The publication was not, a priori, controversial. The idea of autonomous Casamance. Possibilities and moral debts of the colonial situation in Senegalby Séverine Awenengo Dalberto, is an academic history work published by the French editions Karthala, specializing in the human sciences, and particularly Africa.
But the book is making headlines in Senegal and is even taking part in the campaign for the legislative elections, scheduled for November 17. On the night of Friday 1is On Saturday, November 2, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko forcefully attacked this work during a meeting in Ziguinchor, the Casamance capital: “If this Frenchwoman wants to write, she only has to write about Corsica or New Caledonia, which are demanding their independence (…) She does not have to write about Senegal. »
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The head of government also promises that the book “will not be marketed” in Senegal. And adds, as if the publication was part of a political machinery: “I want to say to France, I don’t know what is behind this affair (…) Now that there is a new regime which imposes its sovereignty, we are being given a book…”
Casamance is still a sensitive subject in Senegal, even if, on the ground, the conflict which broke out more than forty years ago is no longer of low intensity. The latest operations by the Senegalese army, in 2022, have left an already weakened armed independence movement bloodless. But the criminal activities of independence factions as well as antipersonnel mines continue to injure or kill.
Ousmane Sonko accused of sympathy with rebels
The controversy surrounding Séverine Awenengo Dalberto's book had been growing for several days already. On October 20, Yoro Dia, journalist and former spokesperson for former president Macky Sall, posted a message on the social network “resuscitate Diamacoune’s theses”named after Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, leader who died in 2007 of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance, a Casamance independence organization which took up arms in 1982.
The Alliance for the Republic, Mr. Sall's party, seized on the theme of this book to better target Mr. Sonko and denounce the “muteness of the new authorities”. While in opposition, Mr. Sonko, who has Casamance origins, was the target of accusations, most often implicit, of separatism or sympathy with Casamance rebels. Faced with the proportion taken by the affair, the bookstore Aux 4 vents, in Dakar, which had organized a meeting with the author on October 26, canceled the event.
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The book affair divides on social networks and in the daily press. Supporters of the Prime Minister admit that they do not understand this agitation. Others applaud his speech. Renowned Senegalese intellectuals and academics have supported the author or regretted the political exploitation of her book, such as the teacher Rama Salla Dieng or the historian Ibrahima Thioub. In a column entitled “Defending the profession of historian”, the latter recalls the importance of research on the construction of African States and the territorial issues resulting from decolonization. He emphasizes that Séverine Awenengo Dalberto has been working on these subjects for around twenty years.
A precedent in 2010
Ironically, the book, described by its detractors as French interference in a national affair, actually draws heavily from an intellectual toolbox drawn from critical postcolonial studies. From the introduction, the author warns: “It is not a question of establishing the historical bases for an independence claimed since 1982 as a right acquired in the past. » And emphasizes that the idea of autonomy for the Senegalese region “was forged in the colonial experience”.
This is not the first time that a book concerning the Casamance has sparked political excitement. In 2010, The Casamance conflictby Jean-Claude Marut, already published by Karthala, had been blocked by Senegalese customs. Since then, it has been available over the counter across the country.
The French publishing house Karthala has not been contacted by the Dakar authorities regarding a possible ban on the distribution of the book in the country. In the meantime, Mr. Sonko's speech has provoked curiosity: dozens of online purchases of the digital version of the book from Senegal have taken place since his denouncing remarks.
