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Viewing cable 09DAKAR1559, Senegal: Increase in tensions Between President Wade and

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09DAKAR1559 2009-12-31 13:11 2011-08-24 16:30 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Dakar
VZCZCXRO8958
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #1559/01 3651311
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 311311Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3544
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 001559 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL AND INR/AA 
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS KDEM PHUM SG
SUBJECT: Senegal: Increase in tensions Between President Wade and 
Catholics 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an aside during a 28 December meeting with 
teachers, President Abdoulaye Wade compared the Monument of the 
African Renaissance, which some have called idolatrous, with the 
Cross.  In a 29 December response, Cardinal Theodore Adrian Sarr 
characterized these observations as "an aggression against the 
Church" and in subsequent comments delivered during his 
previously-scheduled New Year's greeting event at Dakar's Cathedral 
on 30 December he said that the Church was "mortified and 
humiliated" by the President's statement.  After his speech young 
Catholics and police clashed with confirmed reports of teargas being 
fired into the Cathedral itself and into the Embassy compound which 
is opposite the church.  Later that evening, a delegation of 
ministers lead by Karim Wade came to apologize on behalf of the 
President.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) After weeks of debate concerning whether or not his African 
Renaissance Monument is idolatrous, the President threw more fuel on 
the fire on 28 December when he said, "For Muslims, a church is 
place where people pray to Jesus Christ.  Everybody knows that in a 
church Christ is worshipped, but no one ever said that churches 
should be destroyed or that this is objectionable, they just pass by 
without thinking about what is going inside.  When I pass by a 
church I am not interested in what's going inside because I am 
Muslim.  This is tolerance."  President Wade made this observation 
after calls by imams that his African Renaissance Monument be pulled 
down because it is idolatrous.  Wade seemed to be suggesting that 
Catholics were worshiping the physical object of the cross, ergo, if 
this is not considered idolatrous, why should his monument be 
thought so?  Immediately after this statement, Cardinal Sarr 
gathered his closest advisors and leading Catholics after which it 
was announced that he would deal with the subject during his annual 
homily to mark the end of the year. 
 
The Cardinal Speaks 
-------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) Without much ado, Cardinal Sarr opened his homily by 
plunging into the subject at hand saying, "For the past few months 
the Church has found itself at the heart of a media deluge. (Note. 
This is in reference to a previous statement in November that 
President Wade made where he implied that the Catholic community 
were ingrates.  He later apologized.  End Note.)  What has happened 
is sad, incomprehensible and perplexing.  Once again, our faith and 
the tenets of our Church have been ridiculed by the highest 
authority of this country."  Cardinal Sarr then listed his 
grievances point by point, "We are mortified and humiliated by the 
unsupportable propositions of the President who publicly besmirched 
the heart of our faith in front of our children and educators.  We 
are mortified and humiliated by the potential risks and divisions 
that his statements could lead to in the heretofore exemplary 
relationship that has existed between Catholics and Muslims in this 
country.  We are mortified and humiliated by the President's total 
disinterest in a community that strives to work for the betterment 
of all Senegalese no matter of what faith or philosophical leanings. 
 We are mortified and humiliated that the President compared the 
African Renaissance Monument to the representations of our faith 
found in our churches." 
 
4. (SBU) The Cardinal went on to call on Catholics to be calm; 
however, as soon as the service was over, a large part of the of 
1,200 people that had gathered inside and outside the Cathedral 
tried to make their way up Boulevard De La Republique towards the 
nearby Presidential Palace to protest.  Half way up this road police 
had set up barricades.  This is when the scene turned ugly, as 
police fired teargas into the advancing crowd who were brandishing 
crosses and pictures of Jesus.  As a result, the crowd began 
throwing rocks and fled back down the Boulevard towards the 
Cathedral compound which is opposite the Chancery.  Eye witnesses, 
including members of the Embassy Guard Force, reported that the 
police followed the crowd into Cathedral compound and that errant 
smoke grenades were fired into the Cathedral itself.  While the 
police pursued crowds around the edifice and into the streets, they 
also managed to misdirect four teargas canisters towards the 
Chancery, with two landing inside our courtyard. 
 
Mea Culpa 
--------- 
 
5. (SBU) In order to calm a situation that had now escalated into 
semi-chaos, President Wade promptly dispatched his son Karim to 
apologize to the Cardinal.  Minister Wade was accompanied by the 
President's Chief of Staff Habib Sy, Minister of Communication 
Moustapha Guirassy, and Minister of Social Affairs Faustin Diatta. 
After the meeting Minister Wade told reporters, "In no way was it 
the President's intention to offend the Catholic community.  The 
President of the Republic is extremely mindful of his duty to 
protect the rights of all of our religious communities, including 
those of the Catholic community.  If the statement that the 
 
DAKAR 00001559  002 OF 002 
 
 
President made offended any Senegalese Christians, we present our 
profound apologies to the both the Senegalese and the international 
Christian communities." 
 
Offending everyone 
------------------ 
 
6. (SBU) Over the past few months the President's response to any 
criticism of his African Renaissance Monument has been virulent and 
petulant and he has managed to offend almost everybody in the 
country.  For example, in a separate statement the President 
commented that every day the revered founder of the Mouride 
Brotherhood, Cheikh Amadou Bamba, used to walk by many statues in 
Senegal and that he had never said anything to criticize them.  In 
response, the Chairman of the Young Religious Leaders of Senegal, 
Sergine Bousso Dieng, a powerful grandson of Amoudou Bamba, said 
that Wade was ignorant of Islam and the ways of Mouridism.  He also 
warned the President to stop trying to drag Touba, the capital of 
the Mouride Brotherhood, into political debates. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. (SBU) The arguments over the monument have become increasingly 
acrimonious and the President, who is normally very conscious of the 
fine politico-religious balances within Senegal, has managed to 
anger almost every community in the country.  His own Mouride 
brotherhood is angry at him for his attempts to drag them into the 
polemic.  Conservative imams are angry at him because of the 
revealing nature of the monument and their belief that it is 
idolatrous.  The Catholic community is angry at him because he 
compared the monument to the Cross.  Finally, the people in general 
are angry at him for both the amount of money that has been spent to 
build the monument and his statement that the statue is his 
intellectual property, thereby entitling him to 35 percent of future 
revenues generated when tourists come to see it.  The renaissance 
monument has, indeed, given birth to a new controversy on an almost 
weekly basis.  While distant generations may someday take pride in 
this new national symbol, for now it is more national millstone than 
jewel in the crown.  End Comment. 
Bernicat