news in senegal

Dakar, Feb 20 (APS) – Magistrate Aly Ciré Ba was appointed First President of the Supreme Court during the meeting of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) held on Monday, APS has learned.

Aly Ciré Ba, previously First President of the Dakar Court of Appeal, replaces Cheikh Tidiane Coulibaly in this position, admitted to asserting his rights to a retirement pension.

Abdou Karim Diop, previously Deputy Public Prosecutor at the High Court of Dakar, becomes Public Prosecutor at the said court.

He replaces Amady Diouf promoted to the post of first president of the Court of Appeal of Dakar.

The judiciary experienced a vast upheaval following the meeting of the CSM.

Dakar, Feb 20 (APS) – The Director of the Environment and Classified Establishments, Baba Dramé, has announced the forthcoming establishment of an institutional framework for the management of electronic and electrical waste.

”Currently the State is working on a decree which will organize the management of waste electronic and electrical equipment”, said Mr. Dramé.

He spoke on Monday with journalists on the sidelines of a workshop organized to create a framework for exchanges between the Project for the Promotion of Integrated Management and the Economy of Solid Waste in Senegal (PROMOGED) and the National Committee climate change (COMNACC).

The objective is to support policies to combat climate change.

“Electronic and electrical waste, he said, is hazardous waste and is increasing more and more in a modern world.”

He recalled that “each of us uses electronic devices which at the end of their life become electronic waste, also called e-waste”.

”So, he further argued, we must recycle them, and neutralize all substances that can negatively impact our health and our environment”.

Beyond the management of e-waste, he continued, “the most relevant thing is to make all the texts that organize solid waste management in Senegal consistent”. ”That is to say waste electrical, electronic, biomedical equipment, or even from municipalities”, specified the Director of the Environment and Classified Establishments.

According to him, “we need a system of coherence that will make it possible to be more efficient, to manage this waste in an ecologically rational way”.

”This is a central concern of the State of Senegal with all the partners involved,” added Mr. Dramé.

The Director General of PROMOGED, Ibrahima Diagne and the Director General of SONAGED, Mass Thiam, as well as several partners involved in climate change issues took part in this workshop.

Dakar, Feb 19 (APS) – The National Audiovisual Regulatory Council (CNRA) declares that it is “constant and determined” to “not let anyone broadcast, for hours and live, scenes of violence involving children and adolescents”.

In a statement, the CNRA, ”right in its boots”, wants to be ”inflexible” on this issue which should not be politicized, according to the text received from its president, Babacar Diagne.

“The media regulatory body will not allow anyone to broadcast, for hours and live, scenes of violence involving children and adolescents,” reads the statement, alluding to the CNRA’s decision to suspend , last February 10 and for seven days, the broadcast of Walf TV programs.

He accuses this private television of having broadcast “looped images showing violence” in Mbacké (center), “in total violation of the regulations” of the audiovisual sector.

The CNRA had warned in its decision that in the event of a repeat offence, following the resumption of the broadcasting of its programmes, Walf TV “might see its agreement terminated definitively”.

The CNRA’s criticisms of Walf TV stem from coverage of a rally that Pastef, the party of opponent Ousmane Sonko, held in Mbacké on 10 February.

The security forces prevented the meeting of Mr. Sonko, mayor of Ziguinchor (south) and candidate for the presidential election of 2024, with his supporters.

Prohibited from accessing the boulevard where their demonstration was to be held, the opponent and his supporters turned back, traversing the streets of the city in several cars.

”On this issue, despite the rallies and other vociferations, the CNRA will remain constant and determined”, assures the regulator in its statement sent to APS on Sunday.

Babacar Diagne asserts that “the ‘sold airtime’ argument put forward as a line of defense by Walf TV is simply unacceptable, especially since two years ago the company was put on notice and sanctioned for acts of the same nature.

“We are facing a case of recidivism”, argues the regulator, arguing that the damage of screen violence on children and adolescents is “an indisputable fact, scientifically proven”. ”So there might be no specificity on this issue. No regulator in the world would accept it”, argues Babacar Diagne.

”It’s regarding the future of our children and our country”

He says he refuses to dwell ”on the completely inadequate comparisons between the events of the Capitol and the Yellow Vests that occurred in countries where children are very protected”.

The president of the CNRA alludes to the attack perpetrated once morest the Capitol, the seat of the American legislative power, in Washington, by people presented as supporters of former American president Donald Trump.

This assault on January 6, 2021 was part of a context of contestation of the results of the 2020 American presidential election.

Babacar Daigne also suggests that the facts for which the Walf TV signal was suspended are not comparable to the social movement that appeared in France from October 2018, including the Yellow Vests – name given by allusion to the yellow vests worn by protesters – are the protesting tip.

The Walfadjri group, claiming to be the victim of “relentlessness”, organized a protest sit-in on Friday in which politicians, but also media and civil society figures participated.

Some attendees of this rally compared media coverage of the Capitol events and Yellow Vest protests with the way Walf TV broadcast the banned Pastef rally.

”I understand the propensity of our compatriots to politicize all issues, but this cannot be politicized, commented Babacar Diagne. This is regarding the future of our children and our country.”

Touba, Feb 18 (APS) – The second Caliph General of Serigne Touba, Serigne Fallou Mbacké, whose birth anniversary is celebrated through the ”Kaju Rajab” magal, has contributed a lot to the consolidation of a strong Senegalese nation, the government spokesman said on Saturday in Touba.

“Serigne Fallou Mbacké contributed a lot to building the Senegalese nation, especially in the 1960s,” said Abdou Karim Fofana, who is also Minister of Commerce, Consumer Affairs and SMEs.

He led the government delegation during the official ceremony of the magal of “Kaju Rajab”, the last act of this annual religious event.

Mr. Fofana hailed “the human, social and spiritual dimension” of the second Caliph of the Mourides, of whom he recalled the good relations with the first Senegalese president, Léopold Senghor.

He assured that the State of Senegal will continue to support religious homes.

The spokesman for the Caliph General of the Mourides, Serigne Bassirou Mbacké Abdou Khadr, saluted the memory of Serigne Fallou Mbacké, before inviting the faithful to strictly respect the sacredness of the religious city of Touba.

Serigne Ahmadou Rafahi Mbacké, on behalf of the Caliph of the family of Serigne Fallou Mbacké, thanked the various delegations and personalities who contributed to the success of the 2023 edition of the “Kaju Rajab”.

The governor of Diourbel, Ibrahima Fall, the mayor of the city of Touba, Abdou Lahad Kâ, as well as the minister-adviser Cheikh Abdoul Ahad Mbacké Gaïndé Fatma were present at the closing ceremony.

The Magal of “Kaju Rajab” is the second biggest religious event of the Mouride community. It marks the anniversary of the birth of Serigne Fallou Mbacké, second Caliph of the Mourides.