POLITICS
SENEGAL – “Africa must be proud of itself. It must take root in its own values.” said Mr Souleymane Jules Diop
As part of UNESCO’s Africa Week for the 2022 edition, a week with the theme “Self-sufficiency, resilience, economic development in Africa”, the Ze-Africanews team had the privilege of conducting an exclusive interview with Mr Souleymane Jules Diop, Permanent Delegate of Senegal to UNESCO. “The African continent must be rooted in its own values, affirm its identity proudly, rediscover the greatness of Africa, past and future,” he said.
Ze-Africanews: Hello Can you introduce yourself?
Mr Souleymane Jules Diop: Good morning. I am Souleymane Jules Diop, Permanent Delegate Ambassador of Senegal to UNESCO. I am also the President of the African Ambassadors Group here at UNESCO.
The integral interview to watch here :
Ze-Africanews: We are at the African Week for this 2022 edition of the epic days happened between the 23rd and the 25th, what are your impressions?
Mr.Souleymane Jules Diop: I am pleased with the importance that all other friendly countries attach to African Week. The Italian ambassador, my friend Massimo, told me this morning about the symbolism of Senegalese culture. The Qatar ambassador told me that this is the only time in the year when we are experiencing something different and very authentic. It is a recognition for Africa and it is also a pride as President of the Group of Ambassadors. It was a great challenge to organize this week. We organized it in a month and a half and it is a gratitude to President Alassane Ouattara who agreed to sponsor it this week. When I sent him a message suggesting that he be the sponsor of this week, he immediately agreed. Not being able to be there, he asked his Prime Minister to represent him here with three other ministers so frankly, it is a great pride. And the enthusiasm that there was this year was commendable with a good organization, an exceptional party and we are very proud of it.
Ze-Africanews: “Self-sufficiency, resilience, economic development of Africa” is the theme of this edition why this choice?
Mr.Souleymane Jules Diop: In a global context where a war is taking place thousands of kilometres from our borders and threatening Africa with hunger, the question was why the African continent, which has the largest quantity of fresh water in the world, The largest area of arable land, can’t feed his children? Why is it that every time there is a crisis in the world, we are threatened with famine? This question had to be answered to reflect the reality that threatens us. That’s why we’ve tried to frame the debate and see the mechanisms by which we can solve this type of problem. We also wanted to break with a certain idea that we have when talking about Africa’s past, change the victimary discourse and show Africa’s contribution to other people. Look at the capoeira dance in Brazil, a martial art developed by African slaves to defend themselves, it is a brilliance of African genius. We wanted to show that instead of always talking about our suffering, the pain we have suffered. It is good to remember what is rooted in our history and in our past, but Africa is not just that, Africa is inventive genius, it is all we have been able to develop despite slavery. We wanted to erase our African identity by giving us other names in new lands that are not our lands and even on the religious level. Everywhere, Africans have stood on their feet thanks to their power, the power of our spirituality, but also of our culture, and that’s why, I told the Ambassadors who were present today, because we carry the DNA of a common ancestor who is African, So in a certain sense the whole world is African and so it was necessary to say it, to proclaim it, but also to see how to get out of the victimary position.
Ze-Africanews: During 3 days we saw a parade of scientists and intellectuals through panels of reflections on the economic development of Africa, including the economic independence of the continent, were the conclusions adopted?
Souleymane Jules Diop: There were also debates about African cultural heritage, including African sites that are part of the World Heritage. There have been very strong positions on the need for Africa to position itself clearly on a return of these goods. Senegal received the sand of El Hadji Omar. Recently Benin received the remains of the king. All this is entering a new era, a new reconstruction of our past and present identity because we have been for a while having created and pasted identities. In the same way, with the Ambassadors, we wanted to reflect on our present by drawing inspiration from our past. It was the philosopher Bergson who said that the present was a bridge between the past and the future. That’s what we meant in a way. We also wanted testimonies from Africans from the diaspora who also did something. Africa has brilliantly participated since the time of the Malian universities of Timbuktu, in the scientific development of the world on astrology, but today in all fields of mathematics and other. There are young Africans who shine. And all this allowed us once again to realize the need for a new paradigmatic anchorage, not on the basis of the paradigms that Westerners wanted to stick to us. For example, to say that Africans do not have history. When you go to the Universities of Toronto, there is a work of Realignment, of reconstitution of our African identity that has been done, and all this we will obviously draw conclusions that will reinforce what we have done for 3 years during the 211st session of the Executive Board of Unesco by presenting a document that was adopted around the priorities. This is obviously all going to feed the reflection on our priorities in terms of culture, in terms of heritage, in terms of simulation, but also to have a more enlightened view on the continent’s future.
