SOCIETY
SENEGAL – A “Royal Ndogou” offered by Christians to Muslims
By our special envoy in Dakar Amadou Thiam.
Senegal can boast of being a rather special country because of the tolerance, affection and singular love that exists between religions. Christians and Muslims have lived in perfect harmony for generations. In this month of Ramadan 2021, the Christians of the Facebook group “Let’s Go Out Senegal Officiel” were distinguished by distributing nearly 2,600 bags of food at the Liberté 6 district on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at the time of the breaking of the fast, better known in the local language as “ndogou”. A gesture magnified throughout the country and which consolidates the perfect cohabitation between the two communities.
The members of the group “Let’s go out Senegal Officiel” with more than 130,000 members could be definitively named the group of the year. And for good reason, a “royal Ndogou” federated the members in this month of Ramadan. “Ndogous” were distributed to the Muslims. An action that taught a lesson of solidarity and tolerance to the whole world. A gesture that the organizers justified by the good relations that have always been maintained by both communities. Étienne Mamadou Ndour, the main initiator, said on his Facebook page that this initiative is the corollary of several months of joy, of joke, of great harmony with Muslims who are true friends. “What happened yesterday at the Freedom Roundabout 6 is a symbol of this union, it is a way of saying that this legacy we have received must be perpetuated. Shopkeepers and passers-by were all very happy to see us all taking communion during this month of Ramadan. These are rare manifestations of solidarity that we do not see in other countries but in Senegal the acceptance of the other is anchored in us.” , he explained.
It all started during the month of Lent, and the Muslim members of the group started posting their culinary outings in Séras, where they would eat grilled meat. They also published improved dishes that made Christian members savor. Lent passes and Ramadan arrives. The response is not long overdue. It is the remontada. The members of the Christian faith take over, it is their turn to go to Séras for the grilled meat that they broadcast in the group through a live. After days of face to face, to finish in beauty, the Christian members organize a “royal ndogou” for their brothers. A beautiful manifestation of their brotherhood. An individual sum of 1,000 FCFA was requested to organize this event. ” We wanted to make a real gesture for our Muslim friends and offer them ndogous. We launched a pool on the group, and we thank them for their collaboration. The idea delighted everyone. We received a lot of contributions,” Etienne Mamadou Ndour said.
Senegal is truly a specific model of understanding and harmony between Muslims and Christians. This symbolic and educational action takes place in a tense internal socio-political context. Recent demonstrations have caused fear of the worst. On the side of politicians, some are surfing on the notion of ethnicity to create divisions within Senegalese society. The people on their side, aware of the danger that this can produce, refuse to go in this direction. In this group made up of all layers of the Wolof population, squeeze, diola, manjak, peul, Muslim Christians, ceddo… The members wanted to cultivate this life together in the Senegalese so peaceful, so warm, so tolerant impregnated in a perfect Senegalese Teranga. This “Ndogou” is also a way to strengthen the social cohesion that already exists between the two main religious communities.
However, all over the world, problems of ethnicity are often characterized by intercultural conflicts that can lead to racism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism and sometimes deadly civil wars, In Senegal, it must be noted that neither communities, nor religious leaders, nor even the political class should promote this. This “Royal Ndogou” is a strong message to the whole country that embodies a singular model of cohabitation between Christians and Muslims which are the foundation of Islamic-Christian dialogue. A wealth that the Senegalese have in common, a treasure to erect at the monument of national preservation. In Senegal, Muslims represent more than 90% of the population.
In Cameroon, about 7 million children, including more than 1.5 million in school, do not have a birth certificate. The absence of this essential document for access to education, health and other public services, particularly affects rural areas and the regions of the Far North, Northwest and Southwest. The subject was discussed during the 3rd International Economic Days of Municipalities (JEICOM), held from June 2 to 4, 2025, at the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé.
A deplorable situation at the moment when Cameroon is celebrating the 5th edition of Children’s Day under the theme “Child-sensitive budgeting and planning: a strategic lever for the promotion and protection of children’s rights”.
Faced with the constant problem of establishing birth certificates in Cameroon, the government, through the National Civil Registry Office (BUNEC), collaborates with partners such as UNICEF or the World Bank in order to provide an effective response to the phenomenon.
In this dynamic, the Bunec provides the town halls with tools to ensure a “compliant and reliable registration of births”. It also supports them in the modernization of the civil status system, including the digitization of registers. UNICEF has enabled some town halls to strengthen their human resources capacities and develop innovative strategies.
Several initiatives were launched, notably the national forum on universal birth registration, organized in April 2024, which brought together mayors, civil status officials, and partners to discuss solutions to the problem.
A violent mutiny broke out this Tuesday, June 3, 2025, at the Maison Pénale de Bouaké in Ivory Coast. While the Prison Administration was conducting a routine search within the establishment, it encountered hostility from the inmates of Building E. According to the prosecutor’s statement, they “were attacking them with the help of clubs, machetes and other blunt objects.” To clear themselves, the agents were forced to carry out warning shots in order to cover their retreat.
Unfortunately, this incident led to a heavy toll: “the death of five (05) detainees is to be deplored. Twenty-nine (29) injured, including six (06) prison officers and twenty-three (23) detainees, were also recorded,” said the public prosecutor. He specifies that the injured were taken care of and a coroner was requested for findings of use in such circumstances.
The rapid intervention of the forces of the Gendarmerie and the National Police allowed to limit the violence and restore order. The search operation then continued without further incidents. She led to the discovery of “several blocks of cannabis, platelets of Tramadol tablets, eighteen (18) mobile phones, including eight (08) smartphones, three (03) grenades, knives etc… strictly prohibited in detention.
The prosecutor recalled that previous excavations had already led to the discovery of bladed weapons
More than 200 people were found dead after the sudden floods that hit the Central West of Nigeria on Thursday, May 29, 2025, announced the humanitarian coordinator of the state of Niger in a new report, Tuesday, June 3. Hundreds of victims are still missing.
The balance sheet is getting heavier. Trapped by sudden floods in west-central Niger, many people were still missing on Tuesday 3 June. The humanitarian coordinator of Niger state said that the death toll now exceeds 200, while hundreds of people are still missing.
“We have more than 200 bodies,” Ahmad Suleiman told Channels Television. “No one can say at the moment how many deaths there are in the state of Niger because we are still looking for other bodies,” he added.
The research continues
“We continue to search but sincerely, we cannot be sure of anything,” he added. Many victims were counted in Mokwa, the most affected agglomeration and a neighborhood of which was wiped out within hours Thursday by flood waters from the Niger River. Since then, volunteers and rescue teams have been combing the area under an overwhelming heat, sometimes finding bodies up to 10 kilometers away.
The coordinator’s announcement comes after the official toll remained stuck at 150 deaths, although some residents deplore the loss of more than a dozen family members.
Fifteen of the 36 states in Nigeria had been placed on flood alert a few days before the disaster. Climate change amplifies extreme weather events in Nigeria but for the people of Mokwa, the tragedy is also linked to human failures. In Mokwa, muddy waters swept away hundreds of houses in the town, including the lack of maintenance of the nozzles designed to evacuate floodwaters, which were clogged with debris on the day of the flood.
The death toll could exceed the 321 deaths from the floods that occurred in 34 of Nigeria’s 36 states in 2024. The Nigerian government claims to have provided aid, but on the spot, the inhabitants feel left to themselves and several families said they had received nothing.
Source: la-croix.com/ Photo credit: TV5
