Senegal rejects dozens of foreign trawler permits

Dakar (AFP)
June 9, 2020

Senegal has rejected requests to license dozens of foreign fishing trawlers, officials said on Tuesday, following an uproar from environmentalists and struggling fishermen in the West African state.

Two government officials told AFP that the applications -- which were originally submitted in April -- had been rejected.

The government had said in April that it would consider permits for 54 foreign vessels.

But the move triggered a backlash from environmentalists and local fishermen, who mounted a campaign to stop the move.

This followed years of tension between local fishermen and foreign factory ships, which are often accused of contributing to severe overfishing in the region.

Senegal's 50,000 fishermen -- who mostly take to the Atlantic aboard wooden boats known as "pirogues" -- have struggled to adapt to declining stocks.

Recently, their revenues have also been hit by the closure of markets to curb coronavirus.

Government officials on Tuesday were unable to immediately clarify the number of permit requests for foreign trawlers that had been rejected.

But NGO Greenpeace said in a statement on Monday that the government had rejected permits for 52 foreign vessels.

The process for acquiring fishing permits in Senegal is highly opaque.

Abdou Karim Sall, the president of a Senegalese artisanal fishing association, told AFP that he welcomed the rejection of the permits, but added that he wanted more government transparency.

"Nobody knows the number of boats (in Senegalese waters)," he said. "I want to hear the minister speak."

An official at Senegal's fisheries ministry was not immediately available for comment.

Dyhia Belhabib, principal investigator for the charity Ecotrust Canada, said impenetrable bureaucracy has often masked controversial decisions on permits.

"This issue is not new," she said, pointing to earlier uproar over foreign trawlers.

In a move hailed at the time, Senegalese President Macky Sall stripped murkily-obtained permits from 29 foreign vessels in 2012, with many hailing from Eastern Europe.

New tension over foreign trawlers comes at a difficult time for Senegal's fishing sector.

"We're not finding any more fish," said Diaba Diop, the secretary general of a Senegalese women's artisanal fishing association.

According to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation, over a third of fish stocks from Senegal to Nigeria are overfished, and up to half of West Africa's annual catch could be illegal.

Fishing is one of Senegal's top industries, accounting for about 17 percent of export revenues in 2018, according to government figures.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Senegal_rejects_dozens_of_foreign_trawler_permits_999.html.

Gambia's new president, still in Senegal, names female VP

January 24, 2017

BANJUL, Gambia (AP) — Gambia's new vice president will be a female leader of the opposition coalition that helped bring new President Adama Barrow to power, a presidential spokesman announced Monday, as regional troops continued security sweeps to prepare for Barrow's return to the country he now rules.

The appointment of Fatoumata Tambajang as vice president was announced at a news conference by coalition spokesman Halifa Sallah. He said the rest of Barrow's cabinet would be revealed Tuesday. A former U.N. Development Program staffer, Tambajang was instrumental in helping Gambia's opposition parties overcome their differences and unite against ousted President Yahya Jammeh, who came to power in a coup and ruled for 22 years.

Barrow remained in Senegal Monday, where he traveled more than a week ago when it was uncertain whether Jammeh would acknowledge defeat in the December election and step down. After days of frantic mediation, and as a regional intervention force deployed to apply pressure, Jammeh finally agreed to leave, flying out late Saturday night. Mediators said his destination was Equatorial Guinea, though that notoriously secretive country has yet to confirm Jammeh's arrival.

Barrow's return date has not been fixed, and this week's appointments are aimed at filling a void created by his absence. The armed forces have pledged loyalty to him, though regional forces from the West African body known as ECOWAS on Monday continued to push Gambian soldiers out of the official residence, State House, in advance of Barrow's arrival. They also took over a Republican Guard barracks training center in Bakau, just outside Banjul.

The presence of ECOWAS troops was cheered by many in the capital, and some emboldened Gambians even tried to cross the gates of State House — a place they didn't dare attempt to enter before. Abass Hydra said it was his first time back near State House since his father was arrested inexplicably during prayers and held for three months. "It was very difficult for us at that time, and it was traumatizing, and now finally we are free because Jammeh is gone," he said. "I hope for peace and unity. We need ECOWAS here so that they can help stabilize things."

Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea's opposition denounced the government's decision to welcome Jammeh. President Teodoro Obiang will be held responsible "for what might occur" as a result of Jammeh's presence on the country's soil, according to a statement emailed Monday by Andres Esono Ondo, secretary general of the opposition Convergence for Social Democracy.

