Senegal: WADE'S ECLECTIC NATIONAL DAY SPEECH

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SUBJECT: Senegal: WADE'S ECLECTIC NATIONAL DAY SPEECH


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On April 4, Senegal celebrated the 49th
anniversary of its independence with a grandiose military and
civilian parade in Dakar. In his message, President Abdoulaye Wade
commented on the March 22 local elections, congratulating the
opposition by conceding defeat and calling the loss of major cities,
including the capital Dakar, "a breakthrough by the opposition."
Wade declared he had heard the voters' call for "better governance
and the need to satisfy people's basic requirements." However,
barbs at the opposition and his floating the idea of a vice
presidency shows that he is still too focused on his succession and
politics rather than resolving social problems. End Summary.

I heard you-sort-of
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2. (SBU) Commenting on the March 22 local elections the President
stated, "Fellow countrymen, I would like to say that I fully
understood your message, the need for real change in governance and
to satisfy your basic demands." However, Wade did not unveil any
good governance initiatives but instead enumerated a plethora of
fanciful economic projects. In his typical pie in the sky rhetoric,
he promised young people jobs through the creation of a truck
assembly line and the exploitation of gold mines in Eastern Senegal
and the country's phosphate reserves, estimated at one billion tons.
He also promised to turn the country's peat deposits into an energy
source to replace charcoal for cooking. Furthermore, he predicted a
"bright, if not illuminated future" for Senegal with the creation of
a low energy bulb factory that will produce 3.5 million bulbs a
year; a wind energy farm near Saint Louis; a solar energy plant in
Ziguinchor, and a power plant in Ross Bethio fuelled by an invading
species of plant growing in the Senegal River.

One more constitutional amendment
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3. (SBU) Indicating that he wants to reinforce the role of women
in the government, Wade, as a trial balloon, floated the idea of
giving the choice to women to occupy the post of Prime Minister or
that of Vice President of the Republic. The problem is that Senegal
has no vice presidency and its creation would require yet another
constitutional amendment. There is speculation that this ploy is
designed to bring back former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck who would
be tasked with reorganizing Wade's fraying Democratic Party of
Senegal (PDS) party and re-energizing his cabinet.

Wade missed the boat
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4. (SBU) Reacting to President Wade's message, Abdoulaye Bathily,
one of the leading figures of the opposition, said "Wade missed the
boat." His colleague Ousmane Tanor Dieng, the leader of the
Socialist Party, added, "Wade just doesn't get it." Indeed, Wade is
still trying to divide the opposition by reiterating his offer that
they appoint a single leader who will be his interlocutor in a
political dialogue and whose status is enshrined in the
Constitution. Wade then attacked the opposition, after
congratulating them, by exhorting them to be transparent in their
management or face punishment from the central government.

France is back
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5. (SBU) In an unprecedented move, French soldiers stationed in
Dakar took part in the celebration and paraded with Senegalese
troops, drawing lots of media attention. On several occasions the
President thanked France for this gesture, a great contrast to
Wade's first few years in power when his relationship with France
was rather poor. Going even further, he invited France and the
European Union to send experts to audit Senegal's voter registration
list and asked them to form an early warning committee to prevent
any quarrels as to the viability of the list for the 2012
presidential election.

COMMENT
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6. (SBU) Wade's message to the nation was unfortunately a
rehashing of old themes, using lofty rhetoric to sell the people a
used bill of goods. In the past election the Senegalese people
clearly expressed their frustration with Wade's (mis)rule, which is
why so many people voted to try something different in the hopes
that the new incumbents might improve their standard of living.
Wade's address shows that he has yet to digest his party's defeat
and even though he attempted some magnanimity by congratulating the
opposition, his speech was filled with rosy dreams and was overtly
political in tone. An eagerly expected cabinet reshuffle in the
near future will probably shed more light on Wade's real response to
the vote of no confidence expressed by the Senegalese on March 22.

Bernicat