Dakar, Dec 21 (APS) – The festival of black cultures and African diasporas, the second edition of which began on Friday in Dakar, is a commemoration of the friendships maintained during their lifetime by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Aimé Césaire, recalled, Thursday, in Dakar, the Secretary of State for Culture, Cultural and Creative Industries and Historical Heritage, Bakary Sarr.
The event is organized by the Association for the Development of Djilor Djidiack, on the theme “Senghor and Césaire: a bridge across the Atlantic, a link between Africa and the Caribbean”.
Addressing the organizers of this festival scheduled for four days, Mr. Sarr estimated that “commemorating this friendship between the two poets is a way of maintaining the link between the diaspora and the African continent, beyond the two men”.
The first meeting between the poet Léopold Senghor (1906-2001), first president of independent Senegal, and his Martinican counterpart Aimé Césaire (1913-2008), laid the foundations of a transatlantic bridge reconciling Africa and its West Indian diaspora, recalled Mr. Sarr.
“Basse pointe and Djilor-Djidiack came to meet, beyond two communities found each other. A bridge across the Atlantic had just been built connecting Africa and its West Indian diaspora,” he declared while presiding over the opening of the event.
The first discussion between the two men was brief, but, he said, “the main thing was done, a friendship was established. Indelible, it has resisted distance, absence and even death.”
“It is therefore this bridge that you have come to maintain, it is this fraternity that you want to proclaim even in the cages of the kingdom of childhood”, he insisted, in allusion to the fact that the program of festival will continue in Djilor Djidiack, homeland of Léopold Sédar Senghor, in the Fatick region.
According to Secretary of State Bakary Sarr, the numerous visits by Senegalese officials underline and prove “the loyalty and friendship that the Republic of Senegal has towards Césaire, Martinique and the entire Afro-Caribbean diaspora” .
If we were to prove the complicity between the two poets, it is enough to question the creation of the word Négritude, because “Senghor and Césaire deliberately kept the paternity of this word unclear”, each attributing it to the other, – he noted.
Adams Kouyaté, who came to represent Martinique, describes the friendship between Senghor and Césaire as “fundamental, initiatory”.
“Césaire carried this friendship within him, he lived it,” he said, revealing that the Martinican poet had been “very affected” when he learned of the disappearance of Léopold Sédar Senghor on December 20, 2001.
In connection with this festival, the commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of the disappearance of the first president of Senegal 1960-1981 took place in a festive atmosphere, with the contribution of the women of Joal, Senghor's childhood kingdom. The latter, who traveled from Dakar, provided great entertainment to the applause of the public.
People who had known Léopold Sédar Senghor also spoke about the person and work of the first Senegalese president.
General Mamadou Mansour Seck, former chief of staff of the Senegalese armies and former Senegalese ambassador to the United States, presented Senghor as “someone very disciplined, punctual and open-minded”.
“He is someone who has always campaigned for black and Afro-descendant people,” he adds, returning to his positions, particularly regarding “the Thiaroye massacre and the Négritude movement.” “.
Jean Gérard Bosio, former cultural advisor to poet president Senghor, took this opportunity to hand over Senghor's latest manuscript to Secretary of State Bakary Sarr.
He largely returned to the intellectual dimension of President Senghor, particularly his fight for African civilization.
Adrienne Diop, speaking on behalf of the family, welcomed the holding of this event and congratulated the organizers.
“I am very happy that this time, we were not limited to the traditional presence at the Bel Air cemetery, but that there were four days to revisit the childhood kingdom of Senghor,” he said. -she said.
After a first day which started with the laying of a wreath at the Catholic cemetery of Bel Air, in Dakar, the festival program will continue until Tuesday in Djilor Djidiack, in the Fatick region.
TAB/FKS/BK/ADL
