By EUNICE LEE and APRIL YEE
The UNITY News

A man protesting Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade’s speech to the UNITY convention was punched by a supporter. He was then removed from a McCormick Center ballroom as journalists looked on.

Soon after Wade began speaking, the man, Souleymane Jules Diop, a Senegalese journalist currently living in asylum in Canada, stood and shouted that “You’re not speaking for my people.” Suddenly, another man wearing a “WADE IN 2012” cap approached Diop and swung his fist into Diop’s right shoulder.

UNITY members stood and stared. They took notes and shot photos as Wade’s supporters blew whistles and waved banners. Some chanted “We love you” as they marched down the ballroom’s central aisle toward the stage.

Chicago police officers arrested Diop for trespassing and took him to the police station. Meanwhile, Wade calmly stood at the lectern throughout the scuffle as NABJ President Barbara Ciara asked supporters to quiet themselves and sit down.

The speech came two days after Wade’s arrival sparked protests from Senegalese residents and patriots on two continents. He was coming to speak about climate issues and increasing food production. But he was questioned everywhere about the treatment of journalists in his country.

Dozens of Senegalese came to Chicago and attended the speech wearing T-shirts and signs that The UNITY News learned were paid for by Wade’s political party, the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), according to Wade’s niece, Thialal Sabara. Wade’s party also paid for plane fares, a chartered bus and hotel rooms.

Wade has been called a leading advocate for democracy in African nations and has been embraced by the international community. He attended the G8 summit, an international gathering of world leaders, in Japan earlier this month.

And, NABJ members, who had visited Senegal last year, invited him to UNITY. NABJ defended their invitation vigorously.

“Why did we invite President Bush? “ NABJ President Barbara Ciara. “Why did we invite (former Secretary of State) Colin Powell? Why did we invite (former National Security Adviser) Condoleezza Rice? Why do we invite any world leader?

“We asked him to come to us because of free and open dialogue,” she said.

Wade arrived Wednesday and immediately was hit with questions about his treatment of the press.

Two journalists covering a soccer match in June were beaten by Senegalese police after they went onto the field to question players. Wade said that the journalists were attacking the players, a charge the protesters denied.

The beatings also led to the formation of the Committee to Protect and Defend Journalists. And on Monday, most newspapers, radio stations and TV stations staged a press blackout to protest the beatings and Wade’s failure to publicly condemn them.

Friday, hours before Wade’s speech, more than 70 protestors and supporters clashed outside the convention center. Supporters waved flags as a man in a suit chanted into a megaphone: “Abdoulaye Wade is the best president in the world.” They held signs with messages such as “YOUTH FOR WADE” and “WE WANT MORE YEARS WITH WADE”

Wade’s niece, Thialal Sabara, who has lived in the U.S. for 17 years, was among those in the crowd. Wearing the flowing sky blue and yellow colors of Wade’s party, Sabara came out in anticipation of her uncle’s critics.

“The opposition was going to be here to say bad things about the president,” she said. “We don’t like that.”

Sokhna Ndaiye, the general secretary of the Mouvement des femmes liberales, a New York satellite of Wade’s party, said: “He is the best president we have ever had since our independence.

“We sacrifice ourselves because we know if he stays for 20 years, we’ll be a big country like U.S.”

Protesters picketed and chanted.

“He’s just like Cato (a 2nd century BC Roman leader),” said Ousmane Diallo, a Senegalese-American from Iowa City, Iowa. “He’s a tyrant.”

When a Wade supporter shoved a protester, police blocked off the street and made the protestors move to the corner of East Cermak Road and Martin Luther King Drive. Police moved supporters away from the convention center across the street.

Despite the controversy, the ballroom when Wade entered to speak was less than half full.

As expected Wade opened his speech about The Great Green Wall, his plan to plant trees across 7,000 kilometers to stop the Sahara from growing south and taking up farmable land.

But even as he spoke about ways to save his country, protesters pounded the ballroom doors, shouting that Wade was a “tyrant” and a “dictator.”

Later on Friday, NABJ hosted a fund-raising dinner for Wade that was paid for by the Senegalese government, Ciara said. Later Friday, Wade was scheduled to fly to Washington, D.C., to meet with White House and State Department officials about his agricultural plan. His 100-person entourage, including journalists exclusively from state-owned media organizations, was to accompany him.

UNITY staff writers Andres Caballero and Wesley Lowery also contributed to this report.

By Dioni L. Wise
The UNITY News Online

A man protesting Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade was assaulted and physically removed from the McCormick Center West on Friday.

Wade spoke at the UNITY convention about the challenges his West African country faces as it deals with poor agricultural production and high food prices because of droughts.

The protester shouted during the middle of his speech.

A man wearing a light blue-shirt and cap hit the protester in the face, said Alphonso Van Marsh, a CNN London correspondent a witness.

The letters “PDS” were embossed on the assailant’s hat, Marsh said. The letters and yellow and blue represent the Senegalese Democratic Party headed by Wade.

Chicago police officers and the U.S. Secret Service stopped the commotion, said Monique Bond, Chicago Police Department director of news affairs. Bond did not release the name of the protestor because no arrests or charges were made.