Jammeh should not qualify for political asylum because he triggered Gambia's crisis by refusing to step down, the Democratic Opposition Front said in a separate statement Sunday. "We are not against Pan-Africanism, but we are in favor of a more objective Pan-Africanism that does not consist in just bringing over the waste of Africa," the group said.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said preventive diplomacy in Gambia avoided bloodshed, restored democracy and averted what it calls a "humanitarian disaster." Dujarric said the unity of ECOWAS, with U.N. backing, was critical to Jammeh's handover of power and if diplomacy had not worked, "we would have seen a far worse situation."

Associated Press writer Robbie Corey-Boulet contributed from Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Mangrove protection key to survival for Senegalese community

By Malick Rokhy BA
Joal, Senegal (AFP)
Nov 6, 2016

Pelicans, flamingos, monkeys and even hyenas are under threat in Senegal along with the livelihoods of the local people as thick clusters of mangroves are disappearing.

And it seems that not even an ancestral spirit can save them.

The protected marine area (AMP) of Joal in western Senegal, just to the north of the Gambia, is home to an incredibly rich biodiversity.

The hardy mangrove shrubs thrive in salty water, thick mud and hot, humid conditions that would kill most other plants.

Part of Senegal's peaceful Petite Cote, Joal's mangroves are being eroded by a combination of factors, including global warming, deforestation, public works, oyster and clam fishing, salination of the fresh water river and drought.

All along the riverbed, great swathes of sandy dunes have appeared in place of the once suffocating canopy of mangroves.

"The empty spaces are areas where the mangrove has disappeared," said Abdoulaye Sagna, a manager at the Joal AMP.

Mangroves are not just tough survivors. Scientists now believe the swamps are hugely important to the well-being of the planet as a whole.

Senegal's mangrove system supports a vast range of species and organisms.

Baobab trees and acacia shrubs grow in between the tangled roots, which are a habitat for molluscs, crabs and insects.

Animals such as monkeys and hyenas also live in the mangroves, and flamingos, pelicans, terns, herons and other types of birds nest in the trees.

"All these species are victims of the disappearance of the mangrove," added Sagna.

The protected area may be vast but outside of the AMP, the mangrove is receding, according to Abdou Karim Sall, a member of the Joal AMP's organizing committee.

- 'Degraded' mangroves -

But he insists that the establishment of the 174-square-kilometer (67-square-mile) protected area has had a positive effect on safeguarding the local environment.

"There was nothing here, no mangroves, but from 2009 we started reforesting," said Sall.

"In villages not covered by the AMP, the mangrove is more degraded. We fear it will disappear in certain areas where entire hectares have been cut down."

Despite the reforestation policy, Senegal is losing much of its mangroves, not least to those looking for firewood and construction materials.

"Senegal has lost 40 percent of its mangroves since the 1970s," said ecologist Haidar El Ali, a former minister of the environment.

As the mangroves recede, it is becoming harder to find oysters and clams, which are among the mainstays of the local economy.

"Before, all you needed to do was go 10 meters (32 feet) into the river to find oysters and clams. But now, you have to go much further," complained Marie-Madeleine Diouf, head of a group of seafood traders in Joal.

"We can't find the quantity we want and demand is increasing."

Other than the abundant mollusc fishing, Joal -- famous for being the birthplace of Senegal's first president, Leopold Sedar Senghor -- is also known for tourism and local handicrafts, based on clam shells and sea snails found at the island of Fadiouth, which is linked to Joal by a bridge.

- Ancestral spirit -

But that has attracted many unscrupulous outsiders, and not even a local spirit in the deeply superstitious society can keep them from exploiting the mangroves.

"Joal's ancestral spirit, Mama Ngueth, the town's protector, banned the cutting down of mangroves," said Sall.

"Everyone respected that ban and belief in that spirit was a factor in the conservation of the mangrove.

"But now there are a lot of migrants in Joal who couldn't care less about this spirit, or the conservation of the mangrove."

One solution has been to build an oyster farm in Joal to boost production.

Yet another is to try to protect young molluscs.

Oyster farmer Leopold Ndong wields a knife to cut oysters from the intertwined mangrove roots to "plant" them in mud.

"These are spat, baby oysters... After a year they will be mature," he said.

