ABOUT SENEGAL

Le Sénégal est situé en Afrique de l'Ouest, Il a une population estimée de 13 million de personnes et une superficie totale d'environ 197,000 km2. La population du pays est constitué de 94 cent et musulmans 5 cent chrétiens (Catholique romaine principalement). Bien que le français est la langue officielle, Wolof, Pulaar, Jola et mandingues dialectes sont également largement parlées. La capitale du Sénégal est Dakar qui est situé sur le point de la côte de l'Afrique plus à l'ouest. Senegal gained its independence in 1960, following about 75 ans de domination française et est une république démocratique régie sous le régime multipartite basé sur le système de droit civil français, making the country a location of choice for many foreign embassies and international banks as the headquarters for the West African region. Senegal lies within the Sahel, the semi-desert, or Savannah region that forms a broad band across Africa between the Sahara desert to the north and the forested countries to the south. The landscape is generally low, rolling plains rising to foothills in the southeast. The climate is tropical, avec une saison chaude et humide et humide de mai à Octobre. La saison sèche commence en Novembre et dure jusqu'à Avril dominé par des vents chauds Harmattan. Senegal’s economy is based on agriculture, primarily groundnuts, cotton, grain crops, livestock and fishing; Autres industries comprennent principalement la transformation des aliments, gold, iron ore, mines de phosphate, engrais, la production de ciment, produits et des services pétroliers en aval. Les thèses sont le principal contributeur au PIB du Sénégal.

The estimated 2011 GDP breakdown by sector is: agriculture 15.4%; industry 22.6% (minerals industry approximately 20%) and services 61.9%. The minerals industry is responsible for approximately 20% of Senegal’s export earnings. Foreign exchange is also derived from tourism. Agriculture soutient plus des trois quarts du gouvernement force.Procédé du travail est généralement pro-minière et adopté un nouveau Code minier en Novembre 2003. Under the Mining Code, appropriate governmental authorization is required to undertake any form of mining activity. In this regard, the right to explore minerals is conferred only by a permit of exploitation or a mining concession. An exploration permit for mineral exploration activities is granted for a period not exceeding three years, and is renewable. During the exploration phase, the permit holder is exempt from sales tax and duties on imported equipment and supplies necessary for exploration activities, as well as on fuel used for operation of stationary installations. Following exploration success, the permit holder may enter into a mining contract agreement with the State, which provides the State a free carried interest of 10% of the project. Under the Senegalese Mining Code, numerous fiscal incentives are offered to mining license holders, including a minimum seven-year exemption from income tax, among other tax exemptions, and the opportunity to secure a lease of up to 25 years for a major project. All mining activities are subject to a royalty of 3% of the value of the mine site payable to the Government.

Les sociétés minières étrangères sont autorisées à profits.Senegal expatriés (French: le Sénégal), officially the Republic of Senegal (République du Sénégal, IPA: [ʁepyblik dy seneɡal]), is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. It owes its name to the river that borders it to the East and North and that originates from the Fouta Djallon in Guinea. Senegal is externally bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south; En interne, il entoure presque complètement de la Gambie, namely on the north, east and south, exempting Gambia’s short Atlantic Ocean coastline. Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, is located at the westernmost tip of the country on the Cap-Vert peninsula. About 300 miles off the coast, de l'océan Atlantique, qui se trouvent près des îles du Cap-Vert. During colonial times, de nombreux comptoirs commerciaux appartenant à différents empires coloniaux, were established along the coast. La ville de St. Louis devint la capitale de l'Afrique occidentale française (Afrique-Occidentale Française, or AOF) before it was moved to Dakar in 1902. Dakar later became its capital in 1960 at the time of independence from France.

History

Archaeological findings throughout the area indicate that Senegal was inhabited in prehistoric times. Eastern Senegal was once part of the Empire of Ghana. It was founded by the Tukulor in the middle valley of the Senegal River. Islam, the dominant religion in Senegal, first came to the region in the 11th century. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the area came under the influence of the empires to the east; the Jolof Empire of Senegal also was founded during this time. In the Senegambia region, between 1300 et 1900, près d'un tiers de la population était asservi. Various European powers—Portugal, the Netherlands, and Great Britain—competed for trade in the area from the 15th century onward, until in 1677, France ended up in possession of what had become a minor slave trade departure point—the island of Gorée next to modern Dakar, utilisé comme une base pour acheter des esclaves des chefferies en guerre sur le continent.