Ze-Africanews: Do you have a global message to send?
Souleymane Jules Diop: Show others that Africa, contrary to a certain conception, is not a static continent. It is a dynamic continent that is moving at its own pace and still moving forward, and since we talked about self-sufficiency and resilience, we wanted to show that the initiative of Africans, especially African women, shows that there is a transformative effort. For several decades, Africa has had the raw materials that Westerners process and resell to us our own products. You saw that chocolate is now made in Côte d’Ivoire with cocoa beans and other products. We make beer, cream for the body and all that and we wanted to show it as well because as long as there is no processing, there is no added value and when there is no processing in reality. We are obliged to sell outside but at the price imposed by others. We are at home, we are transforming, we are changing the facts of the problem a little, we are bringing more money into our country, and we are exporting less and that partly solves the unemployment problem. Because the reason why the industry is not developed here, the factories are not developed so there is unemployment.
Ze-Africanews: Finally, how do you look at the African continent?
Souleymane Jules Diop: Africa must be proud of itself. It must be rooted in its own values. All the countries that have done so have developed such as Japan or China now the Koreans who show that religion can adapt to development contrary to what is said. All these prejudices are broken. So to say that the African continent, in order to develop, must be rooted in its own values, we must affirm our identity proudly and this is what will allow us to regain our place in the world, to regain the African greatness past and future.
In a statement released on Sunday, May 18, the New Responsibility (NR), party led by former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, officially announced its participation in the national dialogue convened by President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye. This decision comes in a tense political context where several political formations have already made known their divergent positions on this presidential initiative.
Participation conditioned by broader ambitions
While New Responsibility (NR) confirms its presence in the upcoming discussions, it does not fail to point out that the proposed framework seems too narrow. The central theme of the political system is important, but it alone is not enough to meet the deep and legitimate expectations of Senegalese women and men,” reads the communiqué.
The party of Amadou Ba, defining itself as “an indisputable political force”, thus proposes to significantly expand the agenda of discussions to include several economic and social concerns that it considers priorities:
Public debt and the control of budget deficits;
Tax fairness;
Youth employment and employability;
Migration dynamics;
Sustainable development;
Purchasing power and the high cost of living;
The preservation of fundamental freedoms;
A strategic position in the political arena
This announcement comes at a time when the Senegalese political landscape remains divided on the very appropriateness of this dialogue. By agreeing to participate while seeking to redefine its scope, the New Responsibility adopts a constructive and critical posture that could allow it to stand out.
“Our participation is part of a dynamic of critical and constructive contribution, in a political, economic and social context of particular concern that requires rapid appeasement measures”, says the party, thus alluding to the tensions that run through Senegalese society.
A Republican vision claimed
The New Responsibility (NR) recalls its attachment to its credo “JAMM AK NJARIN” (peace and shared prosperity) and insists on its conception of national dialogue as “a republican instrument of pacification, strengthening democracy and consolidation of the rule of law”.
The Senegalese Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko made his first official visit to Burkina Faso on Friday, May 16, 2025. During this visit, he reaffirmed to Captain Ibrahim Traoré the willingness of Senegal to provide its support in the face of the terrorist threat in the Sahel.
On an official visit to Ouagadougou, Ousmane Sonko, Prime Minister of Senegal, was received in audience by the President of the Transition of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré. Accompanied by three members of his government—Yassine Fall, Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Integration; Birame Diop, Minister of the Armed Forces; and Khady Diène Gaye, Minister of Sport — The head of the Senegalese government engaged in more diplomatic exchanges at the summit.
