Senegal - COUNTRY PROFILE
Geography
Senegal is located in western Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania. It covers a land area of approximately 196,000 sq km and has a total coastline of 531 km. The capital city, Dakar, is located on the Cape Verde peninsular on the Atlantic Ocean and Senegal is the westernmost country in the African continent. It shares borders with Mauritania, Mali, Gambia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Gambia is surrounded by Senegal, which follows the Gambian river 300km eastwards.
The Senegalese climate is a typical sub-tropical African climate with clear dry and humid seasons dictated by the wind patterns from the northeast and southwest. Annual rainfall in the country’s capital does not normally exceed 600mm and the main rainy season occurs between June and October. Maximum temperatures during the rainy season average 27°C. Between December and January, the climate is cooler and dryer, with average temperatures rarely exceeding 17°C. The coastal area stays cooler than the hinterland and the southern area receives the majority of the country’s rainfall, often exceeding 1500 mm annually in some areas.
The terrain ranges from desert land in the north to moister more tropical areas in the south but is all generally low-lying land, rising slightly from the coastal plains to gentle foothills in the south-east of the country.
Recent History
Senegal has held strategic prominence since the early 8th century when it was part of the ancient trading Empire of Ghana, hosting trade connections across the continent. By the time of European exploration, Senegal had a variety of kingdoms and brotherhoods as Islam came to the region in early 11th century. Portugal, the Netherlands and England all competed for dominance of this strategic Atlantic post. In 1677, France occupied the coastal area of Senegal, using it as an important slave departure point for transatlantic trading and expanded into mainland Senegal from 1850 onwards for exporting slaves, gold and ivory over the 17th and 18th centuries.
After centuries of colonial exploitation, Senegal achieved independence in 1960, after having merged with French Sudan in 1959. Shortly after independence, the merged countries split, French Sudan becoming Mali and Senegal proclaiming national independence under Léopold Sédar Senghor, elected President in September 1960. Post-independence rule was shaky and political rivalry escalated into an early coup attempt. Further unions were attempted, with West Gambia in 1982 to form Senegambia. However the move was abandoned in 1989. Senegal was led by the Socialist Party from independence until 2000, when the party’s candidate, long-time President Abdou Diouf, was defeated by the leader of the Senegalese Democratic Party, Abdoulaye Wade, in a second round of voting.
Government and Politics
Senegal is a republic and government is modelled on a constitution, which was legislated in January 2001. The President is the chief of state and is elected by popular vote. The current President Abdoulaye’s accession to power in 2000 ended 40 years on rule by the Socialist Party, and was recently re-elected for a second term in June 2007, receiving 55% of the electorate vote. Senegal is judged to have a relatively liberal and fair political climate, however many of the opposition parties, including the Socialist Party, boycotted the 2007 election.
The President appoints the Prime Minister (currently Cheikh Hadjibou) who is the head of government and Parliament exists in the form of a 150-seat unicameral assembly, of which 90 are directly elected by popular vote while the remaining 60 members are elected by a proportional representation system. A Cabinet of Ministers is appointed by the Prime Minster and approved by the President. Islamic leaders also exert a degree of influence in the country, belonging to the various Senegalese brotherhoods.
Despite a long history of engaging the region in peace talks, Senegal faces its own civil conflict with the long-running separatist group in the Casamance region, which has been ongoing since 1982 and displaced an estimated 16,000 people in 2006 as a result of ongoing clashes between rebels and government forces. Senegal’s commitment to human rights and democracy was evinced in the presidential election of 2000, which was deemed fair by international observers and saw a peaceful transition to the opposition leader Abdoulaye. The current government has made a firm commitment to resolving the southern conflict but several recent rounds of talks have not yet generated a viable resolution.
Population
Senegal has a population of 12.5m (estimate of July 2007) of which 70% live in rural areas. The population is growing at 2.35% per year. Dakar has a population of 1.03m and the rest of the population is dispersed throughout the remaining 10 administrative districts of the country. Population density varies from 77/km² in the west-central area to 2/km² in the east. Senegal has a young population, 43% of which are under the age of 15. Average life expectancy for women is 58 years and 55 years for men.
As with most West African countries, Senegal has a broad ethnic mix of people but is dominated by the Wolof tribe, which accounts for 43% of the population. Other major ethnic groups are the Fula (24%), the Serer (15%), Lebou (10%) and Jola (3%). A broad African mix is complemented by a number of French, European and Lebanese communities which are concentrated around Dakar. French is the official state language of Senegal but is used by a minority of the Senegalese as most people speak their own ethnic language and Wolof has effectively become the lingua franca, particularly in Dakar. Portuguese is also spoken by many of the Senegalese, as is Creole. Islam is the official state religion and many of the Koranic schools instruct in Arabic. 94% of the population is Muslim, 5% Christian and 1% indigenous religions.
Economy
The Senegalese currency is the African Financial Community Franc, which is used in 12 African countries and issued from the Central Bank headquarters in Dakar. The 2006 GDP for Senegal was $8.3bn, per capita income is $710 as of 2006 and current public debt is estimated to be 17.8% of GDP.
Despite its small size, Senegal is one of the most economically successful countries in the region. Senegal began pursuing a rigid programme of reform as early as 1994, which involved several shocks to the previous economic system. Dismantling government price controls and abandoning subsidies resulted in a temporary decline which has now corrected itself with an average 2% real GDP growth rate in 2006.
Senegal is also a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and is keen to further regional economic integration beyond the monetary union. Private sector activity accounts for 82% of current GDP, which is dominated by services (62.5%) as well as agriculture (18%) and industry (19.2%). Agriculture still provides the main source of economic activity for 77% of the labour force in Senegal but remains highly dependent on weather patterns, which are increasingly unreliable. Unemployment rates are high (48%), particularly among the young, which has caused a serious problem in illegal migration to Europe.
Senegal’s main exports are peanuts, fish, petroleum products, phosphates and cotton, and its main trading partners are Mali (19%), India (14.3%) and France (6.9%). In terms of imports, Senegal is reliant on France (23%) as well as Nigeria (10.6%).The industrial sector, which accounts for about one-fifth of GDP, is heavily dependent on agro-industries and mining.
Senegal’s commitment to economic reform is supported by its well developed social and physical infrastructure as well as its diversified economic base. It remains the economic hub in the region and is the most visited country in West Africa.