According to Diouf, the fight to preserve the mangroves is not a forlorn one and is worth the effort.

"We have to replant every day because people keep cutting (down mangroves)," she said.

"People will keep cutting, and we'll keep replanting."

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Mangrove_protection_key_to_survival_for_Senegalese_community_999.html.

Senegal clamps down on Quranic schools that exploit children

August 26, 2016

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Twelve-year-old Boubacar was picked up from the streets of Senegal's capital at night by police, along with dozens of other children, in the latest crackdown on begging. The boy was sent to this West African country by his family in neighboring Guinea to study the Quran at one of the capital's 1,600 Islamic schools, known as daaras. He is among thousands of students, or talibes, sent out by teachers to beg for money and food. Some schools have been accused of keeping the children in unsafe living conditions and abusing them.

"I want to return to my family," Boubacar said at a transit center for street children. More than 500 such children have been taken from Dakar's streets in the past two months. President Macky Sall announced the crackdown in June and said the government will prosecute, fine and jail parents or Quranic teachers, known as marabouts, who are found guilty of abuses.

"A child's place is not in the streets ... the children have rights to learn, and to be in good health," said Maimouna Balde, the director of Centre Ginddi, the main government transit center. On a hot summer day, dozens of children played games in a room and watched TV as authorities worked to find their families.

Senegal has staged these crackdowns before. Because of resistance from some marabouts and a lack of prosecutions, the abuses have continued and unfit schools remain open. At least five children living in daaras died in the first half of this year from beatings or traffic accidents while begging, according to Human Rights Watch. Dozens of children have been beaten, chained, attacked or sexually abused while begging in the past two years, the group said.

"While the government's recent actions are commendable, removing talibes from the streets will not lead to long-term change unless Quranic schools are regulated and offending teachers are held accountable," said Corinne Dufka, the rights group's West Africa director.

Talibes represent some 90 percent of the roughly 30,500 children on the streets, according to Senegal's director of rights for children and vulnerable groups, Niokhobaye Diouf. At the Centre Ginddi, the children are registered, cleaned up, given clothes and fed. If they come from a daara, they go into Quran classes. They are then reunited with their families, or with marabouts who come to find them. If there's no sign of abuse, they return to the daara.

Senegal's penal code outlawed begging years ago, and the country has ratified all major international conventions on children's rights. But previous efforts to enforce the measures on child beggars have fizzled.

In 2010, the children were taken off the streets after the U.S., among other countries, threatened to cut off aid if Senegal did not address human trafficking. In 2013, after nine children died in a fire in a Quranic school in Dakar, the president said the government would close all schools that didn't meet basic safety standards.

Months later, however, no teachers were in custody, and no daara had been shut down. Though arrests of marabouts accused of being abusive have increased slightly in recent years, rights groups say Senegal has prosecuted only a handful of extreme cases.

"The death of talibe children as a result of corporal punishment and abuse by some Quranic teachers must no longer remain unpunished," said Mamadou Wane, president of the Platform for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, a coalition of 40 Senegalese children's rights organizations.

Rights groups have said a failure to consistently enforce the laws regulating the school system has emboldened abusive teachers. Some teachers are pushing back against the latest crackdown. At a recent gathering of marabouts in Kaolack, one said the efforts to stop children from begging were anti-Islamic.

"The retrieval of children from the streets must immediately stop," Hady Diakhate told the televised meeting, saying the children shouldn't be taken to transit centers. "The parents would prefer they were taken to the daaras ... talibes are Muslims, so they must be left in daaras. That is their place."

Another marabout in a suburb of Dakar said he supports the government's efforts, but Quranic schools need more financial support to improve. "We welcome this decision, because it will bring order in Quranic schools. But the government must support Quranic schools by subsidizing and helping to recruit qualified teachers," said Imam Bousso.

Diouf, the children's rights official, said most daaras are not a problem. He said the government is in talks with marabouts to determine what is needed to keep them safe and conditions good. It will provide limited cash and food to daaras and families in need until the next stage of the program is determined, he said. The government also hopes to one day create a select group of daaras that will have internet access and teach skills and subjects in addition to the Quran.

"The state's concern is not to interrupt these practices," Diouf said of daaras. "It's to stop the mistreatment of children."

Kicking the plastic: Senegal among latest to ban flimsy bags

May 29, 2015

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — At a market in Senegal's capital, the sandy paths are strewn with them. They blow around like feathers in Dakar's coastal breezes, piling up alongside buildings on city streets and clogging canals.

