Timeline Senegal
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Senegal is located on the West coast of Africa,
south of Mauritania.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)
Wolof is spoken by around 40% of Senegal's people as their mother
tongue, and by around the same number as a second language. Its
success threatens the roughly 30 indigenous languages spoken in the
country.
(AP, 1/26/06)
1186 The Waalo
kingdom was founded in the northern plains of what later became
known as Senegal, where communities began to choose their
leaders.
(AP, 2/25/12)
1471 The Portuguese arrived in
Ghana as intermediaries, bringing slaves and other goods from
Senegal and Benin in order to sell them to the Asante and other
local people.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.73)
1680-1786 It was estimated that over 2 million
slaves passed through Goree Island on their way to the American
colonies.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B3)
1700s In Senegal female slave
traders, called signare, prospered by conducting business with
European men.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1776 The Dutch built a slave
house on Goree Island off the coast of Senegal.
(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A10)
1848 Apr 27, Slave trade was
abolished in the French colonies.
(AFP, 3/24/10)
1891 Sep 20, Lamine Gueye,
Senegalese political leader, was born.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1895 In Senegal French
authorities, fearing his growing influence, exiled religious leader
Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba to their other colonial holdings in West
Africa.
(AP, 4/22/03)
1902 Senegalese religious
leader Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba, Islamic mystic and poet, returned to
Touba and launched one of Senegal's main Muslim brotherhoods, the
Mourides. The brotherhood went onto an informal, yet highly
effective, global trading system based entirely on trust.
(AP, 4/22/03)(Econ, 9/13/08, p.92)
1927 In Senegal Sheikh Ahmadou
Bamba (Cheikh Amadou Bamba), Muslim brotherhood religious leader and
founder of the holy center of Touba, died. He inspired the Sufi
Muslim movement called the Mourides, the 2nd of two big movements.
The other older Muslim group was known as the Tidjanes.
(AP, 4/22/03)(Econ, 12/23/06, p.91)(AP,
12/29/07)
c1939 Belgium feared a Nazi
invasion and shipped $2.5 billion of gold to France, which in turn
shipped it to the port city of Dakar, its West African colony now
known as Senegal. The Nazis discovered the shipment after their
occupation of France and had the gold transferred to their account
in Switzerland.
(WSJ, 4/28/97, p.A17)
1946 Leopold Sedar Senghor was
elected as the French deputy from Senegal and served until 1958.
(SFC, 12/21/01, p.A34)
1946 Cheikh Anta Diop, a
Senegalese humanist and scientist, began his research into African
history. He later published The African Origin of Civilization: Myth
or Reality, Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology,
and The Cultural Unity of Negro Africa.
(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p. 34)
1948 Leopold Sedar Senghor,
French deputy from Senegal, published his 1st volume of poetry,
“Chants d’ombres” (Songs of Shadows).
(SFC, 12/21/01, p.A34)
1960 Aug 20, Senegal broke from
Mali federation and declared independence.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1960 Sep 5, Senegal became
independent from France. Leopold Sedar Senghor (d.2001 at 95), poet
and politician, was elected president of Senegal, Africa.
(PC, 1992, p.973)(HN, 9/5/98)(SFC, 12/21/01,
p.A34)
1962 Leopold Sedar Senghor
crushed an attempted coup by prime minister Mamadou Dia.
(SFC, 12/21/01, p.A34)
1963 Mar 3, Senegal adopted a
constitution.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1970s Ibrahim Bah fought with
the Casamance separatist movement. Bah later trained in Libya and
fought in Afghanistan. In 2001 he was reported to be an organizer of
diamond dealers for the al Qaeda network.
(SFC, 11/2/01, p.A8)
1972 Jacques Hymans (d.2000 at
62), an American doctoral student from the Univ. of Paris, published
his dissertation as a book on Pres. Leopold Sedar Senghor.
(SFC, 1/5/00, p.C3)
1974 In Senegal Abdoulaye Wade
founded the country's first opposition party.
(AP, 2/25/12)
1975 May 25, ECOWAS Treaty1 was
signed. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was
formed in Nigeria with 15 members that included: Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
and Togo.
(www.sec.ecowas.int/sitecedeao/english/achievements.htm)
1977 The film "Ceddo" from
Senegal was directed by Ousmane Sembene
(SFEC, 4/13/97, DB p.44)
1981 Jul 30, Senegalese troops
aborted an attempt to overthrow the government of Gambia by a
paramilitary field force. Pres. Jawara was restored to power.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9n%C3%A9gambia_Confederation)
1981 Leopold Sedar Senghor
ended his term as president. Abdou Diouf became president.
(SFC, 1/5/00, p.C3)(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A12)
1982 In Senegal the Movement of
the Democratic Forces (MFDC) began its rebellion.
(AP, 12/13/11)
1983 In Senegal rebel fighters
with the Movement of the Democratic Forces (MFDC) began a low level
insurgency against the government.
(SFC, 5/9/08, p.A19)
1987 South African legislator
Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert (1940-2010) led a delegation of white
South Africans to Senegal to meet the African National Congress
(ANC), which was banned in South Africa.
