Dakar - History

The lland and people have been an integral part of many empires and kingdoms, including the Ghana Empire of the 9th to 11th centuries and the Mali Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries. More recently, Senegal was a key actor in the founding and subsequent growth of the infamous French-West African Empire. In 1658, the island-city of Saint-Louis became France's West-African capital and remained so until the mid 1900's when it was moved to Dakar. Until the mid-1800's Senegal was a major terminal for the exportation of entire tribes from the interior of West Africa to the new world by Portuguese and French traders. Millions of slaves passed through the now aging holding facilities in Saint-Louis and Gorée Island. Within this French-West African context, it was only recently that Africa's right to self-rule was recognized. For years, assimilation into metropolitan French society was the only way the Africans could hope to gain access to rights and services accorded to French citizens. Slowly, politicians in Senegal and France fought to erode the racial and cultural criteria that withheld social justice. Domestic an international pressures led to the eventual dismantling of France's official reign in Dakar and West Africa. Senegal's first non-European leader, Léopold Senghor, was elected Senegal's first president and served until 1980, when he he made the unprecedented move of stepping down and relinquishing power to his prime minister, Abdou Diouf.

While Diouf's 20-year reign has just come to an end with the election in 2000, it was not without its problems. Minor skirmishes with Mauritanian border guards in the 1980's led to a cooling of relations with Mauritania. Domestically, there are opposition parties that have stirred trouble in the past. Nonetheless, a garrison of French troops, remainders of the Empire, ensures stability and security from threats within and outside the country.

After achieving independence from France in 1960, Senegal was established as a republic. Its constitution was adopted in 1963. The president, elected every five years, is head of state and appoints a council of ministers as well as Supreme Court judges. The legislature, the National Assembly, is a unicameral body with 120 elected members. President Abdou Diouf is leader of the Socialist Party, which has been the party in power since 1960.

THE VISIT OF US PRESIDENT  Clinton flew to Thies from a rousing reception in Dakar, Senegal’s capital city cooled by Atlantic breezes. Many thousands of people lined the streets to cheer. People jumped, clapped, wave, sang and played drums. A man wobbled on tall stilts. Children pushed close to Clinton’s motorcade to touch his armored limousine.
En route to the presidential palace, Clinton passed beaches where fishermen keep banana-shaped boats. There was rubble and trash on the streets. In this predominantly Islamic country, markets are filled with goats to be slaughtered in Muslim homes next week in a religious holiday.
White House officials said Clinton was jubilant about his trip, the longest foreign journey of his presidency. Sandy Berger, the national security adviser, said the tour had sent “a powerful statement of our interest here and, I think, will have lasting benefits for us.”
Clinton was accompanied to the military base by President Abdou Diouf, Senegal’s leader since 1980. Diouf said many nations on the continent are turning to democracy and reforming their economies.
“Africa presents a forward looking image to the world,” Diouf said. “All these efforts will be jeopardized or even in vain if peace and harmony are missing on this continent which has already suffered so much.”