Thin plastic shopping bags, and pieces of them, litter this seaside capital and the nearby waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The number of discarded bags is staggering — a total of 5 million in Senegal, according to Environment Minister Abdoulaye Balde.

Now, the government is set to impose a ban, joining a global shift against the bags. Street vendors wonder how they will do business without them. Dauda Ndiaye sells hundreds of plastic bags a day to other vendors, who sell fish, meat and other goods in the Ouakam neighborhood. For 500 francs (about $1), a customer can buy a packet of 100.

Banning the bags will "be a huge problem because all the vendors here use plastic to sell nuts, glass, meat, fruit and vegetables," said Ndiaye, a 23-year-old father of three. "If they are going to ban plastic, I won't be able to feed my family."

Another merchant, Ami Ndiaye, says she must keep using plastic to protect the charcoal she sells wrapped in small paper rolls which are then neatly piled into plastic. "The problem isn't the plastic, it's the people," she said. "People must put it in the garbage and not on the streets so animals don't eat it and it doesn't pile up."

But Pascaline Ouedraego fully supports the measures, saying she worries about chemicals from the sacks getting into the food she buys. She moved to Senegal four years ago from Burkina Faso, which adopted a ban.

"The problem is no one understands what else to use, so it's been difficult," she said of Burkina Faso. "Little by little people can learn" to use safer alternative products, like paper and reusable bags.

In April, Senegal's National Assembly unanimously prohibited the production, importation, possession and use of the black bags that are so thin they can barely hold several cans of soda without falling apart and are usually discarded after one use. Implementation was planned for six months later.

In 2013, Mauritania imposed a ban, saying an estimated 70 percent of cattle and sheep in the capital were dying from ingesting plastic bags, according to the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute. Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Malawi are also among countries that have adopted or announced bans, according to the institute. Botswana and South Africa require a certain thickness of plastic bags, so they can be reused, and added levies saw a reduction in use, the institute added.

Rwanda banned the use of non-biodegradable plastic at a certain thickness in 2008 and carries out strict enforcement, including taking plastic off of luggage and seizing bags that don't meet specifications from visitors flying into the country.

In France this week, the National Assembly approved a bill that would ban plastic bags in all supermarkets and stores on January 1, 2016. And in April, The European Parliament approved rules to clamp down on the use of flimsy plastic bags, removing the last major hurdle to pass the legislation. It would require member states to reduce the use by some 80 percent by 2025.

The U.S. is seeing most bans imposed on local levels, by cities and counties. Senegal's government hasn't announced details on how it will enact the bans, but said alternative solutions to the flimsy bags will have to be found. The discarded bags are an eyesore, shredded and hanging in trees and beautiful flowering branches. And they are a danger to fish, sheep and other animals that may ingest the bags and their toxins.

Modou Fall, who has dedicated himself to getting Senegalese to stop littering and quit using plastic bags, is optimistic about the ban, though he notes that garbage bins are needed around the city so people can properly dispose of trash.

Clad in more than 7,000 thin plastic sacks and a dome cap made from 100 plastic cups stapled together, the tall 42-year-old is a familiar, although bizarre, sight in Dakar. Wearing the plastic items that he gathered from the streets and cleaned, he looks like a creature that emerged from a swamp, the litter clinging to him.

He walks 15 kilometers (9 miles) every day, urging people over a microphone and speaker to stop littering and to switch to paper bags that he sells. He pushes a cart with two Senegalese flags protruding from it and speakers playing military music.

Fall buys bulk paper sacks from a factory and sells about 1,000 per day, including to a pharmacy and other stores. "Plastic sticks around for hundreds of years, beyond anyone's lifetime," he said. "We must think of future generations."

Senegal police attack anti-Wade rally

Sat Feb 18, 2012

Senegalese riot police have attacked opposition activists protesting against President Abdoulaye Wade's bid for a third-term in office.

Riot police fired volleys of tear gas at protesters, who were calling for the departure of the 85-year-old leader on Friday in downtown Dakar.

Police also used grenade launchers to throw tear gas down a wide boulevard in Dakar, hitting a mosque full of worshipers.

Burning tires, debris and rocks filled the streets surrounding Independence Square as police on trucks and on foot chased protesters to prevent them from assembling.

An opposition leader blasted the police violence and called for another demonstration on Saturday.