(AP, 5/14/10)
1989-1990 During a border war with Senegal, tens
of thousands of black Mauritanians, from high ranking civil servants
to herdsmen, were accused of being Senegalese, rounded up and
deported.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.62)(AP, 7/29/11)
1990 Dec 1, Hissene Habre
(b.1942), dictator of Chad, was deposed by Idriss Deby and fled to
Senegal with $11 million.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiss%C3%A8ne_Habr%C3%A9)(WSJ, 5/31/00,
p.A26)
1992 Feb 9, An Air Senegal
flight chartered by Club Med crashed and 30 people were killed. In
2000 a French court convicted Club Med founder Gilbert Trigano and
his son, Serge, for involuntary manslaughter.
(SFC, 7/7/00,
p.D6)(http://aviation-safety.net/database/country/country.php?id=6V)
1992 Pierre Sane of Senegal
became the secretary-general of Amnesty Int’l.
(SFC, 10/21/98, p.A10)
1992 Hissene Habre, an autocrat
from Chad, fled to Senegal with $11 million in loot.
(WSJ, 5/31/00, p.A26)
1994 Jul 23, Gambian soldiers
proclaimed military government in Dakar, Senegal.
(AP, 7/23/97)
1996 Dec, Femmes Africa
Solidarite (FAS), founded by Bineta Diop (46) of Senegal, gained
official recognition as an international NGO.
(AP, 5/16/11)
1997 Feb 1, An Air Senegal
plane crashed and at least 23 people died after liftoff from a
wildlife refuge at Tambacounda.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.C3)
1997 Apr 30, The Senegalese
film "Tableau Ferraille" by Moussa Sene Absa was shown at the SF
Film Festival.
(SFC, 4/23/97, p.D3)
1998 Apr 1-2, Pres. Clinton
visited Senegal. He traveled through the capital, Dakar, and spoke
on the future of African-US relations on Goree Island.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A13)(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.A1)
1998 May 26, Mohammed Ndao was
reported to be the new face of Senegalese wrestling. The national
sport was being transformed to a new style that included punching
and prize money.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A6)
1998 Jun 9, Senegal and Guinea
sent troops to aid Pres. Vieira in Guinea-Bissau. Rebels led by
Ansumane Mane had just staged a coup to end the 18-year rule of
Pres. Vieira, who was accused of corruption.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 16, Senegal fired
artillery into Guinea-Bissau to support Pres. Vieira.
(WSJ, 6/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 20, It was reported
that land mines had made 80% of Casamance province unusable. The
mines, laid by separatist rebels, had killed or wounded close to 500
people in the 1st 8 months of this year.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A15)
1999 Jan 18, The UN reported
that the Parliament of Senegal banned the tradition of female
genital mutilation.
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 26, In Senegal the
army reported 29 dead fisherman from recent storms and that another
100 were missing.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.D3)
1999 Nov 13, Jacque Diouf of
Senegal won a 2nd 6-year term as director-general for the UN Food
and Agricultural Organization.
(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.A27)
2000 Jan 25, A complaint was
submitted in Dakar, Senegal, against former Chad dictator Hissene
Habre. It detailed 97 allegations of political killings, 142 cases
of torture and 100 disappearances. Habre was indicted on Feb 3.
(SFC, 1/27/00, p.C2)(SFC, 2/4/00, p.D8)
2000 Feb 20, In Senegal
guerrillas ambushed 2 tour buses and killed 2 soldiers and 2 tour
guides and injured about 20 European tourists at Kaliane village
near Ziguinchor in the Casamance region.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb, A Senegalese court
indicted Hissene Habre, the former autocrat of Chad.
(WSJ, 5/31/00, p.A26)
2000 Mar 3, In Senegal Pres.
Abdou Diouf failed to get over 50% of the ballots and a runoff was
scheduled with rival Abdoulaye Wade later in the month.
(SFC, 3/4/00, p.C1)
2000 Mar 20, Pres. Abdou Diouf
conceded defeat to rival Abdoulaye Wade. The elections ended 40
years of Socialist Party rule.
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 10, Dancers of the
Ballet d’Afrique Noire from Senegal failed to show up to continue
their tour after a performance at UC in Berkeley. 17 members were
expected to seek asylum.
(SFC, 4/13/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 23, Senegal struck the
1st cut-rate deal for AIDS drugs with discounts as much as 90% from
US retail prices.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A1)
2001 Mar 20, Senegal’s highest
court said that it has no authority to prosecute Hissene Habre,
Chad’s former president, on charges of torture.
(SFC, 3/21/01, p.A14)
2001 Apr 28, In Senegal
legislative elections were held and a soldier and 4 others were
killed in the Casamance region.
(WSJ, 4/30/01, p.A1)
2001 May 3, A political
coalition led by Pres. Wade was reported to have won a landslide
victory in parliamentary elections.
(WSJ, 5/3/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 20, Leopold Sedar
Senghor (b.1906), poet and former president of Senegal (1960-1980),
died in France at age 95.
(SFC, 12/21/01, p.A34)(NW, 12/31/01, p.108)
2002 May 31, The World Cup
soccer tournament opened in Japan and South Korea for the first time
with a match between Senegal and defending champion France in South
Korea. Senegal upset France, 1-0.
(SFC, 6/1/02, p.A1)(AP, 5/31/03)
2002 Jul, Customs inspectors in
Belgium noted irregularities in medical shipments from Senegal. It
was determined that some 3 million doses of Glaxo HIV drugs worth
$18 million had been diverted from Africa back to Europe for sale.
