DAKAR, Oct 8 (AFP) - Senegal's football captain Aliou Cisse, currently
playing in the English Midlands, announced Tuesday that he will donate five
million CFA francs (more than 7,600 dollars/euros) to the families of
nearly 1, 000 people who died in a ferry disaster off the coast of west
Africa last month.
"Given all that has happened, I offer my modest contribution; a cheque
for five million CFA which I will give on Wednesday to the Senegalese
President" Abdoulaye Wade, said the 26-year-old defender who plays for
premier league outfit Birmingham.
Cisse lost 11 members of his family, including his sister, uncles and
cousins when the MS Joola was sunk in a storm off the Gambian coast on
September 26.
"It was an international tragedy," Cisse said.
Cisse flew home from England on Monday after being granted indefinite
compassionate leave by his newly-promoted English Premiership side.
Cisse and his international teammates will take part in a charity match
against Nigeria here on Saturday in aid of the victims' families.
The ill-fated Joola ferry had left Zinguinchor, the main city of the
southern Senegalese region of Casamance, on September 26 for Dakar, with
around 1,000 people on board.
The vessel, built to take around half that number, capsized on rough
seas off the coast of Gambia, the thin strip of a country that straddles
the river of the same name and practically cuts Senegal in two.
Only 64 people survived, making the capsizing the worst maritime
accident in Senegal's and all of Africa's history. The victims included
many children travelling back for the start of the school year, entire
families and tourists.
Wade on Tuesday accepted the resignations of the two ministers most
closely associated with the catastrophe, Transport Minister Youssouph
Sakho and Armed Forces Minister Youba Sambou.
On sunday gate receipts from an African Champions League match here
between Jeanne d'Arc of Senegal and Al-Ahly of Egypt will also go to the
victims' families. It will not be a great deal of money.
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