The activists, who staged the protest in defiance of a government ban, are a part of the June 23 Movement (M23) of opposition and civil society groups that are opposed to Wade's candidacy.

The protesters held their arms up in an X, a symbol used by the opposition activists to indicate the bound hands of the people.

There are fears in Senegal that there may be unrest if Wade is declared the winner of the vote. He has said that he hopes to win a clear majority.

Tensions escalated in Senegal on January 27 after the Constitutional Council, appointed by Wade and known as the “five wise men”, gave the president the green light to run in the February 26 election.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/227264.html.

Senegal grants diplomatic recognition to Libya rebels

May 28, 2011

DAKAR — Senegal announced Saturday it was granting diplomatic recognition to Libya's rebels, saying it regarded the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council as the country's legitimate representative.

The decision by President Abdoulaye Wade comes after he held talks with a top envoy of the Benghazi-based NTC rebels, his office said.

After consultations with the presidents of the two house of parliaments, Wade has decided to "recognize the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people and grants it authorization to open a representative bureau in Dakar," said a statement from the president's office.

The move comes after Wade met in Paris on Friday with Ali Zeidan, a special envoy of the NTC's supremo Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the statement added.

Abdul Jalil spoke last week by telephone with Wade ahead of a key African Union meeting on the conflict in Libya when he asked for the support of Senegal and promised to "respect democratic principles, human rights and to pursue good relations with the AU and the states of Africa".

He also invited Wade to Benghazi, the headquarters of the rebels.

Senegal's neighbor Gambia was one of the first countries to recognize the NTC, along with France, Italy and Qatar.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Senegal retakes all military bases from France

Sun Apr 4, 2010

Marking 50 years of independence from France, Senegal is taking back control of all military bases held by the former colonial power.

President Abdoulaye Wade made the announcement in a televised national address late on Saturday, following an agreement between Paris and Dakar in February.

"I solemnly declare that from 0000 GMT April 4 Senegal will take back all the (military) bases formerly held by France and intends to exert its sovereignty," declared the president.

Under the pact, most of the 1,200 French military personnel are to leave by the end of this year.

France's three permanent military bases in Africa are located in Senegal, Libreville and Djibouti. The Dakar base in Senegal has continued to host 1,200 French military personnel even after independence in 1960.

Earlier, Senegal inaugurated a controversial 49-meter (160-foot) bronze statue called the Monument of African Renaissance, which some of Wade's critics have condemned as a waste of money.

Meanwhile, thousands of protesters decried the 27-million-dollar cost of the statue, which stands higher than the Statue of Liberty.

On Friday, President Nicolas Sarkozy highlighted in a letter that France was "naturally disposed” to maintain military and political ties with Senegal to ensure regional stability.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/122439.html.

Senegalese president warns AU of Sahel terror threat

2010-02-02

A regional effort is necessary to fight al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and arms trafficking in the Sahel, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said on Monday (February 1st) in Addis Ababa. "Terrorism in the Sahel region is growing in power and taking troubling new forms," Journal Tahalil quoted Wade as saying on the sidelines of the 14th Summit of the African Union (AU).

"Countries such as Senegal and Mali can't do everything alone. Insofar as it is an international problem, Western powers must also intervene in the fight against AQIM," he explained.

In related news, Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré met Monday in Bamako with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to discuss the latest developments regarding the French hostage held since November by al-Qaeda. Last week-end, the terrorist organization extended its deadline to Mali and France for the life of Pierre Camatte.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/02/newsbrief-04.

Senegal offers land to Haiti quake victims

PressTV

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade urged African nations on Monday to offer an allotment of land for resettlement to victims of last week's earthquake in Haiti.

"Africa should offer Haitians the chance to return home. It is their right. There is nothing to haggle about," President Abdoulaye Wade said on his website.

In his proposal to the 53-nation African Union published in local newspapers on Monday, Wade asked that Haitians be granted "their own state on African territory, the land of their ancestors."

The disturbing images of the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that has destroyed Port-au-Prince and killed many thousands of people on Tuesday has been broadcast in French-speaking West and Central African states.

Haitian officials say as many as 200,000 people may have been killed, while so far the bodies of 70,000 victims have been recovered and buried in mass graves.

The devastation has deeply touched many of the African continent's officials and residents.

Senegalese officials have been quoted by the local press as saying the country is prepared to offer parcels of fertile land to the victims of the quake.