The first kingdoms were created around the 7th century, the Tekrour, the Namandirou kingdom and then the Djolof with distant ties to the Ghana empire. In the 14th century the Djolof kingdom became a powerful empire having regrouped the Cayor, the Baol, the Sine and Saloum, the Waalo, the Fouta-Toro and the Bambouk kingdoms. The empire was founded by Ndiadiane N’diaye who was able to form a coalition with many ethnicities but collapsed around 1549 with the defeat and killing of Lele Fouli Fak by Amari Ngone Sobel Fall. French colonialists progressively invaded and took over all kingdoms under their governor Louis Faidherbe. Islam was introduced in Senegal between the 8th and 9th century by Berber merchants. They peacefully converted the Toucouleurs and Sarakholles who in turn propagated it. Later on, in the 11th century, the Almoravids, with the help of the Toucouleurs used Jihad as a mean of conversion. This movement faced resistance from ethnicities of traditional religion and caused them to moved away further in the country (Sineisties) and to the South( Casamance). Eventually, Berbers won a peaceful conversion thanks to the intervention of leaders like Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba ,El Hadj Malick Sy, and Seydina Limamou Laye who were able to convince their followers. They saw Islam as a way to unite and fight against colonial power. The populations were getting weary of repeated jihads and forced colonization. Europeans missionaries introduced Christianity to the Sine and Casamance in the 19th century. An emblematic figure of Casamance is Aline Sitoe Diatta, a woman who led the resistance movement against European colonialists.

It was only in the 1850s that the French began to expand onto the Senegalese mainland (by now rid of slavery and promoting abolitionist doctrine), adding native chiefdoms such as Waalo, Cayor, Baol, and Jolof. Senegalese chiefs’ resistance to the French expansion and curtailing of their lucrative slave trade was led in part by Lat-Dior, Damel (great chief) of Cayor. In January 1959 Senegal and the French Sudan merged to form the Mali Federation, which became fully independent on 20 June 1960, as a result of the independence and the transfer of power agreement signed with France on 4 April 1960. Due to internal political difficulties, the Federation broke up on August 20. Senegal and French Sudan (renamed the Republic of Mali) proclaimed independence. Léopold Senghor was proclaimed Senegal’s first president in September 1960. Senghor was a very well read man, educated in France. He was a poet, a philosopher and personally drafted the Senegalese national anthem, “Pincez tous vos koras, frappez les balafons”. As such he was not really a politician but was handed the presidency by the French authorities who saw in him a brilliant and peaceful man and not a revolutionary like Ahmed Sekou Toure of the neighboring Guinea.

Later, after the breakup of the Mali Federation, President Senghor and Prime Minister Mamadou Dia governed together under a parliamentary system. Senghor always feared his Prime Minister who was a very charismatic figure and a hard-liner. In December 1962, he accused him of an attempted coup and Dia was wrongfully convicted of treason and briefly jailed. Senegal adopted a new constitution that consolidated the president’s power. In 2006, the current president Abdoulaye Wade vacated the conviction and bestowed upon him a Medal of Honor. In 1980, President Senghor decided to retire from politics, and he handed power over in 1981 to his handpicked successor, Abdou Diouf. Mamadou Dia a couru pour la réélection en 1983 contre Abdou Diouf, mais n'a pas gagné l'élection. Senghor moved to France where he later died at the age of 96 having been married to a French woman. Le Sénégal a rejoint avec la Gambie pour former la confédération de Sénégambie le 1er Février 1982. However, the union was dissolved in 1989. Despite peace talks, a southern separatist group in the Casamance region had clashed sporadically with government forces since 1982. Le Sénégal a eu une longue histoire de participation maintien de la paix internationale. Abdou Diouf was president between 1981 et 2000. He encouraged broader political participation, reduced government involvement in the economy, and widened Senegal’s diplomatic engagements, particularly with other developing nations. Domestic politics on occasion spilled over into street violence, border tensions, and a violent separatist movement in the southern region of the Casamance. Nevertheless, Senegal’s commitment to democracy and human rights strengthened. Diouf served four terms as president. In the presidential election of 1999, opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade defeated Diouf in an election deemed free and fair by international observers. Senegal experienced its second peaceful transition of power, and its first from one political party to another. Le 30 Décembre, 2004 President Abdoulaye Wade announced that he would sign a peace treaty with the separatist group in the Casamance region. This, however, has yet to be implemented. There was a round of talks in 2005, but the results did not yet yield a resolution.

Geography

Le Sénégal est situé sur la partie ouest du continent africain. The Senegalese landscape consists mainly of the rolling sandy plains of the western Sahel which rise to foothills in the southeast. Ceci est également jugée point le plus élevé du Sénégal, an otherwise unnamed feature near Nepen Diakha at 584 m (1,916 ft). The northern border is formed by the Senegal River, other rivers include the Gambia and Casamance Rivers. The capital Dakar lies on the Cap-Vert peninsula, the westernmost point of continental Africa.

