Yearbook 2000
Senegal. For the first time since independence in 1960, the Socialist Party candidate lost a presidential election, when Abdoulaye Wade, leader of the PDS (Parti démocratique sénégalais) defeated President Diouf in the second round of March 19 elections. Wade had gone to elections with promises of, among other things. fight against corruption and unemployment. The government that took office in April was a mix of technocrats and representatives of the diverse group of parties that had supported the PDS leader in the election.
Despite peace efforts, unrest continued in the south, with the separatist movement MFDC fighting for an independent Casamance. At the end of the year, representatives of the MFDC and the government met, but nothing was said if and when the parties would meet again.
Tensions arose in Mauritania in the early summer after Senegal decided to resume an irrigation project on the Senegal River, which forms a border between the countries. However, an open conflict could be averted since Senegal interrupted the project in June.
In May 2014, the MFDC rebel movement entered into a unilateral ceasefire after several years of negotiations with the government in Rome.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER: Offers three letter and two letter abbreviations for the country of Senegal. Also covers country profile such as geography, society and economy.
Despite the country’s border with Guinea, in 2014 it failed to be drawn into the Ebola epidemic that ravaged West Africa. Only 1 Ebola case was recorded in Senegal, and the person in question survived.
The high gold prices on the world market triggered gold fever in the eastern part of the country, where the government also sold the mining rights to the land over the heads of the farmers who actually owned it.
In March 2015, Senegal’s Anti-Corruption Court (CREI) sentenced Karim Wade to six years in prison and a fine of € 210,744,000 for illegally providing wealth. Wade former minister and son of former President Abdoulaye Wade. In April, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Wade had been arbitrarily detained, but in August the Supreme Court upheld the verdict.
In July, the trial of Chad’s former president Hissène Habré started for crimes against humanity. It was the first time in the history of Africa that a court in one state brought a case against a former head of state from another state. In May 2016, Habré was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture committed in Chad in 1982-90.
The journalist and chairman of the Jubanti movement, Mamadou Mouth Bane, was detained in February by the police for “rebellion”. The occasion was some remarks he had made on TV up to the referendum in March. He was released and not subsequently charged.
Population 2000
According to COUNTRYAAH, the population of Senegal in 2000 was 9,797,623, ranking number 79 in the world. The population growth rate was 2.430% yearly, and the population density was 50.8894 people per km2.
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
West African state. At the 2002 census the population was 9,956,200 residents, With an average density of 54 residents per km 2, which varies from more than 100 residents per km 2 in the central-western region for only 2 residents per km 2 in the arid eastern part. The annual growth rate (2.4 % in the period 2000 – 2005) has remained relatively stable since the first national census (1976).
According to a 2004 estimate, the urban population reached 50 % of the total, due to an incessant migratory flow from rural areas to urban centers. The urban district of the capital Dakar counted 2,399,450 residents in 2005. The urban population includes around 50,000 Europeans (mostly French) and Lebanese. The Senegalese population is made up of 12 ethnic groups, among these the most numerous (more than a third of the total population) is represented by the Wolof.
The Senegal occupies the 156th place in the world ranking of the United Nations, published in 2006 but referring to 2004, which classifies the 177 countries of the world according to the Human Development Index, an aggregate of three indicators: life expectancy at birth (56 years), literacy rate (39.3 %) and GDP per capita adjusted according to purchasing power (in 1713 US dollars).