POLITICS
SENEGAL – Ousmane Sonko case: Abdou Latif Coulibaly responds to Moussa Absa Sène
“The story catches up with the filmmaker, Moussa Sène.” This is how the response of Abdou Latif Coulibaly, Minister Secretary General of the Government to Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Absa Sène begins. The latter had made a tribune in the form of a letter addressed to President Macky Sall, concerning the situation of tension that living Senegal at the beginning that the deputy Ousmane Sonko Leader of the Pastef was accused of repeated rapes and threats with a weapon by a masseur in the name from Adji Sarr.
My dear Moussa Sène Absa, it is from the start of my remarks that I would like to be clear with you and naturally well understood by all: I have no intention of answering on behalf of His Excellency, President Macky Sall , whom you challenge, as a free citizen (partisan actor?), following the letter that you bring to his attention in the press.
For me, it is not a simple detail, when you specify your age: sixty-three (63) years old, indicate yourself. We are both of the same generation, that of children born to five or three before the end of colonial nights. I’m happy, at over 65, to see that I have the advantage of age over you by far.
Thus, I give myself the freedom by basing myself on our African cultural values, in order to be able to use the birthright and to formulate fraternal remarks on your words. Moussa, my dear brother, I find it difficult to understand the relevance of your argument. I don’t think I misread you. Believe me, even wrapped in a poetic and pleasant style, this argument hardly hides its emptiness, in order to avoid talking about the astonishing fragility of the elements serving as a framework for the text.
Factual consistency is lacking. However, one cannot understand the object of the reflection which you propose in debate, if you persist in concealing all the facts which constitute the fabric of the political history of this country on the basis of which you rely to propose a postulate , make statements and draw conclusions. In this respect, the conceptual basis of the reflection being flawed, your analysis has taken quite a blow.
The conclusions of your analysis, which tries to present itself under the gilding of a distant and objective essay, are they fatally disqualified. Your basic premise is based on the idea that Senegal, since its existence as a state, has never experienced such a flawed political atmosphere, because it is filled with tension. Everything in the political competition, you suggest, is happening today, more than it did yesterday, in a context heavily laden with threats and potential violence.
With your age, you were six in 1962, it is understandable that you do not have clear memories of the events of December 17 of that same year. Only, knowing you brilliant and perspicacious filmmaker keen, at least from the point of view of political theory, you cannot state, with a very calm conscience what you write, for example: Moussa you write: “Never I never felt so many cleavages with nauseating consequences cross people’s minds “.
Moussa, what do you mean by that? That you had succeeded, with an enormous feat, to speak only of recent cases, in avoiding breathing the air of the country on June 23, 2011. As perhaps, you had also decided to close your nostrils so as not to feel the smells of grenades thrown at populations contesting Wade’s third term. Why be so oblivious to my dear brother Moussa?
Our eminent historians, especially scholars of contemporary Senegalese political history, have produced enough on the subject. I would like to see you produce a film on political violence in Senegal from the colonial period to the present day. Moussa, very fraternally, as you produced a documentary on the tragic and painful case of Me Sèye.
With the age which is yours you cannot say that with a conscience in peace as the reality lived during the last fifty (1960-2011), before the arrival of Macky Sall to power attests to situations of so strong political tensions. that they sometimes produced violence with innocent citizens as victims.
You are of exceptional dimension, a fertile filmmaker, an accomplished creator. You have the mind of a creator and it certainly happens to you, by your fruitfulness of mind, to mix factual reality and fiction. All things that make your work more sublime. It won’t be insulting to say that you wrote your text with the spirit of the artist who is sometimes allowed to take a lot of freedom with the facts. I would like to remind you or perhaps let you know that on December 17, 1962, Senegal could swing into war between two political camps which faced each other and had it not been for the wisdom of the officers of the Armed Forces and the Gendarmerie, we could have known the first political crisis followed by violence. Long before this date the power in place pursued with unparalleled aggressiveness all those who claimed to be part of the African Independence Party (PAI). The repression has been terrible and many families in this country have been the victims.
The fratricidal political struggles in the city of Saint Louis were a perfect illustration of this. This is where the first political assassination took place in independent Senegal. You were undoubtedly young to remember that.
If this is indeed the case, you can be excused. On the other hand, you can remember the sequence of 1968 with the massive arrival in Dakar of the action committees of the Senegalese Progressive Union. These one-party militias called from the interior of the country to come to the capital, in order to beat up and smash striking students. For an intellectual, moreover a consecrated filmmaker, you have no right to ignore all these facts.
You also cannot forget the massacre of six police officers on the Boulevard du Centenaire on February 16, 1994. The families of these massacred police officers who celebrated the sad anniversary of these horrible assassinations do not think, far from it, as you do.
