Senegal: despite the Covid-19, Dakar residents are leaving the city to go celebrate Tabaski
Audio 01:09
Men ride a sheep on the roof of a bus to go celebrate Tabaski in Dakar on July 15, 2021. AFP - JOHN WESSELS
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Two days before the Tabaski festival, Dakar begins to empty of its population.
Many Senegalese return to their families established in the regions to celebrate the festival.
However, the President of the Republic has asked the Senegalese to stay at home to avoid the spread of Covid-19.
Wearing a mask is now compulsory in public places and transport.
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With our correspondent in Dakar,
Birahim Touré
The President of the Republic's request to the Senegalese to celebrate the Tabaski festival at home and not to travel to the regions was not really heard in the bus stations of Dakar.
At the Case-bi roundabout, a meeting point for interurban buses, there are many customers of what are called “hourly buses”.
All of them are destined for Saint-Louis in the north of Senegal.
"
We have to because we cannot leave the children, leave the lady, leave the mother and then do the Tabaski here
", testifies a traveler.
Like this client, Samba Fall, a student, intends to rally the north of Senegal, even if he ensures to take the necessary precautions to avoid catching the virus or to transmit it to his family that he will join early. the morning.
"I will protect myself and I will also protect my family, which is why before getting on the bus I will wash my hands and wear my mask," he explains.
The hourly bus driver questioned assures us that he is on the lookout for imposing the wearing of a mask and hand washing.
Insurance hard to believe, no hand washing device being visible on site.
In a statement, the Ministry of the Interior dusted off an order dated April 29, 2021 prescribing the wearing of a mask in public places and all transport.
A decree whose application is still slow to be effective in Dakar.
►Also read: In Senegal, Tabaski is preparing for a wave of Covid
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