Senegal Information Guide & Facts

Area: 197 000 sq km
Population: 10.3 million
Capital City: Dakar (2 million)
People: Wolof 43.3%, Pular 23.8%, Serer 14.7%, Diola 3.7%, Mandinka 3%, Soninke 1.1%, European and Lebanese 1%, other 4.4%.
Language(s): French (official), Wolof, is the most widely spoken of several indigenous languages.
Religion(s): Muslim 95%, indigenous beliefs 2%, Christian 3% (mostly Roman Catholic)
Currency: CFA Franc. £1 = 1000 Francs

GEOGRAPHY

Senegal, the most westerly African state, occupies an area of 196,192 sq km between Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. The Gambia almost divides Senegal in the south. The Casamance region, south of The Gambia, lies on the northern fringe of the monsoon climate, and has a rainy season of 4-5 months. Northern Senegal is arid and increasingly desertified.

HISTORY

Historical Perspective

Senegal was a French colony until independence in 1960. Dakar was the administrative capital of French West Africa. President Leopold Sedar Senghor (a Christian) was Senegal's first President and presided over a moderate partly-democratic system (Senegal was a one-party state from 1966-75). Senghor nominated Abdou Diouf as his successor in 1980. The Parti Socialiste, (PS) dominated Senegalese political life up until 2000, winning a series of regular and mostly fair elections through the 1980s and 1990s.

Recent History

President Diouf and the PS won the 1983 and 1988 elections with large, although diminishing, majorities. The election results of 1988 sparked off serious rioting in Dakar amid allegations of electoral malpractice. In the 1990s Diouf introduced multi-party government by inviting members of the Opposition to join the Government on two occasions. When not in the Government Abdoulaye Wade of the PDS remained the main opposition figure.

In 1997 the former interior minister, Djibo Ka, began a campaign to modernise the PS and formed his own Union pour le Renouveau Democratique (URD) winning seats in the 1998 election. Ka was later followed in 1999 by former Foreign Minister, Moustapha Niasse who formed his own party, the AFP. These splits in the PS marked the end of its electoral invincibility.

ECONOMY

Basic Economic Facts

Annual Growth: 2.7% (2002)
GDP - composition by sector:
- agriculture: 18.5%
- industry: 20.7%
- services: 60.8%
Industries: agricultural and fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining, construction materials
Agriculture - products: peanuts, millet, corn, sorghum, rice, cotton, tomatoes, green vegetables; cattle, poultry, pigs; fish
Exports - commodities: fish, groundnuts (peanuts), petroleum products, phosphates, cotton
Exports - partners: France 19%, Italy 12%, Spain 6%, Cote d'Ivoire 2%
Exchange rate: £1=1000 CFA