(SFC, 10/3/02, p.A10)
2002 Sep 25-2002 Sep 26, Over
800 passengers and crew were believed to have perished when the
Senegal’s crowded MS Joola, a state-run ferry, heaved to its side
shortly before midnight in a fierce storm off the coast of Gambia.
The toll was later raised to 1,863 dead. The ship had been pushed
into service while still needing vital repairs. The ferry was
licensed to carry 550 people but had 1,927 passengers on board, of
whom only 64 survived.
(WSJ, 9/30/02, p.A1)(SFC, 3/24/06, p.A12)(Econ,
2/24/07, p.58)(AFP, 3/19/12)
2002 Nov 4, Senegal Pres.
Abdoulaye Wade dismissed his prime minister and the rest of the
Cabinet in a shake up widely anticipated since the deadly capsizing
of a state-run ferry.
(AP, 11/4/02)
2002 Dec 23, More than 100
Gabonese students took over their embassy in Senegal, trapping three
diplomats overnight to protest unpaid scholarships.
(AP, 12/24/02)
2002 French president Jacques
Chirac received three million euros ($4 million) from Ivory Coast's
Laurent Gbagbo to finance his electoral campaign. This was made
public in 2011 by Robert Bourgi, a lawyer with a network of African
contacts who advised Chirac before changing camps in 2005 to aid
French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Bourgi also named Senegal's
Abdoulaye Wade, Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore, and
Congo-Brazzaville's Denis Sassou Nguesso and Gabon's Omar Bongo as
contributors. Bourgi later said he was mistaken concerning
(Senegal's president) Abdoulaye Wade and his son" Karim Wade.
(AFP, 9/12/11)(AP, 9/26/11)
2003 Apr 22, In Senegal nearly
a million people traveled to Touba, the hometown of 19th-century
religious leader Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba. Fearing his growing
influence, the French exiled Bamba in 1895 to their other colonial
holdings in West Africa. Bamba returned to Touba in 1902 to launch
and guide one of Senegal's main Muslim brotherhoods, the Mourides,
until his death in 1927.
(AP, 4/22/03)
2003 Aug 27, Senegal announced
its 5th government in three years under President Abdoulaye Wade, in
a Cabinet overhaul that followed criticism of Wade's administration
and its handling of recent flooding.
(AP, 8/27/03)
2003 Dec 3, In northern Senegal
a passenger bus and a cement truck collided, killing 22 people and
injuring 35 others.
(AP, 12/3/03)
2004 Jul 12, Newspapers in
Senegal and the Central African Republic suspended publication to
protest the jailings of leading journalists.
(AP, 7/12/04)
2004 Sep 15, Eight French
speaking African countries began retiring over 1 billion in decaying
currency with new CFA francs. Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau,
Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo had until Dec 31 to turn
in old bills for new ones.
(SFC, 9/15/04, p.C8)
2004 Nonesuch Records released
a widely acclaimed album by Youssou N’Dour that celebrates Islam and
Sufism in Senegal.
(SFC, 7/17/04, p.E1)
2005 Feb 2, French Pres.
Jacques Chirac planned to visit Senegal for the first time in a
decade, hoping to boost ties with a former West African colony at a
time when the US is raising its military profile in the region.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 May 10, Senegal passed a
law that criminalized forcing another into begging for financial
gain, under penalty of a large fine and imprisonment for between two
and five years. It did not begin enforcing the ban until 2010.
(AP, 9/5/10)(www.hrw.org/en/node/89479/section/8)
2005 Jun, The Trans-Sahara
Counter-Terrorism Initiative began operations. The US funded plan
intended to provide military equipment and development aid to 9
north-east African countries considered fertile ground for Muslim
militant groups. Participating countries included Algeria, Chad,
Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia.
(SFC, 12/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 19, In Senegal
ministers, entrepreneurs and trade experts from 35 African countries
and the US began to plot ways to give African goods a better shot at
US markets and find means to boost non-oil exports from the poorest
continent. Senegal was one of 37 African countries eligible to
participate in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), signed
in 2000 by US president Bill Clinton that gives African exports
duty-free status on the US market.
(AFP, 7/19/05)
2005 Oct 10, Morocco began
deporting would-be immigrants, with a flight carrying 140 Senegalese
taking off for Dakar after hundreds of Africans stormed razor-wire
border fences in recent weeks.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Nov 12, Africa Union
leaders from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and
Senegal met in Abuja for a 2-day summit titled: "Africa and the
challenges of the global order: Desirability of union government,"
with the leaders discussing the broad principles of integration.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 25, Hissene Habre,
Chad's former dictator, was freed after a Senegalese court said it
had no jurisdiction to rule on his extradition to Belgium to stand
trial for war crimes.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 27, Senegal's foreign
minister said the African Union will decide the fate of Chad's
former dictator, wanted in Belgium for trial on human-rights abuses
allegedly committed during his regime.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2006 Jan 12, Chinese Foreign
Minister Li Zhaoxing gave four million US dollars to Dakar within
hours of his arrival in Senegal, the latest west African country to
have recently ditched Taiwan in favor of mighty Beijing.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Apr 30, A fisherman off
Barbados found a boat with the bodies of 11 men from Senegal. The
boat had left Senegal Christmas eve with 52 migrant people and was
apparently bound for the Canary Islands.
