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Senegal

 Flag of Senegal

Map of Senegal Last reviewed: 02 June 2009

Country information

Map of Senegal

Area: 197 000 sq km
Population: 11.6 million (2005 UN estimate)
Capital City: Dakar (2.1 million, 2005 UN estimate)
People and language: Senegal is made up of numerous ethnic groups, including the Wolof, Pular, Serer and the Diola. French is the official Language, while Malinke, Wolof, Serere, Soninke and Peul (Pular) are 'national languages'. African languages (most commonly Wolof) are widely spoken.
Religion(s): Around 95% of Senegalese are Muslim. Christianity and indigenous Africa religions are also practised.
Currency: CFA Franc. €1=656 Francs
Major political parties: The two largest parties are the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) and the Socialist Party (PS). Other political parties include the African Party for Democracy and Socialism (AJ/PADS); Alliance of Forces of Progress (AFP); Democratic League-Labour Party Movement (LD-MPT); Independence and Labour Party (PIT); and the Union for Democratic Renewal (URD).
Head of State: President Abdoulaye Wade
Prime Minister/Premier: Soulayemane Ndene NDIAYE
Membership of international groupings/organisations: African Development Bank (AFDB), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMAO), African Union (AU), Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

HEALTH

Health Needs 

ECONOMY

Basic Economic Facts

Annual Growth: 4.0% (2006 est)
GDP: US$10.8bn (2006 est)
Inflation: 2.0% (2006 est)
Main economic sectors: agricultural products (groundnuts, millet, corn, sorghum, rice, cotton, market gardening and livestock), fish processing, phosphate mining, fertiliser production, petroleum refining, construction materials and tourism.
Exports: fish, groundnuts, petroleum products, phosphates, cotton
Main trade partners: EU, United States and India
Exchange rate: €1=656 CFA.

Senegal’s economy is based on primary product export (groundnuts, phosphates and fish) and tourism. Remittances from abroad also make a considerable contribution to the economy, especially in the booming construction industry. As a member of the Franc Zone, the country enjoys low inflation. Privatisation of the parastatal which deals in groundnuts and groundnut products (Sonacos) was completed in 2005. The planned privatisation of the electricity sector (Senelec) has been halted and Senelec continues to experience problems in paying market prices for its fuel inputs.

The government’s economic policies continue to concentrate on large scale infrastructure projects, including the planned second international airport near Dakar (to be called the Blaise Diagne Airport). Textiles, IT and tourism are other priority sectors for the government. A major project to improve the Dakar to Bamako road is being financed by the Japanese and the EU. The country runs a successful airline (Air Senegal) in partnership with the Moroccan national airline. Telecoms is another dynamic sector, and plans are being considered to tender for a third mobile phone licence. However, despite these signs of success, several key sectors (groundnut oil, fertiliser production) are suffering from management problems and stiff competition from imports.

Senegal enjoys good relations with international donors, and reached HIPC completion point in April 2004, which has since led to debt alleviation measures by bilateral and multilateral donors. Senegal's IMF negotiated Poverty Reduction and Growth facility loan package expired in April 2006. Senegal has now negotiated a financial monitoring arrangement with the IMF (a Policy Support Instrument) which provides technical support for its domestic poverty reduction programme.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

HISTORY

The areas of Senegal around Dakar and St Louis, colonised in the 1840s, were the earliest parts of the formal French empire in sub-Saharan Africa. Dakar was the capital of French West Africa from the early 1900s. Some Africans from this region were granted full French citizenship, and a handful of individuals became prominent in French public life, such as Blaise Diagne and Leopold Sedar Senghor, both members of the French parliament in the colonial period.

On independence in 1960, Senghor became the country’s first President. Famous for his intellectual and literary achievements, his rule was peaceful and largely benevolent, although the country was a one party state from 1966 until multiparty democracy was introduced in 1974. In 1980 Senghor retired, handing the presidency to his Prime Minister Abdou Diouf, who subsequently confirmed his position by winning presidential elections in 1983 and again in 1988.

The presidential elections of 1988 were marred by allegations of fraud and followed by serious rioting. Opposition leaders were tried for incitement to violence, and some, including the veteran opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade, were convicted. The Socialist Party (PS) won legislative elections in 1993 and 1998 and President Diouf was re-elected in 1993. However, with the economy declining in the 1990s and with a series of splits within the PS, the party's old aura of invincibility began to fade.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Relations with The Gambia have suffered due to disputes over cross-border access. Relations with Guinea-Bissau have improved since the death of former Junta leader Ansumane Mane in 1999, who was thought to have aided the Casamance rebels. The two countries now cooperate closely in dealing with the Casamance rebels.

Senegal pursues an active foreign policy and aspires to represent Africa on the UN Security Council. While France is a close ally for historical reasons, Senegal has also sought allies as far apart as the Middle East and China, and enjoys good relations with the United States, where a large Senegalese community resides. Senegal recognised China in 2005. President Bush included a brief visit to Senegal at the start of his Africa tour in 2003. A number of Senegalese hold high positions in international organisations.

Senegal has a prominent role in Africa. President Wade was instrumental in creating the NEPAD agenda - a plan for the regeneration of the African continent adopted by the African Union in 2001. Although he has criticised it for not doing enough, he remains a key supporter of the project. He has played an important role in promoting that agenda in the wider international community, including at meetings with G8 countries. Senegal has contributed troops to numerous international peacekeeping operations, with significant force presences in Liberia, DR Congo, Darfur and Cote d’Ivoire. Senior Senegalese military are respected across the continent for their role in political and military interventions.

