DAKAR, 27 Aug (AFP) - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has insisted
there is no famine in the west African country's drought-stricken regions
and apologised to donors who responded to an urgent call for aid, his
office has said.
"There is no famine in the true sense of the word anywhere in Senegal,"
said a statement issued late Monday by Wade's office, summarising a three-
day visit by the president to drought-hit regions of the country.
In the statement, Wade denounced the "malevolent campaign" that led to
the call for help.
It said the president "thanks all Senegal's friends, the states,
institutions and people who responded to the appeal and apologises" to
them.
Earlier this month, Wade's government came under fire in the press for
failing to assist the drought-stricken rural poor.
Urging the authorities to seek international relief, Senegalese
newspapers on August 8 barely disguised their scorn for the government.
"As the question of survival confronts the ordinary citizen, VIPs are
having it cushy," the daily Wal-Fadjri said, citing what it called a
government characterised by "a personality cult, opaque government, and
rampant corruption".
The daily Sud-quotidien attacked the government's "poor management" of
the groundut crop, the mainstay of the country's farming output.
Monday's statement said Wade had undertaken a tour of the drought zone
because of "persistent rumours" of famine.
Days after the press criticism, the government appealed for
international help and set up an emergency relief unit to provide aid worth
15 billion CFA francs (23 million dollars/euros) to provide relief in
central Senegal's main groundut growing belt.
The emergency unit was due to start distribution of emergency rations
and cattle feed on Tuesday.
Late rains this year and insufficient rain over the past two years have
disrupted the planting season in a country where 70 percent of the
population of 10 million are dependent on farming, officials said this
week.
The statement by Wade's office also said a judicial inquiry had been
launched to find out why farmers had not been paid by middlemen who had
purchased their produce under a new government scheme.
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