Ziguinchor, Dec 6 (APS) – Urban development operations in Ziguinchor (south) and their share of frustrated people were real triggering factors of the crisis in Casamance in the 1970s, the teacher-researcher estimated Friday in Ziguinchor Paul Diédhiou.
“One of the factors triggering the crisis in Casamance is urban development commonly called housing development,” recalled Paul Diédhiou.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a forum on the theme “Urban planning, land conflicts, territorial religions and cultural heritage: case of the commune of Ziguinchor and surrounding areas” at the initiative of the Assane Seck University of Ziguinchor (UASZ ).
The UASZ organized this forum through its Interdisciplinary Research Center for Languages, Literatures, History, Arts and Cultures (CREILHAC) in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (FKA).
Religious people, cultural actors, academics and doctoral students took part in the meeting.
“From the 1970s, there was the subdivision of the city of Ziguinchor and that created conflicts and frustrated people who returned to the maquis. This is why we said that we should work on this theme as a reminder to the populations of Ziguinchor and elsewhere,” added Professor Diédhiou.
“In planning, we do not take into account the opinions of the populations. We do not take cultural realities into account,” observed Paul Diédhiou, teacher-researcher in the sociology department of Assane Seck University in Ziguinchor.
He considers this way of doing things to be a “source of problems”.
According to him, “apart from the marginalization of local religions by revealed religions, the territorial development undertaken in the various localities of Ziguinchor and surrounding areas has caused the destruction of numerous places of worship.”
Which according to him “compromises interreligious dialogue and secularism and sometimes creates conflicts”.
He explained that this forum will make it possible to restore and share the results obtained during field surveys.
‘We have been collaborating with Professor Paul Diédhiou on research for five years. The studies are extremely important for understanding certain phenomena,” recalled the resident representative of the FKA in Senegal, Caroline Hauptmann.
“The university must open up to its environment. Through this forum, we want to initiate our doctoral students to develop a project, to go into the field to carry out studies and present them,” added Paul Diédhiou.
MNF/ASG/MTN