New Partnership for Africa's Development (NePAD)
African Union
ECOWAS

Senegal's Relations with the UK

Senegal and the UK enjoy good relations including frequent consultations on pan-African issues. There is a community of many thousands of Senegalese in the UK There is a growing level of military training cooperation. A significant Royal Marines exercise took place in Senegal in 2005. A UK naval and amphibious exercise took place in Senegal and other West African countries in Autumn 2006. Dakar was used as the Forward Mounting Base for British deployment to Sierra Leone in 2000 and was the evacuation point for British and other foreign nationals. Each year the UK sponsors a small number of scholarships for postgraduate courses in the UK.

Diplomatic Representation

Britain's Ambassador in Senegal is Mr Christopher Trott. There is also a British Council office in Dakar, specialising in English Language Teaching. Senegal is represented in the UK by Ambassador Abdou Sourang.

Recent Visits

Inward

A substantial number of senior members of the Senegalese government have visited the UK in recent years. In 2003 President Wade made two visits to the UK, meeting the Prime Minister, the then Minister for Africa Baroness Amos, addressing a conference on NEPAD at the Royal Institute of International Affairs and delivering a lecture at St Anthony’s college Oxford. President Wade attended the G8 meeting in Gleneagles in Scotland in July 2005.

Outward

In February 2002, then Prime Minister Tony Blair and the then Secretary of State for International Development, Clare Short, visited Senegal as part of a tour of West Africa. Mr Blair was the first British Prime Minister to have visited the country. Baroness Amos, then Foreign Office Minister for Africa, visited in February and April 2002.The Earl of Wessex visited Senegal in early June 2004 in connection with the international Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Paul Boateng, visited Dakar in October 2004 and Hilary Benn, International Development Secretary in November 2004. Both visits were to promote the work of the Commission for Africa. The Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Amos, attended Dakar Agricole in February 2005.

GEOGRAPHY

Senegal, the most westerly African state, occupies an area of 197,161 sq km between Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. The Gambia almost divides Senegal in the south. The Casamance region, south of The Gambia, lies on the northern fringe of the monsoon climate, and has a rainy season of 4-5 months. Northern Senegal is arid and increasingly desiccated.

TRADE AND INVESTMENT

Trade and Investment with the UK

British exports in goods in 2005 were £191m, up from £103m the previous year. These were made up of food, beverages, cigarettes, chemicals, machinery for transportation and manufactured goods. British imports from Senegal in 2005 were £7.5m, (slightly down from the previous year) and included fish, oil seeds, fruit, rubber, fertiliser and animal feed.

UK Trade & Investment Country Profile: Senegal

Development

Senegal faces serious development challenges. The life expectancy is 56 years at birth and 22% of the population live on less than a dollar a day. There is a wide disparity between the over-crowded capital and the poor and isolated interior. France, the EU, Germany, the US, Japan, China and some Middle Eastern States are major donors. The UK aids Senegal’s development through UN agencies and the European Commission. In addition the British Embassy in Dakar finances a limited number of development micro-projects under the FCO’s Bilateral Fund.

World Bank
European Union (EU)
Zone Franc (IZF)

POLITICS

Senegal is a presidential republic, with an elected National Assembly. The Senate was abolished in 2001, but reintroduced in 2007. The President is permitted to stand for two terms of 5 years, although President Wade did one term of 7 years from 2000 to 2007, in line with constitutional provision in 2000.

Wade won the Presidential elections in 2000 after a second round run off against Diouf. Diouf quickly conceded defeat and there was a peaceful transition to the country's first ever non-PS Government. Legislative elections were called in the following year. PDS centred coalition won convincingly. Presidential elections were held on 25 February 2007. President Wade won in the first round, with a score of 55.9 %. Wade's former Prime Minister and protege, Idrissa Seck, got 14.9% and the PS candidate Tanor Dieng got 13.9%. Legislative elections were held in June. The oppostion boycotted, allowing the PDS centred ruling coalition to win 131 of the 150 seats, on a historically low turn out of 35%.

With Wade's dominance of the political scene confirmed, the political future of Idrissa Seck is uncertain. Tanor Dieng confirmed his strong base in the PS by being re-elected Secretary General of the party in October 2007. With a difficult economic context, especially in terms of oil prices, Wade is having to deal with social unrest in the public sector. This was compounded in November when a march by unions coincided with riots caused by government attempts to clear street traders from some areas of Dakar.

Since 1982 an armed separatist movement in the impoverished Casamance region of southern Senegal, known as the Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) has been fighting for independence. Negotiations with the Dakar government have been hindered by constant splits and leadership disputes within the MFDC. Much of the apparently rebel activity is little more than banditry. A framework peace agreement was signed in December 2004, but its implementation has not been complete owing to further splits in the MFDC. One faction opposed to the agreement was involved in 2006 in armed clashes with the Senegalese army, and armed banditry continues in the area. On 14 January 2007 the historic leader of the MFDC Fr Augustin Diamacoune Senghor died in a hospital in Paris.

casamance0
Senegal government website
BBC News: Africa
Senegal National Assembly
BBC News Online Country Profile for Senegal

For recent statements of UK government policy towards Senegal go to the Hansard website and enter 'Senegal' in the search engine

HUMAN RIGHTS

Senegal has a good record on Human Rights. The press, civil society organisations and political parties generally exercise their activities freely. In recent years however some concern has been expressed over intimidation of journalists, some of whom have been charged with disseminating 'false news'. Several journalists and opposition politicians were detained or arrested in the first half of 2006 in connection with revelations of alleged government corruption. In July 2004, Madiambal Diagne, Managing Editor of "Le Quotidien" was arrested for publishing confidential reports, false information and incitement to rebellion. He was released after 18 days of detention following a campaign by civil society organisations. The controversial "Ezzan" Law, which grants an amnesty for some politically motivated crimes, was passed on 7 January 2005.

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