(AP, 6/1/06)
2006 Jun 6, The Ford Foundation
launched an independent, African-led nonprofit that aims to give
Africans greater opportunity to solve the continent's problems
themselves. The Foundation committed $30 million to fund
TrustAfrica, which has been developed over the past five years. It
will now be based in Senegal's capital of Dakar and governed solely
by Africans.
(AP, 6/6/06)
2006 Jul 2, Senegal's President
Abdoulaye Wade said his country would try Chad's former leader
Hissene Habre, wanted by Belgium for trial on charges of war crimes
and crimes against humanity.
(AFP, 7/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, Senegal moved
closer to bringing Hissene Habre, a former Chadian dictator accused
of war crimes, to justice after the government announced that local
laws would be revised and a special commission formed to organize
and oversee his trial.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 13, Senegal’s
President Abdoulaye Wade received a letter from Sudan President Omar
al-Bashir that accepted some sort of UN intervention.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Dec 17, Scores of migrants
who spent days at sea were missing and feared dead after their boat
wrecked off Senegal's coast.
(AP, 12/17/06)
2006 The Mourides, Sufi Muslim
movement, made up about 40% of Senegal’s population. The movement,
dating back to Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba (d.1927), was based on teachings
of self-reliance and member solidarity.
(Econ, 12/23/06, p.92)
2007 Feb 25, Senegal held
elections. President Abdoulaye Wade, seeking another five years in
office, declared he was confident of winning the election outright
and would avoid a runoff in the ballot to decide who will lead one
of Africa's most stable democracies.
(AP, 2/25/07)
2007 Mar 1, Senegal officials
said President Abdoulaye Wade received 56 percent of the vote to
avoid a runoff and easily win re-election in this West African
nation.
(AP, 3/1/07)
2007 May 30, Senegalese
President Abdoulaye Wade, host of the Islamic Development Bank’s
annual meeting, spoke on behalf of the bank’s launch of a $10
billion fund to combat poverty in developing Muslim nations in
Africa and other parts of the world. Saudi Arabia pledged to
contribute $1 billion, Kuwait $300 million, Iran $100 million and
Senegal $10 million.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 Jun 4, Senegal defended
the low poll turnout used by critics to put a question mark on the
legitimacy of weekend legislative elections, saying the west African
nation had never had enthusiastic voters. A 17-party opposition
grouping had called for an unprecedented boycott of the ballot,
which looked set to be won by President Abdoulaye Wade's ruling
party.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, The Institute for
Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) said a study of mortality patterns
in South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania and Senegal
indicated Africa's HIV/AIDS crisis was reaching deep into elected
governments.
(Reuters, 6/4/07)
2007 Oct-2008 Nov, In Senegal
lead poisoning killed 18 children in Thiaroye Sur Mer. For years,
the town's blacksmiths had extracted lead from car batteries and
remolded it into weights for fishing nets. The work left the dirt of
Thiaroye dense with small lead particles. As the price of lead
climbed local people had begun to sift the dirt to extract the lead.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2007 Jun 9, Ousmane Sembene
(84), Senegalese writer and film maker, died. He was often called
the “Father of African Cinema.” His 1st novel was “Le Docker Noir”
(1956). His first feature film was “Le Noire de …” (Black Girl),
made in 1966.
(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.D5)
2007 Nov 6, A Mauritanian
patrol boat found a drifting boat from Senegal with some 100 people
aboard as well as 2 dead bodies. The migrants had spent nearly 3
weeks at sea and thrown 43 dead bodies overboard.
(SFC, 11/7/07, p.A3)
2007 Nov 21, In Senegal street
vendors protesting an attempt to clear them from the center of Dakar
clashed with police, throwing rocks at officers who fired tear gas
to disperse the crowd. Last week, Senegal's security forces began
clearing the capital's intersections of hawkers and beggars under a
presidential decree aimed at bringing some order to Dakar's clogged
streets.
(AP, 11/22/07)
2007 Nov 28, Senegalese
President Abdoulaye Wade said he will propose the creation of a
committee of African heads of state to mend broken relations between
Zimbabwe and former colonial power Britain.
(AFP, 11/28/07)
2007 Dec 28, Serigne Saliou
Mbacke (92), Senegal's spiritual leader, died. Mbacke was the leader
of the Mourides, the most powerful Muslim brotherhood in Senegal,
and his image was ever-present in the homes of his millions of
followers.
(AP, 12/29/07)
2008 Jan 4, The annual 5,760
Dakar Rally was canceled on the eve of the race across the Sahara
Desert because of terror threats and the recent Christmas Eve
killings of a French family in Mauritania blamed on al-Qaida-linked
militants. The race, organized by the France-based Amaury Sport
Organization (ASO), had been due to start in Lisbon, Portugal, and
finish in Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 20.
(AP, 1/4/08)(WSJ, 1/5/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 14, In Senegal members
of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference moved to
create a battle plan, including legal action, to defend Islam from
political cartoonists and bigots.
(AP, 3/14/08)
2008 May 4, Senegal’s Pres.
Abdoulaye Wade called the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO) a “bottomless pit of money largely spent on its own
functioning.”
(Econ, 5/10/08, p.69)
2008 May 7, In Senegal a group
of armed men attacked some 20 villagers and sliced off their left
ears in an effort to keep them from harvesting cashews. Victims said
the assailants were rebel fighters with the Movement of the
Democratic Forces (MFDC).
(SFC, 5/9/08, p.A19)
2008 May 21, The interior
ministers of Senegal and Spain signed an agreement extending
cooperation between the west African nation and the EU border
control agency Frontex to combat illegal immigration by one year.
(AFP, 5/21/08)
2008 Jul 18, Senegal’s
President Abdoulaye Wade said Sudan President Omar al-Beshir has
agreed to restore relations with Chad, more than two months after
Khartoum severed ties accusing Ndjamena of backing Darfur rebels.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Senegal former
US president Bill Clinton wound up a four-nation Africa tour aimed
at combating HIV/AIDS in Dakar, praising France for its financial
support through the agency Unitaid.
(AP, 8/4/08)
2008 Oct 5, Iba Ndiaye
(b.1928), Senegalese modernist painter, died in Paris.
(SSFC, 10/19/08, p.B6)
2008 Dec 27, Guinea's coup
leader said he would allow the opposition and union leaders to help
choose a prime minister. The military junta was boosted by the
endorsement of neighboring Senegal as it attempted to garner
international backing, and, after meeting political parties,
promised to stamp out the burgeoning drugs trade.
(AP, 12/27/08)(Reuters, 12/27/08)
2009 Jan 6, In Senegal 9 men,
including a prominent activist, were convicted of homosexual acts
and sentenced to eight years in prison. Senegal, a primarily Muslim
nation in West Africa, is one of 38 countries on the continent that
criminalize homosexual acts.
(AP, 1/8/09)
2009 Jan 28, Five African and
international human rights groups called on the African Union to
press Senegal to move forward with the trial of former Chadian
dictator Hissene Habre.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Feb 14, China's Pres. Hu
Jintao toured the site of a new, Chinese-financed national theater
in Senegal, a day after signing a bilateral agreement promising the
West African nation over $90 million in gifts and loans.
(AP, 2/14/09)
2009 Feb 19, Belgium took
Senegal to the International Court of Justice over the African
nation's failure to prosecute a former Chad president for crimes
against humanity and torture.
(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Apr 6, Belgium began World
Court proceedings against Senegal in an effort to bring former Chad
President Hissene Habre on trial for alleged widespread human rights
abuses during his eight-year reign. A Chadian commission of inquiry
has concluded that Habre's regime killed at least 3,780 political
opponents, but added that the figure likely represents only 10
percent of his victims.
(AP, 4/6/09)
2009 May 2, In Senegal Madieye
Diallo's, a gay man, died of HIV AIDS. His body had only been in the
ground for a few hours when a mob descended on the weedy cemetery
with shovels. They yanked out the corpse, spit on its torso, dragged
it away and dumped it in front of the home of his elderly parents.
(AP, 4/12/10)
2009 May 28, In Senegal UN,
African Union, EU and Arab League representatives met with Mauritian
political parties in Dakar to discuss upcoming polls and a political
stalemate since a coup.
(AFP, 5/28/09)
2009 Sep 22, The UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced that flash floods
and lighting have claimed 187 lives and affected 635,273 people in
west Africa since the rainy season started in June. This included
103 dead in Sierra Leone, followed by Ghana (24), Mali (20), Ivory
Coast (19), Burkina Faso (8), Niger (7) and Senegal (6).
(AFP, 9/22/09)
2009 Oct 2, Six Senegalese
soldiers were killed and three wounded in an attack near the border
of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. The soldiers were in a vehicle
returning to their base in the southern Casamance region east of its
capital Ziguinchor when their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled
grenade.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Senegal cyclist
Frank Vandenbroucke (34) was on holiday when he was found dead in
his room. Belgian cycling officials said his death was caused by a
lung embolism. Vandenbroucke won the weeklong Paris-Nice spring race
in 1998 and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic a year later before his
career was marred by a doping scandal.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Uganda a new 12
million dollar family planning drive was launched in Kampala
highlighting how Obama administration funding has revamped a
contraception drive in Africa and developing states. Uganda,
Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya will share in the
12-million dollar funding, but international organizations still
have to persuade certain African governments that it is in their
interest to curb population growth.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2010 Jan 16, Senegal offered
free land to Haitians wishing to "return to their origins" following
this week's devastating earthquake, which has destroyed the capital
and buried thousands of people beneath rubble.
(AP, 1/17/10)
2010 Feb 26, Sierra Leone and
five other west African countries (Mauritania, Senegal,
Guinea-Bissau, Gambia and Guinea) signed onto an action plan in
Freetown for sustainable mangrove management.
(AFP, 2/27/10)
2010 Mar 23, Senegal's national
assembly adopted a bill declaring slavery and the slave trade crimes
against humanity, moving closer to becoming the first African nation
to pass such legislation.
(AFP, 3/24/10)
2010 Apr 15, Human Rights
Watch, a leading international rights group, called on Senegal's
government to clamp down on Islamic schools whose leaders are
subjecting tens of thousands of children to forced begging and daily
beatings in conditions it says are "akin to slavery."
