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Editorial: Senegal ‘bribed’ to be silent!
Sunday, 23 January 2011 23:09
JollofNews - Senegal and Iran’s newly found friendship has hardly gone without scrutiny. In fact the insinuations in some quarters are
so damning that they make utter mockery of African diplomacy. Some $200m worth of project pledged by Iran, after resuming shaky ties with the West African nation, has been described as bribe for silence.The Senegalese media, as always, is especially critical of the manner in which the Wade government is handling a thorny relation sparked by news of weapons seized in Nigeria, which was linked to Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh. Senegal fears that the arms might end in the hands of its southern rebels.
Apparently dissatisfied with progress of investigations by the Nigerians, Senegal enlisted UN’s support, unwittingly angering a suspicious Yahya Jammeh, who subsequently unleashed what seemed like a long kept resentment in form of verbal assault on Senegal’s two living presidents, accusing them of jealousy, blackmail, tribalism, among other crimes allegedly directed at Gambia.
The ensuing diplomatic maneuvers beyond Senegambia resulted in the highly capricious Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad summarily dismissing his Foreign Minister, who was on an official visit in Dakar.
According to sources, that act of dismissing then Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki while on an official visit in Dakar was interpreted by the Senegalese as insulting, hence the sudden decision to recall the West African nation’s ambassador from Tehran. Senegal, however, only claimed to have taken that decision because of “unsatisfactory” explanation from the Iranians then.
And Political pundits familiar with the Persian Gulf state said Mottaki’s dismissed was triggered by his apparent inability to win back what is arguably Iran’s strongest ally on the African continent.
Just over one month later, Iran’s new Foreign Minister returned to Dakar, via Turkey, where he had held talks with Turkish officials. In Dakar, Ali Akbar Salehi held talks with President Abdoulaye Wade and his prime minister, Madické Niang. And by all indication, the visit was “successful”, as Foreign Minister Salehi himself described it on arrival back in Tehran. Basically, previous cooperation agreements were strengthened and new ones established in a bid to “expand bilateral cooperation.”
“The case of weapons seized in Nigeria, which was reported to have come from Iran is no more,” wrote the leading Dakar daily Le Quotidien, notable for its highly critical stance on the Wade regime.
The paper questioned the decision by the Senegalese government to redeploy its ambassador to Tehran without waiting for the explanation that the Senegalese side said it had demanded from the Iranian authorities. It claimed that what both Iran and Senegal have referred to as donation to a "friendly state", was in fact a payoff for silence on the part of the Senegalese authorities. It recalled Senegal’s Foreign Minister Madické Niang’s statement at a joint press conference, a few weeks ago, with his Gambian counterpart, when he insisted that Senegal was still waiting for “convincing” explanations from Iran; “explanations that were finally provided in hard cash,” charged Le Quotidien.
But according to President Wade, his decision to redeploy Senegal’s ambassador was taken after the intervention of the Turkish president Abdullah Gul. In light of the fact that Foreign Minister Salehi came to Dakar via Istanbul, this makes some sense.
According to Wade, the Turkish leader promised to intervene between Iran and Senegal, in a bid to have the former shed light on the weapons issue.
As regards the two countries’ friendly relations, Wade was reported as saying the current trend of mutual cooperation was moving on an upward slope in the direction of their respective interests.
Senegal’s present attitude toward Iran may not be the only viable reason for speculation. Despite the vicious attack it suffered in the hands of Yahya Jammeh, the Senegalese government tried to make the rest of the world believe that its response was a matter of cautious diplomacy. But in fact, it is also likely that the Wade government realized it had unfairly treated the Jammeh government, which explained it show of tolerance to Admiral of Nebraska.
Prime Minister Madike Niang’s appearance at the fourth anniversary of the revolutionary ‘Breakthrough’ of President Yahya Jammeh’s treatment programme in Banjul also point to how far the Senegalese can go to tame their furious neighbor.
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Comments
This entire angel portrait is all baloney. You like to have the last word by all means? It is obvious what you are playing here. You don’t care about Gambia, but just enjoy fiddling and misinterpreting people concerns about the effects of Jammeh destructive rule of Gambia, while always happy chatting with his supporters here. Well Mr Angel, sit behind that PC and fold your hands and present yourself as the saint of Gambia while your people are one of the most oppressed in the world. "Saints" and "angels" like you are the one who are responsible for the miseries in those countries in West Africa. If you want my point you stop being a hypocrite in this forum please.
I am not against yo analogy but I condemn yo wishful thinking in d strongest term. It is inhuman to harbour such desires 4 Gambia if knew d ramifications those countries faced during such periods.
My brother it is human to err and it is only d fool who thinks he is perfect. There is nothing wrong in accepting yo overzealousness 4 u cannot defend d indefensible.
In as much as am in 4 change of regime I don’t subscribe to such devilish desires. I value d lives of innocent Gambians & know that Yaya must go one day whether he likes it or not and will be accountable 4 all what happen under his rule.
Where does yo faith lie if u feel prayers r not important; except u want to demonstrate yo atheism. Gambia is country with prayers & I’m not bordered with d prayer of d evil.
All am saying is i am disappointed that someone I had high regard 4 in this forum will outer such outrageous comments. I am not against u denouncing the evil things happening in d Gambia but yo yarning 4 chaos of such magnitude to bring back sanity is d worst imagination which can come to a sane Gambian. U can caution without being apocryphal.
How can u justify yo democracy or respect 4 freedom of expression when u woefully wish 4 terrible consequences to befall yo fellow Gambians(Batch, ML) bcos of differences in opinion. Come-on let sanity override yo passion my brother.
Here you go again. Lamin why would try to misinterpret me? I am not corrupt if I was I will not even give a monkey about Jammeh so please dont even try that with me again. If you are scared to talk where the man in power in Gambia was inspired by these countries yet you failed to see the similarirties and not talk about, is the one who is corrupt.Sometimes it like you and concerned gambian and others are all one person with different names? You have the same opnions and always runing away from realities and responsibilitie s.
1.My brother,I am not praying for anything, but try to be open minded and you will realise that.If just pray makes things happen,then I think we will not be discussing about dictatorship in Gambia.Like I said, human learn from others experiences and mistakes, be it political or economic experiences and mistakes.To make it simple for you, your neighbour purchased a bike and rode it for many years until resulting in injuries and dead and you even attended his funeral. Now, you just start to ride a bike.So Talking about your neighbour ordeal is rather identifying and avoiding that can lead to his miseries and mishaps.Sierra Leone, particularly have also the same of history like the Gambia, it coups and the names adopted e.g.Gambia APRC or Freetown NPRC.Edward and co are copycats of Sierra Leone coup/s in all aspects.To understand the similarities visit and read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia
Thankyou for that clarification. I was not aware that you had been barred from Jollof?
You say you tried to contact the editor?
But no one responded?
This causes me some concern.
Perhaps Jollof would care to put there explanation for this?
One thing I admire about Gambian's is that they are self regulating and very broad minded.
You can tell right away if something strange upsets them and they apply there logic in unison...to challenge the offender.
I am not aware of anything you have said that...does not come under your right of freedom of expression. Though I do not personally agree with everything you say.
I would defend your right to express it.
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