SOCIETY
SENEGAL: Polygamy is a constraint on women.
Living in a country like Senegal that allows polygamy to men, up to 4 wives, does not mean that Senegalese women generally approve of it. They live with the situation, resigned to their fate imposed by an inhumane and inegalitarian law.
History teaches us a refusal or a fear of certain slaves to free themselves for fear of the unknown, because of the habit to servitude, or lack of self-esteem and confidence. The mechanisms of domination present in slavery are also seen in the monogamic but above all polygamic MARRIAGE.
According to one of my interviewees, the comparison above is wrong. For him, slavery is imposed while women have the possibility to leave or stay in marriage if they want to.
So my question is: can we talk about choices when the offer of polygamous or monogamous status is intended only for men on the day of marriage, the latter being the first one who is asked the question? And it is only afterwards that the woman is asked (often in precarious economic conditions) whether she accepts her husband’s choice of monogamy or polygamy. Polygamy is a constraint on women in Senegal. To say that it’s their choice is a real denial of gender inequalities. Inequalities of right and dignity that seal a union in which one is at the mercy of the other on an affective, economic, and family level. Senegalese men are unable to apply reciprocity in matters of polygamy. For them, women deprived of power in polygamy, who remain there for survival, are in accord with polygamy. What lack of empathy and lucidity! They do not have the choice to even perform strategies of survival, competition of the best spouse even between them.
It is sad to see today the inhibition of many Senegalese men with whom I talked regarding the acknowledgment of equality in dignity and in law between the sexes. They argue for complementarity instead of equality. But complementarity only makes sense when both parties have the same dignity and rights. Otherwise, it is a veil to mask an unequal power relationship where the scapegoat is the most vulnerable: the woman.
Other examples from the arguments of my interlocutor: “Slavery is not chosen deliberately; it’s a forced condition, whereas marriage stems, in principle, from a conscious choice (if one goes beyond the concept of “forced marriage”). Slaves can’t free themselves when they want; In marriage one can leave when one wants, in principle “.
In my opinion, these inequalities that we are talking about must be put on the table and discussed. For it can not be said that woman and man must be equal everywhere. It is a utopia. That is why the concept of “complementarity” suits me much more. ”
By Salimata Ndoye Sall
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
