By RFPosted on 24-08-2019Modified on 24-08-2019 at 18:59
Five African countries, including Senegal, participate in the G7 summit in Biarritz. For President Macky Sall, invited as President of Nepad (New Partnership for Africa's Development), this is an opportunity to highlight North-South inequalities, and to remember that in the face of tax evasion, African countries have more in common with the big liberal democracies than they seem.
For the G7 summit here in Biarritz, what are your expectations as President of Senegal, and also President of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). What would you like to hear? And what would you like to say?
Macky Sall: First the G7. It must be remembered that it is a framework for consultation for the most industrialized countries, say the seven most industrialized countries. So it is a platform for us Africans to have to put African concerns so that our partners can speak with Africans, and speak for Africa, instead of talking about Africans and Africa in general. So this approach, which is a partnership approach, is to be welcomed. And from this point of view, Emmanuel Macron was not the first to invite African countries, but the way he led this invitation is that we have been associated by our sherpas already for several months, on negotiations, on aspects. And our concerns, I think, will be taken into account, especially on topics such as the fight against tax evasion and tax fraud that ruin our countries. And if we want a more equitable society, it is imperative that wealth pays taxes where they are produced. But we know that it is a long-term battle of Africa to bring about a change on today especially the tax facilities that are the fact of large multinationals.
Who exactly do you think or which company do you think exactly ?
No. These are all multinationals. Depending on the area, it could be oil, gas, mining companies, but also telecoms. So, it is all the multinationals that have strategies for tax holidays and very often benefit from old legislation. We need to get the partners involved if people really want to fight inequalities to make the rules change.
You talked about inequality. This is one of the themes of this summit, particularly North-South inequalities. In your opinion, what is the main cause of these inequalities at this stage ?
These inequalities have a long history because Africa first experienced trauma: slavery, colonization. This colonization, even if it was stopped around the 1960s, even 1970 for some countries, it remained a system for which Africans have always left so disabled. First, the deterioration of the terms of trade, that is to say that the productions are raw productions, are raw materials, which are badly quoted. And the transformation is done elsewhere, in developed countries. That is why we are actually exporting jobs, and we are buying manufactured goods at a high price. So do not be surprised that Africa sends emigrants. Still, the problem of migration has to be analyzed objectively. The biggest migration is between African countries.
Is it to escape these inequalities that so many Africans risk their lives to go to Europe and even to the United States ?
Yes, it can be said because there are inequalities within countries. In our countries, there are also inequalities between rich and poor, urban and rural. On the one hand, it is up to the African states to take charge of these balances and to fight against the inequalities that are sometimes great between the countryside and the cities.
You mentioned migration. Is outsourcing Western border control to some African countries, I think what has Europe done with Sudan as part of the Khartoum process, for you, is this a good idea ?
Senegal is not a member of the Khartoum process. And I'm always careful not to make value judgments about other countries. But I consider that the real problem is not there. The real problem is not to outsource to Africans the management of migration flows in Africa. The problem is to have a common vision that these migratory phenomena have a cause. One of the causes is insecurity. It is clear that today in the Sahel, where people are not safe, where they risk losing their lives, people are migrating because they want to save their lives, to save their families. There is also poverty. This poverty, as I said, we must be the first actors in the fight against this poverty, and even go beyond this struggle, but create wealth and try to spread it as equitably as possible.
With regard to corruption in Senegal, what are the lessons to be learned from PetroGaz Gate, the report that implicated your brother ?
So what you called the PetroGaz Gate, I would not say so. But this article in any case, this report of the BBC, created some excitement. And on that basis, I myself have taken justice for it to investigate, that those who have evidence of corruption can show it. So justice will certainly finalize this file. But one thing is clear is that talking about 10 billion, a scandal of 10 billion, is already an aberration. I would say that it is up to justice, to justice alone to investigate whether there has been an attempt at corruption or not.
Regarding political tension in Senegal, the press reports that you have considered pardoning Khalifa Sall, the former mayor of Dakar, on the occasion of the Tabaski. What is it exactly?
First, the relaxation can not be reduced to a dimension of grace. Grace is a constitutional power of the President of the Republic. It depends only on him, and on him alone, and his appreciation. So I can not discuss what the press says about grace. The day when I will have the will or the desire, I will do it as I had to do it. Annually, more than a hundred people, or even a thousand people a year on average enjoy the grace. Precisely, we want to review our penal system to reduce the number of people in prison in this context.
Former President Yahya Jammeh, your neighbor in The Gambia, enjoys immunity in Equatorial Guinea where he has been living in exile since his flight from Malabo. Should we resign ourselves to it ?
I am a neighbor of The Gambia, which is an independent and sovereign state. I will refrain from commenting on a former president of The Gambia who is in exile. It is up to Gambians to appreciate what needs to be done.
It is up to the Gambians to judge him and not to an African court or an international tribunal ?
International tribunals can only act if national courts are unable to do so. It's by substitution. But in principle, we can not decide because it is African countries or small countries that must be seized international jurisdictions.
Interview by Michel Arseneault
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24-08-2019 - By Michel Arseneault
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