(AP, 4/15/10)
2010 Apr, In Senegal a new $27
million, 50-meter statue of a nuclear family, titled the “Monument
of African Resistance,” was officially opened in Dakar. It was
financed by public funds and designed by North Koreans. Pres.
Abdoulaye Wade demanded that 35% of proceeds from visitors should go
in perpetuity to his own foundation, to be run by his daughter.
(Econ, 2/27/10, p.54)
2010 May 3, In Senegal
lawmakers from 27 African countries gathered in Dakar for a two-day
conference to push for a UN ban on female genital mutilation as a
breach of human rights. Senegal hoped to eradicate the practice
completely by 2015.
(AFP, 5/3/10)
2010 Jun 9, In Senegal the
French flag was lowered at a military base and the West African
country's colors hoisted in a ceremony to mark the start of a
handover of French bases.
(AP, 6/9/10)
2010 Aug 24, Senegal’s PM
Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye said that those begging for money will be
given a place to stay if they leave the streets of Dakar and other
large cities to receive help from charities. The government soon
began enforcing a 2005 ban on begging. Officials said they recently
felt pressure to impose the law because the US and other donor
countries had threatened to cut off aid if Senegal does not address
human trafficking. Aid groups and human rights organizations
estimated that as many as 100,000 children in Senegal, population
13.7 million, are forced to beg every day by religious teachers
known as marabouts. Caught in the dragnet were handicapped adults
who used to line their wheelchairs along a stretch of the boulevard
leading to the presidential palace in downtown Dakar.
(AP, 9/5/10)(http://tinyurl.com/236esgh)
2010 Sep 1, In Senegal
Television Futurs Medias (TFM), run by pop star Youssou N’dour (50),
began broadcasting but only in Dakar and its immediate suburbs. Its
government license, issued earlier this year, limited it to cultural
programming and forbade the station from doing newscasts. A request
to broadcast to the rest of the country has so far been denied.
(AP, 9/9/10)(http://tinyurl.com/2eh5yhm)
2010 Oct 13, In Senegal
dancers, traditional praise singers and leaders of three African
nations greeted 163 Haitian students who left their
earthquake-ravaged country and flew to Senegal, where victims of the
calamity are being offered free housing and scholarships.
(AP, 10/14/10)
2010 Dec 14, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi pushed again his dream for a sole African government
and was backed by Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade as he urged the
creation of a single African army.
(AFP, 12/14/10)
2010 The population of Senegal
numbered about 13 million.
(Econ, 2/27/10, p.55)
2011 Feb 6, In Senegal the 11th
anti-capitalist gathering known as the World Social Forum kicked off
in with a march attended by Bolivian President Evo Morales.
(AP, 2/6/11)
2011 Feb 18, In Senegal a man
set himself on fire in front of the presidential palace in Dakar,
the latest self-immolation on the African continent.
(AP, 2/18/11)
2011 Feb 23, Senegal said it
will cut diplomatic ties with Iran after an investigation that
showed that a seized Iranian arms shipment was intended for rebels
fighting Senegalese troops. The arms shipment was discovered in
Nigeria in October.
(AP, 2/23/11)
2011 Mar 18, Senegal's
government foiled an alleged coup just hours before anti-government
protests were set to begin by arresting 15 people who had planned
attacks across the capital. Opposition leaders said the accusations
were a way of undercutting the demonstrations.
(AP, 3/19/11)
2011 Mar 19, In Senegal a
sit-in at Dakar's Place de l'Independance drew between 1,000 and
2,000 demonstrators, primarily young men.
(AP, 3/19/11)
2011 Jun 22, In Senegal African
superstar Youssou Ndour added his voice to the critics condemning a
new law being proposed by Senegal's ruling party to create a vice
presidential post. The opposition charged that the vice presidential
post is being created so that the country's aging president can
appoint his unpopular son, and put in motion a mechanism for his
succession.
(AP, 6/22/11)
2011 Jun 23, Senegalese police
lobbed tear gas at thousands of protesters who amassed in the
capital to oppose proposed changes to the constitution that critics
said would benefit the longtime president and his family. Pres.
Abdoulaye Wade cancelled his proposed change to the Constitution,
which would have paved the way for his son to take power.
(AP, 6/23/11)(SFC, 6/24/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 26, Senegalese youths
destroyed a Jehovah's Witness temple, accusing its followers of
spreading alcohol consumption among the population. The pastor, who
sustained head injuries during the attack, said the protesters had
made off with a large sum of money.
(AFP, 6/27/11)
2011 Jun 27, In Senegal
thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Dakar to protest
frequent power cuts. People claimed they now go regularly without
electricity for 24 hours or more.
(AP, 6/28/11)
2011 Jul 1, Senegalese
opposition leader, ex-prime minister Macky Sall, accused President
Abdoulaye Wade's regime of recruiting mercenaries from countries
such as Ivory Coast.
(AFP, 7/1/11)
2011 Jul 1, The African Union,
meeting in Equatorial Guinea, said Senegal must try Hissene Habre,
the former dictator of Chad, who has been living in the Senegalese
capital for decades. Habre has lived in Senegal since 1990, and
Senegal agreed to create a special court to try him more than five
years ago.
(AP, 7/2/11)
2011 Jul 10, Senegal, under
international pressure, reversed course and called off the
extradition of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre. The decision
came hours before Habre was to be deported to Chad.
