Senegal - The African Mirror

Jan

2021

Hundreds of pelicans found dead in Senegal World Heritage site

SOME 750 pelicans have been found dead in a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Senegal that provides refuge for millions of migratory birds, the country's parks director said. Rangers found the pelicans on January 23 in the Djoudj bird sanctuary, a remote pocket of wetland near the border with Mauritania and a resting place for birds that cross the Sahara Desert into West Africa each year. An unverified video published on local media showed hundreds of pelican carcasses scattered on a beach, muddy and darker than their normally eye-catching white. "We took some samples for screening and we hope…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal’s hospitals stretched

COVID-19

EDWARD McALLISTER and DIADIE BA SENEGAL is rushing to provide more hospital beds for coronavirus patients as infections soar and a lack of capacity means doctors are only able to admit the most severe cases, health officials said. A second wave of new infections and deaths hit record highs this month, forcing President Macky Sall to reimpose a state of emergency that bans gatherings and enforces mask-wearing. Doctors hope that will buy authorities enough time to install new facilities and reopen health centres that were active during the first wave last year but were shuttered as cases dropped in the…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

In Senegal, lack of cold storage limits COVID vaccine options

COVID-19

CHRISTOPHE VAN DER PERRE SENEGAL does not have the capacity to store COVID-19 vaccines at ultra-low temperatures and would prefer to receive vials that can be kept for longer under ordinary refrigeration, the head of the country's vaccination programme said on Monday. A lack of cold storage means Senegal would only be able to keep vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, by China or Russia in the long term, as they do not require a deep freeze, Ousseynou Badiane told Reuters. Those being distributed by Moderna, which require storage at minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 F), and Pfizer and…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal seeking vaccines beyond WHO-backed COVAX scheme

COVID-19

SENEGAL is trying to acquire coronavirus vaccines to complement those it will get through the World Health Organization-backed global COVAX scheme, Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr has told reporters. Senegalese President Macky Sall this week announced a state of emergency to deal with a surge in infections. Senegalese President Macky Sall Unlike Europe, the United States and China, where large-scale vaccination campaigns are underway, most African countries have so far been unable to secure vaccine supply deals with drug companies. That has left some of the world's poorest countries relying on the COVAX alliance, which says it has reached agreements…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal imposes new state of emergency

COVID-19

SENEGAL’S President Macky Sall has announced a new state of emergency in response to record cases of coronavirus sweeping parts of the West African nation. Starting today, a nighttime curfew will be enforced in the regions of Dakar and Thies, which Sall said are home to more than 90% of cases. Mask-wearing will be mandatory and large gatherings banned. The new measures come six months after the first state of emergency was lifted in an attempt to bolster an economy hit hard by restrictions on movement during the first wave of the virus. Senegal has reported 19,964 COVID-19 infections and…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Future or fantasy? Senegal questions ‘Akon City’

AFRICITIES

NELILE PEYTON HERDS of cows meander across the one-lane highway that leads down Senegal's coast to Mbodiene, a farming village surrounded by scrubland where singer Akon plans to build a futuristic city. The designs, which show shiny, pinkish buildings that bend and curve like waves, would look at home in any sci-fi movie. In the master plan, architect Hussein Bakri has carved out space for a parking lot - for flying cars. Akon, the Senegalese-American singer of 2006 hit "Smack That", has said the city will attract tourists and create thousands of jobs. U.S.-based firm KE International said it plans…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Spain to send more police to Senegal to curb illegal migration, says foreign minister

NEWS

SPAIN will increase its police presence in Senegal to tackle criminal networks behind an upsurge in illegal migration from the West African coast to its territory, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya has announced. Laya spoke after meeting her counterpart Amadou Ba in the Senegalese capital Dakar to discuss the crisis, which has seen around 17,000 migrants land on the Canary Islands this year, a more than 1,000% increase from 2019, driven by economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. To encourage would-be migrants to pursue regular channels, Spain will broaden the social security rights of Senegalese citizens legally resident in Spain,…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Unusually heavy rains in Senegal expose big gap in $1.4 bln flood plan

NEWS

ALESSANDRA PRENTICE MORE than two weeks after heavy rains hit Senegal, thigh-high stagnant water still fills streets in Dakar's suburbs, as angry residents ask what happened to a $1.4 billion government plan to protect citizens from rising flood risk. Three months' worth of rain fell on September 5, forcing over 3,200 people to abandon their homes in the poor, low-lying outskirts of the capital and nearby region of Thies. "My children used sand, rocks, whatever was available to stop the water," said Fatou Dioum, whose family of 10 moved to emergency shelter in Dakar's Keur Massar district. Many stricken residents…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Senegal activates emergency floods aid plan after downpour

NEWS

SENEGALESE President Macky Sall has activated an emergency aid plan after a seven-hour downpour caused widespread floods. Water Minister Serigne Mbaye Thiam told national television that more rain fell on a single day on Saturday than the country would usually see during three months of the rainy season. Senegalese President Macky Sall. Photo: © European Union 2013 - European Parliament "This is an exceptional rainfall. We registered 124 millimetres of rain. This is the cumulative rain we get during the whole rainy season from July to September," Thiam said. At least one person was reported missing due to the floods…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Senegal’s first female pro surfer draws others in her wake

SPORT

ZOHRA BENSEMRA GROWING up in the coastal capital of Dakar, Khadjou Sambe never saw a Black woman surfing the Atlantic swells. As Senegal's first female professional surfer, Sambe is now inspiring the next generation to defy cultural norms and take to the waves. Undeterred by the postponement of the Olympic Games, Sambe trains whenever conditions allow in the powerful surf break near her home in the hardscrabble district of Ngor - the westernmost point of the African continent. "When I am in the water I feel something extraordinary, something special in my heart," Sambe said, wearing a t-shirt of the…