My dear young brother, as I said to you, your analysis is weak and without consistency, even if you wanted to make a serious text intended to disturb the conscience of the authority. You could have been more incisive and better listened to if you had avoided the partisan trap that we claim we who are inserted.
Unless this is the case for you without the opinion being informed. It is your absolute right to be. Never have I witnessed such intense tension in our once peaceful and laughing society.
Moussa, I dare not believe that you consider that the Casamance region and its populations are not part of Senegalese society. They, I imagine, weren’t as laughing as you claim in your text.
I know that you would never be able to echo the theses of the rebellion. However, considering that Casamance has been laughing during these thirty, even forty last laughing years, you forget, there too, that since December 1983, this part of the country is in the grip of a terrible war of secession which is remembered us a few days ago.
My dear Moussa, to finish I will tell you that I have indeed read the arguments developed jumbled up to try to disqualify public policies and the work initiated since 2012 by the Head of State. I admit that I was struck by the daring claims made on difficult-to-master economic and social development issues and issues. To be honest, hasty judgments are obvious, rarely avoiding being over-the-top and gaudy. But as they say, any excess, they say, is harmful.
All the demonstrations attempted prepare for a sensational entry into the current debate: the rape case pending before justice. This sentence in your text clearly betrays the subtlety that you are trying to assert: “Mr. President … Do not get involved in over-the-belt quarrels!” (..) The fight is elsewhere ”. You enter this debate to make the thesis of the plotted conspiracy prosper, without proof obviously, if not to do, like all the others who defend this thesis, in, the suspicion, the insinuation, the calumny, even the defamation. A futile attempt to politicize a private conflict between two Senegalese citizens with certainly a criminal connotation, but which nonetheless remains a civil matter. I will have no other words for you on this subject. My dear brother, let us pray together that God will allow us the lucidity to keep wisdom and give us the means to preserve peace and stability in this country. No offense to all the ominous birds.
Abdou Latif COULIBALY
POLITICS
SENEGAL Moussa Tine: “We launch a solemn appeal to the diaspora for the International Exhibition of Investment of the African Diaspora – SIDIA
Exclusive interview with Moussa Tine, the Director General of Urbanism and Habit. From September 26 to 28, 2025, at the Domaine de Choully, Africa – and particularly Senegal goes to meet its diaspora. For three days, the event will bring together several hundred entrepreneurs, including 30 from Senegal, investors, policy makers and artists. It is an unprecedented exhibition that brings together strategic sectors such as housing, agriculture, but also industry and commerce.
Why involve the diaspora and why organize this International Diaspora Investment Fair? Why this fair?
This exhibition today is a moment of exchange, an indispensable meeting point for government policy and particularly the policy of these three sectors, namely housing, construction, agriculture, industry and commerce. It is these three ministries that bring together their strategies, their strengths, to go out to meet the diaspora. The diaspora plays a decisive, extremely important role in the country’s economy and in its socio-economic stability. It is an important moment, a decisive moment, a moment that will also help us to financially complete a number of projects that are underway, but also to give the opportunity to the nationals of the diaspora to contribute to the development of their country. Each ministry today develops projects and this fair is an opportunity to give the diaspora the necessary information, either to integrate these projects or to collaborate with the State in the context of public-private partnerships or direct investments under the auspices of the State. Here is, in a global manner, the object of the exhibition. Today, this the exhibition is a decisive moment, an important one, with challenges defined across the three sectors I have just mentioned.
Thus, what is the economic weight of the diaspora?
The weight of the diaspora is well established. Today, it plays a decisive role in our economy. The diaspora is strong and economically involved, not only in a family way, but also through local and international initiatives. Therefore, involving the diaspora means redefining its role in a strategic way, which must no longer be limited to family support but contribute directly to the development of the country. This can be done through financial investment projects through programmes structured by the Ministry of Urban Planning, Local Authorities and Spatial Planning. I take the example of the PNALRU (National Program for Access to Housing), a project designed and led by the Ministry of Urbanism. We know that most of our fellow citizens in the diaspora have a house or housing project because they want to invest in their home. But often, they do not have the necessary information to do it in a secure way, nor quality support. Projects like the PNALRU offer a secure framework at the level of land, construction, but also marketing, in a transparent manner. These are projects that the State has implemented and which allow the diaspora to have easier access to land, and to participate directly in the national economy. The diaspora complains about not having enough information on state initiatives. This exhibition is a way to reach out to her, to provide as much information as possible about ongoing projects and integration modalities. We know that a part of the diaspora already has the initiative to return or to work in collaboration with the State. This show will therefore be a B2B meeting, a space where the diaspora and the State will be able to meet, establish collaborative relationships, and create what I often call a “return ticket”, that is to say an opportunity for many Senegalese to prepare for a secure and planned return.