(AP, 7/10/11)
2011 Jul 14, Chad's former
president Hissene Habre, in exile in Senegal, said in a published
interview that he would be willing to appear before an international
tribunal to answer charges of atrocities during his 1982-1990 rule.
(AFP, 7/14/11)
2011 Jul 20, Senegal’s Interior
Minister Ousmane Ngom banned political protests in downtown Dakar,
citing security reasons, just days before a mass rally planned to
protest against the embattled regime.
(AFP, 7/20/11)
2011 Jul 21, Senegal's
government banned political demonstrations in front of government
buildings and on major avenues and squares, just days before a
planned opposition protest to call for the departure of President
Abdoulaye Wade (85).
(AP, 7/21/11)
2011 Jul 23, Senegal's
opposition went ahead with a protest and thousands of demonstrators
poured into a square after a last-minute change to the venue to
skirt a ban on demonstrations issued by the government. They amassed
at Place de l'Obelisque, just outside Dakar's downtown district, to
demand the departure of President Abdoulaye Wade (85) who is
attempting to run for a third term.
(AP, 7/23/11)
2011 Jul 25, Senegal police
detained Thiat, a member of the rap group Y An A Marre (the name
means "We've had it"), which has been a leading force behind mass
protests calling for the resignation of aging President Abdoulaye
Wade.
(AP, 7/25/11)
2011 Aug 26, Senegal's army
clashed with suspected rebels in the southern province of Casamance.
(AFP, 8/26/11)
2011 Sep 1, Senegalese
opposition parties said the doubling of the fee required to take
part in presidential elections was unfair and undemocratic. The 65
million CFA francs (100,000 euros, $145,000) was declared in a
ministerial decree issued on Aug 29, and is more than double the 25
million CFA francs required in 2007.
(AFP, 9/1/11)
2011 Sep 6, In Senegal some 160
political parties, associations and social movements launched a
coalition to rally for the re-election of President Abdoulaye Wade
in 2012.
(AFP, 9/7/11)
2011 Sep 10, Leaders of Ivory
Coast and Liberia were joined by counterparts from West Africa for
talks on security along the border between their two countries after
a bloody post-poll crisis. Presidents Alassane Ouattara and Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf were joined by Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso,
Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, John Atta Mills of Ghana and Nigerian
summit host Goodluck Jonathan, under the aegis of regional bloc
ECOWAS.
(AFP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 22, Senegal's ruling
party said that it is canceling all political demonstrations, an
announcement that came a day before the nation's opposition planned
to hold a rally to call for regime change. The ruling Senegalese
Democratic Party, or PDS, said that the No. 2 of the National
Assembly, Diawar Toure, had died in Paris a day earlier.
(AP, 9/22/11)
2011 Oct 13, Air traffic
between Senegal and Mauritania resumed after a three-month pause,
ending a row over onward flights.
(AFP, 10/13/11)
2011 Oct 20, A Senegal court
sentenced an opposition activist to two years in prison for issuing
death threats against the judge who heads the country's
Constitutional Council. Malick Seck had attempted to deliver a
letter to the home of the chief justice denouncing the council's
silence over President Abdoulaye Wade's decision to run for a
controversial third term and saying the judge will pay the price.
(AP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 27, In Senegal 2
people were killed and 22 injured in the village of Fanaye, where
people attacked each other with sticks and machetes in a dispute
over the project which will see 20,000 hectares given to an Italian
investor to cultivate sweet potatoes for the production of biofuels.
(AFP, 10/28/11)
2011 Oct 27, In Senegal Paul
Nsapu, secretary-general of International Federation for Human
Rights, was detained at Dakar's airport upon arrival. FIDH said he
was detained to prevent him from speaking at a press conference for
the annual report of the protection of human rights.
(AP, 10/28/11)
2011 Nov 1, Senegal shut its
airspace to all planes coming or going to Guinea after a Senegal
Airlines flight was blocked in Conakry due to a spat over payments.
(AFP, 11/1/11)
2011 Nov 21, In southern
Senegal 10 people were killed by separatist rebels in the jungles of
the Casamance region, which is separated from the rest of Senegal by
the nation of Gambia.
(AP, 11/22/11)
2011 Dec 8, Liberia and Senegal
pledged to reform their laws so that women can confer citizenship on
their children. They were among at least 30 countries that let only
fathers pass their citizenship to children from marriages with a
foreigner.
(AP, 12/8/11)
2011 Dec 13, In southern
Senegal several soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on
separatist rebels in the restive Casamance region.
(AFP, 12/13/11)
2011 Dec 14, Italian far-right
author Gianluca Casseri (50) shot dead two Senegalese men and
wounded three others before killing himself in a daylight shooting
spree in Florence that prompted outpourings of grief.
(AFP, 12/14/11)
2011 Dec 20, In Senegal
suspected rebels from the separatist Casamance region left 13 people
dead in the enclaved region.
(AFP, 12/20/11)
2011 Dec 22, In Senegal
Barthelemy Dias, the youth leader of the West African country's
Socialist party, was attacked by political opponents at his office.
Dias was charged with murder on Dec 28 for the political clash that
left one person dead and three others wounded. He maintained that he
acted in self-defense.