Senegal has promised USD 1mn to Haiti and is producing a televised fund-raising event to provide additional emergency aid.

Senegal proposes right of return to Africa for Haiti quake victims

Nairobi/Dakar, Senegal (Earth Times) - The victims of last week's earthquake in Haiti should be offered a "right of return" to Africa, says Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, the online edition of the Le Soleil newspaper reported Sunday. Wade argues that because many Haitians are the descendants of slaves forcibly sent to the Western hemisphere, Africa needs to show its hospitality to them, the report said, citing a presidential spokesman.

"They have the same right to African soil as we do. It would be a return home."

Wade plans to present a resolution to that effect before the African Union.

The president noted the example of Liberia, a nation formed of slaves returning to Africa, which showed that such a return is "difficult, but not impossible."

Senegal imams use prayers to condemn giant statue

By Caspar Leighton
BBC News West Africa correspondent

Imams in Senegal have begun a concerted campaign against a giant statue being built in Dakar.

They are using Friday prayers to denounce it as idolatrous and a waste of money.

The Monument to the African Renaissance is a pet project of Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade and will be bigger than the Statue of Liberty when complete.

The main controversy has been the cost - at $27m (£16.6m) it is a big outlay for a poor country.

It is also on questionable aesthetic ground.

The imams are tapping into a strong vein of discontent with the giant statue.

'War of words'

Depicting a muscular man holding aloft a child and sweeping a woman along behind him, it is pure socialist realism - and not very African.

It is being built by North Korea.

Imams agreed a text for Friday sermons quoting the Koran and the Hadith (Islamic sayings), which forms a denunciation of the idolatrous nature of the giant structure.

The protests do come a bit late though, for the statue is almost finished.

The new campaign is an escalation in a long war of words between imams and President Wade.

One imam put it pithily, saying it was not on that the first thing air travelers see of Senegal when their plane descends is a near-naked man and woman.

What sticks in the throats of many Senegalese though is President Wade's plan to charge visitors and pocket a share of the takings himself.

The president says he helped design the statue, so he should share some of the revenue.

Iran to build tractor factory in Senegal

Sat Nov 14, 2009

(PressTV) The Iranian minister of industry and mines says his country plans to set up a tractor production plant in Senegal in the near future.

Ali-Akbar Mehrabian says Iran is ready to 'develop the agriculture industry' in this western African country.

Mehrabian made the remarks in a meeting with Senegalese Foreign Minister Madicke' Niang in Tehran.

He announced that the second phase of an automobile manufacturing plant would go into operation in Senegal to manufacture Iranian cars.

Iran's giant automobile manufacturer, Iran Khodro, built the first phase of its factory in Senegal last year to export its cars to a number of western African countries.

Niang also noted that if the car manufacturing plant is expanded, its output could meet the demands of the Senegalese market as well as those of other African countries.

Based on agreements reached between the two Muslim states, Iran will provide Senegal with locomotives, boxcars, a subway, agricultural machines, cement factories, a refinery and electronic components.

Iran also has agreed to conduct geological and mineral prospecting surveys as well as offer training in various fields in the African state.

Ahmadinejad welcomes Senegal President

Sat Oct 17, 2009

(PressTV) The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has welcomed Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade, to Tehran.

Wade arrived in the Iranian capital at the head of a high-ranking political and economic delegation on Saturday morning.

He was first welcomed by Iran's Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, Sadeq Khalilian, at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport and was officially welcomed by his Iranian counterpart at the presidential office.

The Senegalese chief executive came to Tehran from Bahrain's capital, Manama and will fly to Paris tonight.

The two presidents are scheduled to discuss the current situation in Palestine, the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (Al-Quds) and Israeli war crimes. They are also expected to hold talks about bilateral ties behind closed doors.

Tensions have been high between the Palestinians and Israelis after a group of Jewish radicals broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and attacked Palestinians. About 16 Palestinians were injured in the clashes, according to media reports.

The incident triggered demonstrations in the Palestinian territories and Muslim countries, including Iran, Iraq and Turkey.

Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, has called on Islamic nations to support the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“Islamic nations should fulfill their moral and religious duties to support Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Haniyeh said, adding that the "real Al-Aqsa Mosque fight has started and Arab and Islamic nations should feel responsible for what's going on.”

Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, expressed disapproval over the incursion by Israeli extremists and called on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to force it to halt such violations.