Africa Update: Prez Obama, 2013 – Africa

Courtesy: Africa Update, June 2013 Issue
Office of Representative Karen Bass, Ranking Member
Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Affairs & Human Rights

In late May, the White House announced that President Obama will travel to sub-Saharan Africa for the first time since July 2009. It was announced the President and first family would visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. This issue of the Africa Update and the following issue will briefly highlight each country on the President’s itinerary.

Senegal

The State Department credits Senegal with being “a regional, diplomatic, and economic partner” that shares “fundamental values and international goals with the United States.”

Senegal, situated in West Africa, is home to 13 million inhabitants and has been a symbol of democracy and tolerance on the continent since its independence from France in 1960. Members of the Socialist Party ruled for 40 years until 2000, when Senegalese Democratic Party leader Abdoulaye Wade won the presidential election. In the March 2012 elections, Macky Sall became President when the aging Wade conceded defeat–hailed as a rare example of a peaceful turnover of power on the continent.

With a gross national income per capita of $1070 and projected real GDP growth of 4.3 percent in 2013, Senegal is also viewed as one of the more stable economies in Africa. The Senegalese economy is heavily dependent on agricultural products with primary exports in fish, peanuts, petroleum products, phosphates, and cotton.

The moderate, majority Muslim state has strong bilateral relations with the United States and other Western states and has been a valuable regional partner in combating terrorism, narcotics trafficking, and piracy. France and the United States, respectively, are the largest donors of bilateral aid, but former President Wade also pursued economic relationships with India, China, and countries in the Middle East. Senegal has contributed to regional peace and stability by contributing troops to peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, and Liberia. The country has also mediated tensions between Sudan and Chad over events in Darfur.

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