An embrace that was long
in coming: President Obama is greeted by
Senegal President MackySall at the Presidential
Palace in Daka. Sall's
predecessor, Abdoulaye Wade, who the U.S. regarded as irretrievably
corrupt, schemed for
years to have such contact with President Obama,
only to be rebuffed.
Obama in Senegal: A 'Triumph of Gestures' (SudQuotidien, Senegal)
"The gestures and strong actions of the Senegalese
administration are visibly reassuring to its American counterpart, which
advocates 'strong institutions' rather than strong men, and which, not long
ago, thumbed its nose at the old regime and warned the current one, along with
the rest of the continent, that 'governments that respect the will of their
people, that govern by consent rather than by coercion, are more prosperous,
more stable and more successful that those that don't.'
President Barack Obama stands at the 'Door of No Return' at the House of Slaves on Goree Island, Senegal, the point of departure for slaves headed to the New World, June 27.
The
scene unfolded at the G-8 summit in Deauville, and featured former French President
Nicolas Sarkozy who, after the "family photo,"
contrived a conversation between Obama and Senegalese President Abdoulaye
Wade (85). This was somewhat comical, since Wade had tried everything, with
Sarkozy as his intermediary, to present his son Karim
Wade to Obama, the first black president of the United States.
At
the time, we spoke of Mr. Wade's desire for his son to succeed him. Now behind
bars at the Rebeuss prison, not for political reasons
but because he is suspected of illicit enrichment, he will hear the sirens
announce the passage of the man who's friendship he tried to force, making his
way to the Palace of the Republic for a voluntary meeting.
In
any case, after having received George W. Bush during almost the same period in
2003, though only for five short hours, having participated in every G-8 summit,
and having taken part in the World Forum in Davos as
one of the African heads of state and a Pan-Africanist,
Mr. Wade would have fallen over himself to gain an invitation to Barack Obama's
table, receive a visit from him, or otherwise have a more direct political
connection. He would ultimately leave office without having received an
invitation from Obama, much less a visit, as he had so fervently hoped, and all
because President Wade had shot himself in the foot several times.
Who
in Senegal can forget the audience in May 2010, that President Wade granted the
U.S. ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, Marcia Bernicat,
and his violent diatribe against the U.S. diplomat on national television? The
Department of State, outraged by this media outpouring, couldn't possibly
understand how RTS
(RadiodiffusionTélévisionSenegalaise) broadcast President Wade's series of
attacks, leaving out Ms. Bernicat's equally cutting
responses. They need have gone no further than consulting their representative
in Senegal for more information on the matter.
Nevertheless,
like the Senegalese, U.S. authorities committed no greater "sin" than
releasing a statement expressing concern about corruption and the plundering of
public funds, but the rot between Senegal and the United States had already set
in.
Greeting party: A
Senegalese dance troupe along the road to
the National Palace in Daka, Senegal, greets President Obama.
It
goes without saying that the U.S. authorities had other reasons for closing the
White House door to Senegal's former president, in particular, the multiple
violations of freedom of the press perpetrated by the former occupant of the
Palace of the Republic during his rise to power; the intemperate summoning of
journalists to the Criminal Investigation Department, attacks on journalists
(the case of KambelDieng and Kara Thioune); attacks on press bodies' headquarters (L'As and 24 heuresChrono) and, last but not least, the forcing of a third
term.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
The
American administration's disavowal of the Wade regime was all the more
scathing and obvious in that Senegal became "visitable"
again almost immediately after Wade's departure from power. This was reflected
in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Senegal in July 2012, a visit
that had not occurred under the Wade regime, despite the intense and costly lobbying
by U.S. public relations firms. Only eleven months after Secretary Clinton's
visit to Dakar, Barack Obama finally set foot on Senegalese soil.
This
is certainly not a first in Senegalese history, but this visit to Senegalese
soil by the first American president of African origin is unprecedented in that
Barack Obama has chosen the country as the first leg of his second visit to
Africa, after his visit to Ghana in 2009. This is occurring a little over a
year after Senegal's second political transition, which recognized MackySall as leader of the country, and just seven months
after President Obama's re-election to a second term.
Undoubtedly
interested in the quality of current governance, or at least in the gestures of
restored democracy so dear to the American administration, Barack Obama, with
this visit, marks Senegalese diplomacy's return to the forefront, which had
begun to lose its credibility on the international stage.
The
gestures and strong actions of the Senegalese administration are visibly
reassuring to its American counterpart, which advocates "strong
institutions" rather than strong men, and which, not so long ago, thumbed
its nose at the old regime and warned the current one, along with the rest of
the continent, that "governments that respect the will of their people,
that govern by consent rather than by coercion, are more prosperous, more
stable and more successful that those that don't."