Mr. Director, what is the direct message you send to the diaspora, especially to that of Geneva, because the exhibition will take place there?
Yes, the exhibition will be held in Geneva. This choice does not come by chance. Geneva is a financial capital and a business hub. Organizing it there highlights a decisive point in the outcome of projects: the financial dimension and the technical dimension. The objective is that from this exhibition, not only do we provide the necessary information to the diaspora, but also that we mobilize its capital to encourage it to invest in real estate, agriculture and industry. Each ministry will present development projects that the diaspora can appropriate, whether in housing, agriculture or industry. These sectors are linked: industry supports habitat, habitat needs building materials, and agriculture requires infrastructure. This sectoral transversality will allow for maximum opportunities to be created for the diaspora. In Geneva, for three days, we will have exchanges, panels, permanent exhibitions (more than 30 planned), and B2B meetings between the state, professionals, the diaspora, and the private sector. The aim is to mobilize investors, experts and promoters to implement joint projects.
Who are the partners of this project?
In Senegal, we have the Ministry of Urbanism, Territorial Collectivities and Spatial Planning, which leads, with the Ministries of Industry and Trade, and Agriculture as co-organizers. We also work in partnership with Me Events, a structure specialized in the organization of events, and with partners in Geneva, such as the African Village Association and Afrique Néon.
Mr. Director, to conclude, what message do you want to send to the Senegalese in the diaspora?
I take this opportunity to make a solemn appeal to all our fellow citizens of the diaspora. This exhibition is made for you. Its objective is clear: to mobilize the diaspora, not only for its expertise, but also for its investments. Invest in yourself. Invest in Senegal. Invest in Africa. This fair is yours, make it your own, and make it a channel for communication and development. The success of this exhibition will be the success of the national policy towards the diaspora. Senegal comes to you, your country comes to you, in order to discuss your projects and those we develop here. Come in large numbers, because together we can ensure inclusive development where every contribution counts. Thank you and I hope to see you very soon at the Geneva exhibition, from September 26 to 28.
Initially scheduled for Wednesday, June 11, 2025, the major march of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire – African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA), the main opposition party in Côte d’Ivoire, will finally take place on Saturday, June 14, 2025. This postponement was announced by the party’s Executive Secretary, who points out that the decision came after discussions between the PDCI leadership and the authorities of the Abidjan department. The details of these discussions have not been made public.
This demonstration, highly anticipated by the party’s activists and supporters, aims to support the candidacy of its president, Tidjane Thiam, in the presidential election of 2025, and to protest against his removal from the electoral list. A decision that the party qualifies as unfair and unacceptable, arguing for the right of all Ivorian citizens, including those with dual nationality, to participate in the political life of the country.
The route of the march remains unchanged: the protesters will leave from the SOCOCE space of the 2 Plateaux, in the municipality of Cocody, to head towards the headquarters of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI). The party calls for a strong peaceful mobilization in order to convey a clear message: demand inclusive, transparent and peaceful elections.
The removal of Tidjane Thiam and other opposition figures is mainly based on the issue of dual nationality, a legal provision that continues to be debated as the election approaches. The PDCI, which sees in Thiam a rally candidate capable of unifying the Ivorians, intends to make this march a highlight of its campaign and its democratic fight.
Photo credit: Tidiane Thiam page
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Morissanda Kouyaté, received this Sunday, June 1, 2025 in Conakry a delegation from the African Union, on an official visit to Guinea. On this occasion, he reaffirmed the commitment of the transitional authorities to respect the deadlines set for the return to constitutional order, while stressing the historical and central role of Guinea in the construction of the Pan-African project.
« I am very happy. The African Union is at Guinea’s side to accompany and support the vision of the head of state, President Mamadi Doumbouya, in favor of Guinea and Africa, in the political, diplomatic, economic, and cultural fields, declared the head of Guinean diplomacy.
This meeting takes place in a context marked by the preparations for the constitutional referendum scheduled for next September 21.
Morissanda Kouyaté also recalled the founding involvement of Guinea in the creation of the Organization of African Unity, which became the African Union. “This visit materializes the commitment of the Peace and Security Council to accompany Guinea in a dynamic of ambitious political and diplomatic transformation,” he stressed.
The minister indicated that all actions related to the transition are currently funded by the national development budget, while calling for a broader mobilization of the international community. “We have requested a round table, called the Basketfront, to seek support to speed up the process. But this does not mean that we will give up,” he said, reiterating President Doumbouya’s willingness to scrupulously respect the scheduled deadlines.
He finally wanted to reassure on the efforts made to ensure an inclusive electoral process. “We are going through a difficult period, and that is why we want all Guineans to be registered in order to obtain a reliable electoral roll,” concluded Morissanda Kouyaté.
Source: guinee360 / Photo credit: Page Ministry of Foreign Affairs Guinea
