On January 6, 2025 in Paris, on the occasion of the Conference of Ambassadors, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that “for all African leaders who did not have the courage to express their opinions public, none of them would be with a sovereign country today if the French army had not been deployed in this region. To this, the Prime Minister of Senegal Ousmane Sonko responds by writing that “France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to ensure Africa’s security and sovereignty.” Further in his own speech, Emmanuel antagonizes Macron, bringing grist to Sonko’s mill by specifying that “we left because there were coups d’état, because we were there at the request of sovereign states who had asked France to come. » All that for that?
The Elysian exercise in geopolitician geopolitics to which Ousmane Sonko hastily invited himself distracts from an extraordinary Senegalese advance which means that the country of Teranga Since 2012, let’s say, every day more, it has given itself the means for its international sovereignty and the internal peace it needs for its exceptional contribution to the major African debates and its economic and social development.
Of our international sovereignty
In accordance with the spirit and letter of two press releases from the African Union on the situation in Ukraine at the start of the clashes with Russia, the press release from the Council of Ministers of Wednesday March 2, 2022 reaffirms “Senegal’s attachment to respect of the independence and sovereignty of States, as well as the application without discrimination of the rules of international humanitarian law, particularly in situations of conflict.” Added to this is “Senegal’s adherence to the principles of Non-alignment and the peaceful settlement of disputes”. “Macky aligns with non-alignment”, headlines the daily The Echoes dated Thursday March 3, 2022. The newspaper then mentions Senegal’s abstention during the emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly examining the resolution on the situation in Ukraine.
Although the data, initially from the Economist Intelligence Unit, shows that Senegal’s level of military capability and sophistication, ranked 1-5 (low-high), based on a qualitative assessment of military sophistication and extent of military research and development, is greater than that of all other ECOWAS member countries, Senegal remains committed to a post-Clausewitzian (war-free) world order. We then easily understand why the United Nations turns to Senegal when it comes to maintaining the peace found in Africa south of the Sahara and everywhere else in the world.
International and domestic peace
In terms of peace, two indicators from the Global Peace Index – and not the only ones – show that Senegal has the stature of a large country. The indicators in question are the Overall Level of Peace ranked 1-5 (high-low) and the Level of funding for UN peacekeeping missions ranked 1-5 (low-high) received by the country.
According to the Global Peace Index – an independent organization – the overall level of peace in Senegal shows that our country is doing better than the two largest economic powers in the world, China and the United States of America (See graphs 1 and 2 in illustration of the text)
-As we often hear here, “Senegal is a country of peace”. Senegal is even a country of great peace compared to Germany (Graph 3) and France (Graph 4).
It appears from the last two graphs (3 and 4) that even if Germany and France outperform Senegal in terms of overall level of peace, our country is helping the two largest nations in the European Union and almost all other nations around the world when we look at the second indicator of the Global Peace Index (Graphs 5 and 6), that is to say the level of financing of United Nations peacekeeping missions ranked 1-5 (low-high) received by the country.
We are the world when it comes to maintaining peace. What about the economy, currency and development?
There is no doubt that in light of what has just been said, there is no immediate positive correlation between peace and development in Senegal. We must nevertheless ask ourselves why our undisputed global leadership in matters of internal peace and the maintenance of peace in the world still does not earn us the compensation that the Senegalese have the right to expect. Our leaders since our accession to international sovereignty are all legitimated to demand said compensation in exchange for our commitment in all areas of conflict in the world. When it does not manifest itself in the form of massive funding coming from industrialized countries which are looking towards Senegal for the return of peace in the world, our country is justified in obtaining, because of its world leadership in matters of peace, a casting vote which definitively authorizes it to indicate a direction followed by all our technical and financial partners and the United Nations in the crucial areas of monetary sovereignty through the Eco or any other alternative mechanism, inclusive growth and development economic and social.
It is time for the diplomatic Cartesianism of Senegal to which Ousmane Sonko must be initiated to ensure the country a level of economic and social development based above all on the no less Cartesian idea of counterpart. It is to this reflection that we invite the Prime Minister to move away from the global judgments of which the electorate of his faction is less and less fooled due to post-electoral disenchantment growing every day. However, President Diomaye was clear with his Prime Minister on December 31, 2024: “I know that every Senegalese household aspires to better living conditions, increased social justice and the certainty that the State truly serves the general interest . It is to respond to this legitimate aspiration that the Prime Minister, Mr. Ousmane Sonko, in whom I reiterate my absolute confidence, presented his General Policy Declaration to the National Assembly. »
One thing is certain: the raw data highlighted in this column show that it is not enough to invite oneself to the crazy Parisian recreation of geopolitician geopolitics to conform, although it is time, to the spirit and to the letter of President Faye’s last address to the Nation. The latter will, when the time comes, initial small and not so small agreements between Senegalese and French diplomats on behalf of the two sovereign states.
