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Visiting Dakar on Tuesday December 20, Gérald Darmanin spoke with his counterpart Félix-Antoine Diome on cooperation to fight against drug trafficking, and in particular crack, in Paris. The French and Senegalese ministers have worked to minimize.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
The French Minister of the Interior said Tuesday in Dakar that he wanted to cut short the ” rumor about heavy drug trafficking between the two countries. ” There are not, in any case, not in very large quantities, drugs circulating between Senegal and France.e, said Gérald Darmanin, so what we have to do with our Senegalese friends is not to work so much on drug flows (…) But we have to talk more about the few people who participate in trafficking, especially in Paris. We already have excellent cooperation on this point. »
In May 2021, the candidate for the French presidential election Eric Zemmour said: ” All crack dealers are Senegalese ». The government had protested in Dakar.
« A marginal issue »
For Senegalese Interior Minister Félix-Antoine Diome, nationalities should not be stigmatized: “ There may be Senegalese living in France who are being prosecuted for certain offences, just as there may be French people living in Senegal who are being prosecuted for offenses of this nature. So that is a marginal question, first in relation to our discussions, but even in relation to the scale of the phenomenon. There are often clichés that need to be broken. »
Crack trafficking and consumption in Paris is a highly publicized issue in France. Gérald Darmanin demanded in July that crack, a smokable and highly addictive derivative of cocaine, be eradicated from Paris within a year.
During this visit, discussions also focused on securing the Youth Olympic Games, scheduled for Senegal in 2026.
We have to put more human resources at the Consulate General of France
Gerald Darmanin, French Minister of the Interior