Outrage in Senegal after Marine Le Pen's three-day visit to Dakar
The National Rally kept Marine Le Pen's trip a secret until the last moment.
Here, in Paris in June 2022. © Francois Mori / AP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The president of the National Rally group in the Assembly, Marine Le Pen, has made a three-day trip to Senegal, but the visit of the former French presidential candidate has sparked strong reactions in the country.
MP and former Prime Minister Aminata Touré says she is "
scandalized
".
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On Monday, the MP
flew to Dakar
.
On the program, "
to forge links
with important personalities, parliamentarians, authorities, perhaps the president
" according to the number two of the RN Louis Aliot, while the party kept the trip secret until the end and refuses to reveal the details of the meetings.
In
a column published a few hours earlier in the French daily
L'Opinion
, the unsuccessful three-time presidential candidate highlighted "
the importance of authentic Euro-African co-development
", "
la Francophonie
" or "
the food security and health issues
", while proposing "
that a representative of Africa
(seat)
as a permanent member of the Security Council
" of the UN, targeting Senegal.
Boubacar Seye, president of Horizons sans Frontières, an NGO working on migration issues, denounced the visit "
of a racist woman, leader of the far right
".
Former Prime Minister Aminata Touré said she was "
scandalized
".
Madame Le Pen should never have been allowed to tread the soil of Senegal, the country of "Teranga", meaning "welcome".
We are an open country, a welcoming country, but Ms. Marine Le Pen is absolutely not welcome in Senegal, because she has embodied political racism for decades in France.
And hundreds of thousands of our African compatriots suffer daily from verbal and physical attacks from the National Front.
She should never have been allowed to set foot in the continent of countries she has insulted for years.
Senegal is not a country that should welcome racist and xenophobic personalities, and who assume it.
And who make it a political career plan.
Let her take the next plane immediately and leave.
Former Senegalese Prime Minister Aminata Touré denounces the visit of Marine Le Pen
Charlotte Idrac
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Senegal
French politics
Marine Le Pen
Aminata Toure