The sprightly anthropologist, Abdou Ndukur Kacc Ndao, whom I always follow with great pleasure during his wanderings in the green Casamance, shared on the Internet some photos of the parade of April 4 in Oussouye under the joint authority of the Prefect of the department and the commander of Sector 51. I saw our soldiers there in the front line, in accordance with our republican tradition. I also had the joy of seeing civilians, men and women, marching proudly commemorating our accession to international sovereignty.
The images that touched me the most are those of young boys and girls treading the asphalt, straight bust, haughty, firm and resolute bearing. As in all the parades throughout the territory, there was in Oussouye the pride of being Senegalese and the desire to celebrate our national holiday with fervour and unity.
This parade where we see His Majesty Sibilumbaye Diédhiou, respected ruler of Oussouye and moral figure, also mobilized the Royal Court in Lower Casamance, whose attachment to our republican traditions and significant contribution to the return of definitive peace in the region are known.
April 4 is first and foremost an Army Day, which ensures national defence, preserves our territorial integrity and contributes significantly to maintaining our republican traditions in the service of a unitary State in a plural Nation. It is this Army which has been fighting for 40 years in Casamance against an irredentist movement whose proclaimed ambition is the partition of our country. Blood has flowed in Casamance for all these years, tears too and hatred and resentment have arisen from the bottom of martyred hearts.
Our soldiers fell on the field of honour in defence of the Republican Fatherland, but the Mfdc cannot claim a square centimetre of territory conquered and torn from the Nation. This parade of Oussouye, that of Ziguinchor, like the even more modest one of Cabrousse made the national flag fly everywhere in Casamance to materialize the promise according to which Senegal is one and indivisible. These parades, in communion between the Army and the civilians, prove that in Casamance, there is a visceral attachment to the Republican Fatherland despite the weapons which continue to crackle sporadically.
These parades are the most eloquent response to the inclinations of young people still holed up in the maquis, in the pay of unscrupulous old warlords, who rather indulge in villainous practices but no longer pursue any political objective. The children who marched in Oussouye are the future of the entire Nation. They will be a generation stripped off the fear of losing their lives by stepping on a mine. They will be the generation that will benefit from the colossal efforts of the State to open up Casamance. They will be the generation of the region’s economic upturn thanks to public and private investments that will create jobs and work to reduce the social divide between Dakar and the rest of Senegal.
They will be the generation of peace and democracy, which confers political power through free, democratic and transparent elections and not through seditious enterprises or threats of destabilization of republican institutions. These boys and girls are the repositories of the legacy of generations of Senegalese who, despite the differences in political and ideological sensitivity, each commemorated the date of April 4, because the Republic is above partisan contingencies. François Mitterrand said: “The memory of the dead presides over the action of the living.” It is as worthy heirs of yesterday’s traditions that we must act to keep the Nation alive.
It is regrettable that the republican mystique is now so lacking in a large number of political leaders and actors in the public debate. Because their attitude debases the Republic and deprives it of substance. April 4 is a date that unites and not a place of division. The Nation is sacralised there and as such childish postures and manoeuvres have no place there. Because the Republic is certainly practices and forms but it is above all an uplifting soul and a deep desire for humanity. And this year, April 4 was conducive to the spiritual elevation of all the sons of this Nation imbued with faith. We celebrated the national holiday during Ramadan and during Holy Week marking the end of Lent and leading to Easter. Believers, Christians and Muslims, in the fervour and rigor of their faith, celebrated April 4, thus showing that, unlike other places, here religion is soluble in the Republic and vice versa.
This syncretism illustrates what the name Senegal means.
PS : The evil cries of our most fearsome enemies attack the sky of liberating thought. Their assaults smell of sulphur and scratch the bodies of social progress activists. The night promises to be long, it is dark as the morning is bland. Only the roars of the brave comrades will bring out of torpor this country whose hordes want to silence the luminous voices. Ibrahima Sène was the soul of the resistance. He was a beautiful and precious voice, which refused to yield to the injunction of silence by the weapon of tyranny. Ibrahima Sène was a courageous and fruitful thinker; a man whose exquisite courtesy was combined with militant ardour. He was a model of loyalty to the party and to the Marxist doctrine whose essence is to free our people from the dungeons of despair. Here, they are called imperialism and populism, in a sinister rhyme. Comrade Ibrahima Sène is resting after a useful life, made of sacrifices and fierce struggles in the service of a revolutionary ideal. Our duty is to continue the fight so that the midnight birds never cover the sacred body of our country with their totalitarian veil. Farewell comrade! It’s a nice name Comrade, it’s a nice name, you know.
By Hamidou ANNE / Hamidou.anne@lequotidien.sn
- Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE
