation. Senghor was bold enough to declare to Diouf in 1977 that: “I told you that I wanted to make you my successor and that is why there is this article 35” and, after Senghor’s exit shortly afterwards, “you will continue, assert yourself and be elected afterwards.” That happened as Senghor left office as well as Senegal and decided to resettle in France till he died in December 2001. Diouf ruled till 2000 in the same Socialist Party of his predecessor. Abdoulaye Wade who was famed for his two doctorate degrees in law and economics ran on Senegalese Democratic Party, ending the previous 40 years of socialist rule. With the ideological shifts over the years, Senegal’s constitution has gone through some forms of reforms. Wade led Senegal for 12 years till 2012, after which the incumbent Macky Sall came to power on the ticket of Alliance for the Republic. Between 2001 and 2016, Senegal has held constitutional reforms and a referendum that has produced a stipulation of a 5-year term limited to two consecutive terms for elected president.

The previous leaders were not without specific and notable areas of failings. President Léopold Sédar Senghor was a poet. However, the latter attribute seems to have overshadowed the authoritarianism he displayed, as if his ‘pen mattered more than his sword’ he wielded. Although it could be conceded that Senegal did not experience the same political disruptions and disorders as its neighbours, there were reports of brutal methods involving intimidation, arrests, imprisonment, torture, and killing of dissidents under his one-party rule of the Senegalese Progressive Union (UPS). His era was the peak period of anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements that threatened governments around the world. In Senegal, during that period, army raids on the campus reportedly resulted in at least one death, with hundreds wounded as many trade unionists and students were arrested and extradited to military camps. Senghor reportedly invited French troops for support in defeating the revolt.

Senegal would still have passed for an exceptionally peaceful country towards the twilight of Senghor’s regime. Shortly after the end of Senghor’s reign, however, Casamance became the scene of an armed conflict between the separatist movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) and the Senegalese army, defying three major ceasefires ever since. Over the past four decades, the whole country has been perceived as being one of western Africa’s most politically stable countries. But the country’s southern Casamance region has not been at peace with the central government for a long while. This region, which could be much more developed, owing to its very fertile and well irrigated area, has suffered serious impediment for over 40 years from the war of attrition. The small country of Gambia which lies between the Casamance region and the Senegalese capital of Dakar creates an inhibition to communication between the north and the south of the country. The general impression of the inhabitants of Casamance is that the south has been abandoned by the government in Dakar.

A peaceful march organised by the MFDC towards the government of Ziguinchor in December 1982 snowballed into a protracted and ongoing low-level conflict that has been waged between the government of Senegal and the MFDC, taking an ethnic dimension.

This is a crisis involving the local majority Diola group fighting against the state in what could be described as one of many civil wars in postcolonial Africa. It remains notable, however, for having lower death compared to other wars. In terms of duration, it has become longer than the combined period in Angola in which UNITA and MPLA fought together in the Angolan War for Independence from 1961 to 1975 and when UNITA turned against the MPLA in the civil war that followed from 1975 to 2002, lasting 39 years. It was clear that the expectations changed when MPLA (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola or People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) and UNITA (União Nacional pela Independência Total de Angola or National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) became antagonists, with a lot of lives, resources and opportunities wasted.

Algeria is a North African country referred to as “controlled democracy” or a state in which major official decisions of governance are made by the military and “a select group” of unelected civilians—referred to by Algerians as “le pouvoir” or “the power.” It is possibly the only country in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region where the official administration depends on the military as perceived founder of the nation-state and one in which its ruling system is often qualified by the military. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria’s longest serving president who served for four successive terms, was elected in 1999 and returned to office in 2004, 2009 and 2014, announced his intention to run again for the fifth term in 2019, despite his advanced age and ailing health. On April 2 of that same year, the visibly ailing president was forced to resign under military duress and massive popular protests. The country has been in turmoil since then. Bouteflika died two years later in 2021 at the age of 84 but Algerians may have returned to the pre- Bouteflika years as the military’s repression on protests tightened in response to the protest march in 2022 when the military authorities held at least 280 activists associated with the protests. Months of sustained pressure for government reform did not seem to have worked as the military now openly rules the country.

In a nutshell, the bungled opportunities under Bouteflika’s self-serving regime could easily be considered as the underlying causes of the present demands in which the people are demanding for radical political change. An immediate challenge now is about who will be the next president in what is known as one of the world’s major oil and gas producing countries and a notable partner both in the global war on terror as well as a stabilising force in maintaining sub-regional and regional security and stability. During his two-decade rule, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s life was marked by grandeur and excess as well as inordinate pursuit of power.  He was said to have declared in 1999, that: “I am the whole of Algeria. I am the embodiment of the Algerian people!” He could very well have been an admirer and acolyte of Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, who reportedly said L’État, c’est moi – meaning “I am the state” – on 13 April 1655 while addressing the Parliament of Paris.

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