2020 was a macabre year in Senegal with the disappearance of political, religious and sporting figures. After the death of the mayor of Dalifort-Foirail, Idrissa Diallo, this Monday, December 28, 2020, it is the turn of General Mamadou Niang to retire the same day in London at the age of 82. He was one of the four personalities chosen to sit on the steering committee of the national dialogue initiated by the President of the Republic Macky Sall. Ze-africanews looks back on the extraordinary journey of those who have served their country in every way.
General Mamadou Niang was born in 1938 in Podor. He was a teacher in the village of Gaol near Kanel from 1960 to 1962. It was in 1963 that he joined the army training and became aide-de-camp of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armies Jean Alfred Diallo. He held this position until 1965. Seven years later, he became sector commander, again as part of his training, in the Balantacounda, in the region of Sedhiou.
General Mamadou Niang has a remarkable career. In 1980, he became the commander of the second Senegalese contingent in Lebanon. He held this position alongside the command of Defence Zone 2 in The Gambia until 1982. Dedicated and serious in his work, he was appointed Chief of Operations at the Army Staff in 1988, a position he will hold for two years.
Between 1991 and 1992, as part of the management of the Casamance crisis, he was appointed president of the National Commission for Peace Management in Casamance by President Abdou Diouf. He gave his life and soul to peacekeeping in this southern region of Senegal before becoming assistant to the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces that same year.
Imbued with republican values and renowned for his impartiality, General Mamadou Niang was president of the National Election Observatory (Onel) from 1997 to 1998. A mission he was able to carry out and which earned him special consideration from the country’s politicians. The following year, he was appointed Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau from May 1999 to March 2000.
That same year, in 2000, he entered the government of moustapha Niass as Minister of the Interior. In this position, he contributed greatly to the improvement of the mobility and working conditions of the police forces before being replaced by General Lamine Cissé. In September 2003, Major General Mamadou Niang was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Senegal to His Excellency Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Federal Republic of Brazil. A position he did not want to hold in Brazil for personal reasons
Several times decorated in Senegal and abroad, General Mamadou Niang was appointed in January 2004 as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Senegal to Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
General Mamadou Niang was therefore a true worker, a patriot who long played the role of peacekeeper in Senegal and in the world. He was called to God in London at the age of 82 following a short illness.
It was through his Facebook page that the President of the Senegalese Republic, Macky Sall, paid tribute to this man who was always willing to serve his people. “I am deeply saddened to learn of the death today of General Mamadou Niang, former Minister of the Interior and Chairman of the Political Dialogue Cell Commission, among other eminent offices. I greet with respect the memory of this valiant compatriot who served the State and the Nation to the last breath.May he rest in peace, with my heartfelt condolences to his family.”