(AP, 12/29/11)
2011 Dec 28, Senegal's army
said that five soldiers who went missing after a rebel attack last
week in the troubled southern Casamance region were being held by
separatist rebels.
(AFP, 12/28/11)
2011 Dec 30, Senegal's Interior
Minister Ousmane Ngom banned the carrying of firearms for a period
of four months which will include presidential elections, after
recent violent political clashes.
(AFP, 12/30/11)
2012 Jan 2, In Senegal
thousands of Dakar residents found themselves stranded as bus and
taxi drivers took part in a two-day strike over high fuel prices,
leaving some to turn to horse-drawn carts to get around. A
paramilitary officer was killed, five injured and another left
missing in the Casamance region village of Affiniam.
(AFP, 1/2/12)(AP, 1/4/12)
2012 Jan 3, In Senegal
suspected separatist rebels attacked a paramilitary police brigade
in the troubled Casamance region for the second time this week.
(AFP, 1/4/12)
2012 Jan 4, Senegalese bus and
taxi drivers ended a two-day strike that had left people stranded
and resorting to horse-drawn carts to get to work. Drivers in
Senegal were protesting against the high price of fuel, the cost of
insurance, police harassment and a lack of social protection from
their employers.
(AFP, 1/4/12)
2012 Jan 20, In Senegal more
than 200 women were let out of jail for 24 hours after President
Abdoulaye Wade declared a "day of giving" in which no ladies should
be in prison. Wade also pardoned 34 women convicted for various
crimes.
(AFP, 1/20/12)
2012 Jan 24, Senegal's public
transport workers launched a fresh strike to protest high fuel
prices and police harassment, leaving many stranded on their way to
work.
(AFP, 1/24/12)
2012 Jan 27, Senegal's highest
court ruled the country's increasingly frail, Pres. Abdoulaye Wade
(85) could run for a third term in next month's election. The ruling
led to rioting. Just days before the constitutional court was due to
vote on whether Wade was eligible to run again, the judges received
new, government-issued luxury cars.
(AP, 1/28/12)(Econ, 2/4/12, p.51)(AP, 2/26/12)
2012 Jan 29, In Senegal 3
soldiers were killed by separatist rebels in the restive Casamance
region.
(AP, 1/31/12)
2012 Jan 30, In northern
Senegal paramilitary police opened fire on men and women protesting
the president's plan to run for a third term, killing a woman in her
60s and a high school student in Podor.
(AP, 1/31/12)
2012 Feb 13, In Senegal four
soldiers wee killed by separatist rebels in the country's southern
Casamance region.
(AP, 2/14/12)
2012 Feb 15, Senegalese riot
police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters
trying to hold a banned march against President Abdoulaye Wade's bid
for a third term in office in an election later this month.
(AFP, 2/15/12)
2012 Feb 16, Senegal police
opened fire with tear gas on protesters who had gone ahead with a
sleep-in at a downtown square, even though the government had banned
the demonstration being held one week before the country's
presidential election.
(AP, 2/16/12)
2012 Feb 17, Senegalese riot
police fired tear gas at protesters on a main commercial boulevard
in Dakar, after the country's opposition went ahead with a protest
in defiance of a government ban. Violence broke out in Tivaouane,
seat of Senegal's largest Islamic brotherhood the Tidiane, where the
mayor's office was burned down after police hurled teargas into a
Dakar mosque.
(AP, 2/17/12)(AFP, 2/18/12)
2012 Feb 19, In Senegal
protesters demanding the departure of aging Pres. Wade (85) seized
control of a three-block stretch in the heart of the capital,
erecting barricades and lobbing rocks at police just days before a
contentious presidential poll. The state-owned news agency reported
two more people have been killed in protests. This brought to six
the number of people killed in three weeks of violence before next
week's contentious presidential poll.
(AP, 2/19/12)
2012 Feb 20, Senegal's
opposition called for a new protest, prompting fears of fresh
violence days before polls in which President Abdoulaye Wade's bid
for a third term has upset the normally stable nation.
(AFP, 2/20/12)
2012 Feb 21, Africa's top
envoy, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, arrived in
Senegal amid fresh clashes, with the opposition hoping he can talk
85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade out of seeking a controversial
third term in weekend polls.
(AFP, 2/21/12)
2012 Feb 26, Senegal held
elections. Voters booed Pres. Wade so loudly when he went to cast
his ballot that his bodyguards whisked him away. The opposition was
split between 13 candidates. Wade was dealt a humiliating blow and
forced into a run-off election after failing to secure an outright
majority for a disputed third term. Final results on March 6 showed
Wade won 34.81 percent of votes, followed by Sall with 26.58
percent.
(AP, 2/26/12)(AP, 2/27/12)(AFP, 2/28/12)(AFP,
3/6/12)
2012 Mar 11, Senegal's
opposition joined forces in a mass rally to block 85-year-old
President Abdoulaye Wade from landing a third term in office and
back challenger Macky Sall.
(AP, 3/12/12)
2012 Mar 12, Belgium launched a
bid in the UN's highest court to force Senegal to bring Hissene
Habre, dubbed "Africa's Pinochet", to trial for crimes against
humanity or to extradite him. The former Chad president was offered
safe haven in Senegal after his overthrow in 1990.
(AFP, 3/12/12)
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