Diouf Still Remains A Mystery After 20 Years In Power

Diouf Still Remains A Mystery After 20 Years In Power
February 24, 2000 


DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - President Abdou Diouf, who is Sunday running for a fourth presidential term, remains a mystery to many of his compatriots.

Some might consider him stand-offish, cold, far-sighted, modest and discreet.

In any case, most Senegalese find it hard to label him, despite his continuous presence of 30 years in the highest spheres of the state business, 10 years as prime minister and 20 years as president.

His people are no doubt familiar with his face, but the man is still unknown to them. At best, they know that he was born on 7 September, 1935, of a father who was an officer of the Posts and Telecommunications and a mother who is a housewife in Louga, a region located between Dakar and Saint Louis, the country's two biggest cities.

It is in that latter city, where he grew up, that he was initiated in the Koran. He displayed remarkable capacity to memorise Koranic verses. 

He was a brilliant pupil in the days he was attending Briere de L'Isle Primary School. Very shy, he was not keen on the games his then classmates indulged in.

When he became an adult, he remained very much the same person: avoiding practising physical sports but enjoying games of mental skills such as cards and draughts, a taste he is said to have taken from his father.

Is this a token of intelligence or cunning? Those who would go for the latter put forward his very long collaboration with Jean Collin, former colonial administrator in Senegal, who subsequently became one of the country's most powerful men.

He is said to have been very instrumental in consolidating Diouf's power who, when he took over the reins of power from former President Leopold Sedar Senghor in 1981, did certainly need some kind of legitimacy and control over the party and the state, to firmly establish his authority.

Diouf does not confide in people and is wont to making calculations before taking any step. The only person really close to him is his wife, Elizabeth, who gave him four children, two girls and two boys.

Elisabeth seems to be a reserved person, even if she is a prime mover of a foundation dubbed Solidarity Sharing, which attracts the generosity of more or less interested economic operators, politicians and senior civil servants or state-controlled enterprises.

Diouf did not follow the conventional route of the politician to move up the ladder. It is through civil administration which moulded him into a politician and, perhaps eventually, a shrewd expert in politicking. He seems to revel in letting facts and events unfold before reacting.

It was in 1960, the year of independence, that Diouf graduated from the National School of Overseas France at the age of 25 and returned to Senegal.

He was appointed as Technical Co-operation Director (November 1960 to June 1961). Later he found himself at the defence ministry as permanent secretary (June to December 1961). 

It is from here that he joined the territorial command as governor of Sine Salou region (December 1961 to December 1962).

The year marked a restructuring of political institutions in Senegal, following the 17 November conflict between the President of the Republic (Senghor) and the President of the Council (Mamadou Dia).

Suspected of sympathising with Dia, Diouf was removed from Sine Salou as governor. Then foreign minister Doudou Thiam made him his cabinet director.

The March 1968 Act marked for him the beginning of a quick political rise.

He was first appointed as planning and industry minister. In 1970, thanks to a constitutional reform, Senghor appointed him as prime minister, thus making him his successor, according to the new constitutional provisions contained in Article 35.

He was patient enough to wait for the actual enjoyment of this status in 1981, when the poet-president relinquished power in his favour. He ended the term of office of his predecessor. 

Elections were held on 27 February 1983 which he won with 83.45 percent of the total votes.

On Sunday, Diouf will be running against seven opponents, two of whom were former members of his party, namely Djibo Ka and Moustapha Niasse, a sign of the crisis his Socialist Party, which has been ruling the country since independence from France in 1960, is going through.

Since the 1983 presidential election, the Socialist Party has been losing ground to the tune of 10 percent of votes in each election.

On the other hand, Diouf can no longer rely on the exclusive support of religious leaders, and one wonders if the Patriotic Convergence, a coalition of three parties supporting him, could bridge that gap.

Diouf is surely moving towards his most difficult challenge in 20 years. The violence which has marked the election campaign is a conspicuous foreboding sign. 

Whether he wins or loses the presidency, Diouf will forever remain a mystery among his compatriots. 





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2000 Panafrican News Agency. All Rights Reserved.