Yearbook 1996
Senegal. The country’s president, Abdou Diouf, announced in January that a Senate would be set up as a special chamber for legislative matters. It was intended to give a wider representation to local government agencies.
At the ruling Party Socialist Sénégalais (PS) thirteenth congress in March, Abdou Diouf was elected to the newly established post as party chairman.
The separation movement MFDC (Mouvement des forces démocratiques de la Casamance), which has been active in the country’s southern province of Casamance since the early 1980s, signaled at the beginning of the year that it was possible to start peace negotiations with a 1995 national peace commission appointed (Commission national de paix, CNP).
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER.ORG: What does SG stand for? In the field of geography, this two letter acronym means Senegal. Check this to see its other meanings in English and other 35 languages.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), a trade union body within the UN, published in April a report on the difficulties in abolishing child labor in the world. In Senegal, among others, according to the report, at least a quarter of children aged 5-15 were routinely employed with working hours of up to nine hours per day, six or seven days a week.
A referendum in March 2016, with 63%, passed a constitutional amendment which meant that a president would only be able to sit for two terms in the future and shorten the period from 7 to 5 years. However, the incumbent president spent his 7-year term. The voting percentage at the poll was only 40%, and it was also characterized by some violent clashes.
Rapper Ramatoulaye Diallo, aka Déesse Major, was arrested and detained for 3 days in June, charged with “indecency” and “violating moral principles” due to his clothing choice in a music video posted on social media. The charges were dropped after 3 days and she was released.
Parliament passed a number of amendments to the Code of Procedure that diminished the rights of the accused when detained in terror-related cases. In such cases, the accused no longer had the right to have a lawyer after the arrest, and the authorities had to put the accused before a judge 12 days after the arrest. More than 30 people were indicted during the year in «terror-related» cases.
At least 6 people died in police custody during 2016, including one who was shot and killed during a prison riot in Rebeuss prison in Dakar in September. 41 were wounded during the uprising, including 14 prison officers. The prison was intended for 1,600 prisoners, but had 2090.
Country data
Area: 196,722 km2 (world ranking: 86)
Population: 15,851,000
Population density: 81 per km2 (as of 2017, world ranking: 72)
Capital: Dakar
Official languages: French
Gross domestic product: 16.4 billion US $; Real growth: 6.8%
Gross national product (GNP, per resident and year): US $ 950
Currency: CFA franc
Embassy
Klingelhöferstr. 5, 10785 Berlin
Telephone 030 8562190,
Fax 030 85621921
www.botschaft-senegal.de
Government
Head of State: Macky Sall, Head of Government: Mohamed Ben Abdallah Dionne, Outside: Sidiki Kaba
National holiday: 4.4.
Administrative organization
14 regions
State and form of government
Constitution of 2001
Presidential republic
Parliament: National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) with 165 members, election every 5 years
Direct election of the head of state every 7 years (one re-election)
Right to vote from 18 years of age
Population: Senegalese, last census 2013: 13,508,715 residents
36% Wolof, 23% Peul and Tukulör, 15% Serer, 6% Diola, 4% Mandingo, 2% Lébous, Sarakolé, Malinké and others; Moors
Cities (with population): (as of 2013) Dakar 2,646,503 inh., Touba 753,315, Thiès 317,763, Kaolack 233,708, M’bour 232,777, Rufisque 221,066, Saint-Louis 209,752
Religions: 96% Muslims (Sunnis), 4% Christians (especially Catholics); indigenous religions (status: 2006)
Languages: French; Wolof, Mande languages: Bambara, Sarakolé et al; Serer, Diola, Malinké, Peul; Full
Employed by economic sector: no information
Unemployment (in% of all economically active persons)
no information
Inflation rate (in%): 2017: 1.4%
Foreign trade: Import: 6.7 billion US $ (2017); Export: 2.9 billion US $ (2017)
Population 1996
According to Countryaah.com, the population of Senegal in 1996 was 8,690,053, ranking number 82 in the world. The population growth rate was 2.920% yearly, and the population density was 45.1367 people per km2.