This first visit to Burkina Faso takes place against a background of high security tensions in the region. At the end of his meeting with President Traoré, Ousmane Sonko wished to express “the solidarity of the Senegalese people towards the people of Burkina Faso in the face of this test imposed on them, which they did not choose”. In addition, he provided “absolute support” to the transitional authorities and affirmed Senegal’s readiness to consider “any possibility of collaboration and support” in the face of the terrorist threat. He also stressed the need for a united and structured response, because, he said: “None of our countries can escape this gangrene”.
Ousmane Sonko, in his statements, calls for a collective approach to security in West Africa. He also said: “It is illusory to believe that the security threat will stop at the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali or Niger. It is a struggle of all West Africa”.
Ousmane Sonko not only spoke to Ouagadougou, but also to Bamako and Niamey.
Apart from the diplomatic issues, the visit of the Senegalese Prime Minister also has a historical dimension. Indeed, on Saturday, May 17, 2025, he took part in the inauguration of the Thomas Sankara Mausoleum, an emblematic figure of Pan-Africanism and its 12 companions in Ouagadougou. For the Senegalese Prime Minister, Thomas Sanka who is one of his master thinkers “has been illuminating all the pan-Africanist and sovereignist struggles on the continent for a few decades”. He also planned to meet with the Senegalese community living in Burkina Faso.
Mali is turning a decisive page in its political life. By a presidential decree, adopted by the extraordinary Council of Ministers on 13 May 2025, the authorities of the military transition have officially dissolved all political parties and organizations of a political nature in the country. This is unprecedented in the country. In addition to generating a wave of national and international outrage, this decree marks the end of multi-party democracy.
A dissolution with the taste of “reform”
The announcement was made on the ORTM channel by Mamani Nassiré, Minister delegate to the Prime Minister responsible for political reforms. According to him, this decision is part of a broad process of “re-founding” political life. The government says it wants to “clean up” the partisan landscape by reducing the number of political parties now estimated at nearly 300. The government wants to set up and review their funding, which amounts to 0.25% of annual tax revenues. No political party can now organize meetings or carry out activities, under penalty of sanctions. On the other hand, elected representatives and officials belonging to political parties can continue their missions, on the sole condition that they no longer claim to be members of their party.
A repressed measure
For several weeks, many political parties, including the “Yelema” party, had denounced this project. Its president, Youssouf Diawara, said: “Political parties are not the problem in Mali. The emergency is insecurity, high cost of living, health and education”. Indeed, the political parties that oppose this decree see it as a violation of the Constitution and a setback for democracy. A citizen protest movement had emerged in early May. A demonstration, which gathered several hundred people on May 3, 2025 in Bamako, was quickly dispersed by the security forces. During this demonstration, several opposition and civil society figures were arrested and some people are reported missing.
Sanctioned media
In the past four years, Mali has seen two military coups. On 18 August 2020, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and his Prime Minister Boubou Cissé were removed from power before being arrested. Nine months later, the transitional president Bah N’Daw and his prime minister Moctar Ouane are deposed on May 24, 2021. In ten years, Mali has experienced three coups with the military takeover in 2012, and the fifth in the history of Mali after the coups d’état of 1991 and 1968. The Malian authorities have increased restrictions on both foreign and domestic media. They accuse them of partiality in the treatment of information concerning the situation of the country and disinformation. At the national level, in December 2024, the Djoliba TV News report was withdrawn. The High Authority for Communication (HAC) of Mali. The channel TV5 Monde has been suspended again “until further notice” on 13 May 2025. She is accused of “lack of impartiality” in her coverage of opposition protest movements on May 3, 2025 in her report for the 20:30 newspaper. It had already been suspended for three months in 2024.
Suspension of political parties: After Burkina Faso and Niger, it is the turn of Mali
The repeal of the charter of political parties that set their legal and financial frameworks, leaves an institutional vacuum according to its refractory. Political parties no longer exist legally. Only civil society still exists. But it remains closely monitored by the state. With this new decision taken by the transitional government, Mali joins its ESA neighbours. Before him, Burkina Faso suspended political party activities since September 2022. In Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani ordered the dissolution of parties on 26 March 2025 following controversial national assizes.
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