February 14, 2000
Cheikh Tidiane Ndiaye
PANA Correspondent
DAKAR, Senegal (PANA)- Cheikh Abdoulaye Dieye's face wears a grizzly beard, and on his head he likes to put on a white cap or covers it with a scarf, giving the impression that he is a man more at home in a spiritual world than in a temporal one.
In fact, it would not be wrong to put him in the spiritual category, for he started studying the Holy Koran from his family of Muslim academics very early as a child.
Today, with all his religious zeal, it is Islam in general and the Senegalese sect of Mouridism in particular that guides his activities in just about everything he does, politically and spiritually.
Dieye, 62, was born in Guet Ndar, a fishing district in the northern city of Saint Louis, the former colonial capital of Senegal.
Today he is the secretary general of the Front for Socialism and Democracy (FSD/BJ), and a presidential contender for the 27 February election where he is competing with seven others in the race.
Ironically, Dieye is a cousin to President Abdou Diouf, one of the men he is running against, and trying to oust from power.
Diouf leads the ruling Socialist Party which Dieye left some time back to seek another platform. But Why did he quit?
"The socialists are not men of the truth," he replied.
Along with his devotion to religion which has made him a religious leader with followers in Senegal and Europe, Dieye is a graduate in economics and administration from the School of Applied Economy in Dakar.
He is also a landscape painter trained at the National Higher School of Landscape in Versailles, France.
After working as deputy prefect in Gossas and Thies, central and western parts of Senegal, technical adviser at the ministries of nature conservation and town planning, he resigned from the civil service on grounds of expediency.
A group called Sawe Sa Dek (Save Your Country) was created on his initiative in 1994. Two years later, he founded the FSD/BJ which allowed him to take part in the municipal elections.
Winning four council seats entitled him to become vice president of Saint Louis town council.
In 1998 the party won a seat in the National Assembly which was filled by Dieye himself.
Explaining the "socialist" doctrine of FSD/BJ, he said the party believes in non-violence as a means of bringing people together, building on what they have in common, including love, solidarity, sharing and a culture of worship.
Sensitive to his Islamic credentials, he said democrats and non-Muslims voters alike have nothing to fear from him.
"Do not fear our beards and scarves. Our socialism is just and in harmony with all around us, respecting all the other religions," he assured.
The FSD/BJ, formed 9 April, 1996 on the ashes of Sawe Sa Dek, is taking part for the first time in the election for the country's top office.
In the campaign, Dieye is not backed by any other party or association. Yet, he is not worried about his chances of reaching the presidential palace on Leopold Sedar Senghor Avenue, named after the first Senegalese president who ruled from 1960 to 1980, before handing over power to Diouf.
He said he relies first on himself and the relevance of his programme based on the implementation of his party's doctrine which is imbued in the "deggelian socialism" (from a Wolof word, "Deg", which means "truth").
If he is elected, Dieye foremost on his programme is to build the moral fibre of the Senegalese by inculcating the cult of honesty, accountability and good citizenship in them.
The avowed objective, he said, is to make his fellow citizens understand that they have rights, duties and obligations towards the nation.
Meanwhile, Dieye promised the re-drafting of the family code to match it with Islamic values.
He, however, said that any other candidate from the opposition would receive his support only if the candidate pledged to modify the family code in line with his party's objectives and rescind the law banning female genital mutilation in the country.
On the economic front, the electoral programme of FSD/BJ is based on the creation of jobs, the promotion of small and medium enterprises and industries by cutting red tape and the restructuring of the agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing sectors, the country's economic backbone.
As a native of Guet Ndar, a fishing district, Dieye has worked out a plan for the promotion of the local fishermen, including the reinforcement of security, coast surveillance measures and the improvement of fishing equipment.
He said he would also like to look again at the agreements concerning the conduct of fishermen during certain periods of the fishing season when they have to scale down their activities in order to give young fish time to breed, and how best they can protect the environment.
Noting the poor state of teachers in the country these days, Dieye said, as president, he would like bring back respect towards the profession, making the teacher the centre of learning activities once again.
"With me the school will no longer be a mere nursery," he said, but a "centre of excellence and success."