The Cape Verde islands lie some 560 kilometers (348 mi) off the Senegalese coast, but Cap Vert (“Cape Green”) est un lieu-marque maritime, set at the foot of “Les Mammelles” , a 105-metre (344 ft) cliff resting at one end of the Cap Vert peninsula onto which is settled Senegal’s capital Dakar, et 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south of the “Pointe des Almadies”, the western-most point in Africa.

Administrative Divisions

Senegal is subdivided into 14 regions, each administered by a Conseil Régional (Regional Council) elected by population weight at the Arrondissement level. The country is further subdivided by 45 Départements, 103 Arrondissements (neither of which have administrative function) and by Collectivités Locales, qui élire agents administratifs.

Regional capitals have the same name as their respective regions:

Economy

In January 1994 Senegal undertook a bold and ambitious economic reform program with the support of the international donor community. This reform began with a 50 percent devaluation of Senegal’s currency, the CFA franc, which was linked at a fixed rate to the former French franc and now to the euro. Government price controls and subsidies have been steadily dismantled. After seeing its economy retract by 2.1 percent in 1993, Senegal made an important turnaround, thanks to the reform program, with real growth in GDP averaging 5 percent annually during the years 1995–2001. Annual inflation was reduced to less than 1%, but rose again to an estimated 3.3% in 2001. Investment increased steadily from 13.8% du PIB en 1993 à 16.5% in 1997. Ceci à son tour a provoqué l'économie du Sénégal pour être l'un des plus rapide croissance dans le monde.

The main industries include food processing, mining, cement, artificial fertilizer, chemicals, textiles, refining imported petroleum, and tourism. Exports include fish, chemicals, cotton, fabrics, groundnuts, and calcium phosphate, and the principal foreign market is India at 26.7 percent of exports (as of 1998). Other foreign markets include the US, Italy, and the UK. As a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Senegal is working toward greater regional integration with a unified external tariff. Senegal is also a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA). Senegal realized full Internet connectivity in 1996, creating a mini-boom in information technology-based services. Private activity now accounts for 82 pour cent du PIB. On the negative side, Sénégal fait face à des problèmes urbains profondes de chômage chronique élevé, socioeconomic disparity, and juvenile delinquency. Senegal is a major recipient of international development assistance. Donors include USAID, Japan, France and China. Over 3000 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Senegal since 1963.

Ethnicity

Senegal has a wide variety of ethnic groups and, as in most West African countries, several languages are widely spoken. The Wolof are the largest single ethnic group in Senegal at 43 percent; the Peul and Toucouleur (also known as Halpulaar, Fulbe or Fula) (24 percent) are the second biggest group, followed by others that include the Serer (15 percent), Lebou (10 percent), Jola (4 percent), Mandinka (3 percent), Maures or Naarkajors, Soninke, Bassari and many smaller communities (9 percent). (See also the Bedick ethnic group.) About 50,000 Europeans (mostly French) et libanaise ainsi que de plus petits nombres de Mauritaniens et Marocains résident au Sénégal, mainly in the cities. La majorité du travail libanais dans le commerce. Also located primarily in urban settings are small Vietnamese communities as well as a growing number of Chinese immigrant traders, chacun comptant peut-être quelques centaines de personnes. There are also tens of thousands of Mauritanian refugees in Senegal, principalement dans le nord du pays.

From the time of earliest contact between Europeans and Africans along the coast of Senegal, particularly after the establishment of coastal trading posts during the fifteenth century, communities of mixed African and European (mostly French and Portuguese) origin have thrived. Migrants capverdiens et leurs descendants vivant dans les zones urbaines et dans la région de la Casamance représentent une autre communauté reconnue d'origine africaine et européenne. French is the official language, used regularly by a minority of Senegalese educated in a system styled upon the colonial-era schools of French origin (Koranic schools are even more popular, but Arabic is not widely spoken outside of this context of recitation). Most people also speak their own ethnic language while, especially in Dakar, Wolof is the lingua franca. Pulaar is spoken by the Peuls and Toucouleur. Portuguese Creole is a prominent minority language in Ziguinchor, regional capital of the Casamance, where some residents speak Kriol, primarily spoken in Guinea-Bissau. Cape Verdeans speak their native creole, Cape Verdean Creole, and standard Portuguese.

Culture

Senegal’s musical heritage is better known than that of most African countries, due to the popularity of mbalax, which is a form of Wolof percussive; it has been popularized by Youssou N’Dour. Sabar drumming is especially popular. The sabar is mostly used in special celebrations like weddings. Another instrument, the tama, is used in more ethnic groups. Other popular Senegalese musicians are Ismael Lô, Orchestra Baobab, Baba Maal, Thione Seck, Akon, Viviane, Titi, and Pape Diouf.