She said the protester allegedly challenged the Senegalese security officers.

“Apparently the individual had no [convention] credentials,” she said of the protester. “At that point, there was a disturbance, and the Secret Service was also involved. In assisting the Secret Service, the Chicago Police Department did try to interrupt and to stop the commotion.”

Wade remained at the podium during the altercation while his supporters, dressed in light blue and yellow, cheered. He finished his speech after the protester was taken from the room.

Before Wade’s speech, about 30 protestors picketed outside the McCormick Center. They said he misappropriated government funds and does not protect the freedom of the press.

Under Wade’s administration, Senegalese authorities have used criminal libel laws to detain and question at least 15 journalists reporting political stories, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based nonprofit organization dedicated to freedom of the press.

Amy Ndiaye, a Wade supporter, emigrated from Senegal to the U.S. in 1990 and was naturalized two years ago. She arrived in Chicago from New York City on Wednesday to hear him speak at UNITY.
“They wanted to say something that’s not existing in our country,” she said, of the protesters.

Van Marsh said the Wade speech did not “pan out” like he wanted.

“I was looking for something a little bit substantive than an hour of him [Wade] explaining his plan for preserving the environment,” Van Marsh said. “However, I do congratulate NABJ for having a head of state at the conference.”

The National Association of Black Journalists sponsored the speech, “Confronting Climate Change: An African Perspective.” His appearance marked the first time a head of state from outside the United States spoke at a UNITY convention.

The disturbance did not ruin the session, according to its moderator, John Yearwood, NABJ treasurer and a member of the UNITY board of directors. Yearwood is the world editor at the Miami Herald.

“I see this as us giving the president an opportunity to answer tough questions,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s what we accomplished.”

Protester holds sign outside of the McCormick Convention Center on Friday. (Photo Kevin Du/The UNITY News)

By GERRICK LEWIS and WESLEY LOWERY
The UNITY News Online

Waving signs reading, “Electrical Stun Guns to Beat Journalists,” and “Fair Journalism is Dead in Senegal,” dozens of protesters shouted and pumped their fists in the air as Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade made an appearance before the UNITY convention on Friday.

“What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!,” they shouted as Wade addressed the journalists.

“We want to welcome him in our own way,” said Mohamet Ndiaye. “He has let the country down. There are many misconceptions. So many things are backward.”

Ndiaye, who is from Senegal but now lives in Chicago, said he is fed up with the treatment of journalists in his home country.

“Journalists are beaten and the president hasn’t said anything,” Ndiaye said. “They use fear to control people.”

Falu Zi, a Chicago resident, said the conditions journalists face are horrendous.

“Stun guns. That is what the presidential staff uses on journalists, journalists who are just asking honest questions,” Zi said. “When you write about the truth you’d better pack and run, because the president will have you killed.”

Zi said he is troubled by Wade’s appearance at the convention.

“He is flying around the world on the presidential plane, paid for by the taxpayers, while the people of Senegal are starving, living on less than a dollar a day,” Zi said. “We want the president to stop taking trips while everyone in Senegal is starving.”

Around the corner on the other side of the McCormick Convention Center, more than 70 supporters of Wade held a rally. Many of them traveled here from New York to greet the president.

“We want more years with Wade,” said Mamadov Sene, a New York resident. “We traveled 14 hours by bus to support our president. We were born under him; you see good people and bad people. We want to show people he is a good president. The people voted for him.”

Cheikh Mabache Samb, Security Advisor to President Wade said the rally was planned to show support for all Wade is doing.

“We have problems all over the planet, it’s not just in Senegal, it’s all over the place,” Samb said. “We’re not saying everything is perfect.”

By DIONI L. WISE and APRIL YEE
The UNITY News

Senegal president Abdoulaye Wade said he does not presume that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, if elected president, would be a better ally for his country than Sen. John McCain.

“I don’t push people behind color…I don’t believe Barack Obama will be at the service of Africa,” Wade said in an interview with The UNITY News and the Chicago Sun-Times. “They’re all Americans, anyways. I’m not making any postulates. He has to prove it.”

His views on Obama, whose father was African, were among several he offered in response to journalist’s questions. Wade was invited to Chicago by the National Association of Black Journalists to address UNITY membership about Senegal’s plan to increase agricultural production. His speech is at 1:30 p.m. today.

Wade then will fly to Washington, D.C., to meet with White House and State Department officials. He will not be in Chicago when the senator arrives to speak to UNITY on Sunday.

“You can say hello to him for me,” he said in a private meeting in a Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers suite.

Senegal made headlines Monday when media outlets across his country staged a press blackout to protest the police beating of two journalists and Wade’s refusal to condemn the beatings. He said the matter was in the hands of the justice system.

“If there is an incident between a journalist and a policeman, what would you like a president to do with this?” he said.

He said the reporters involved suffered from a lack of journalistic integrity that he lamented has become common in Senegal. He said many Senegalese journalists have not had formal accreditation to practice journalism.

Under Wade’s eight-year tenure, Senegalese authorities have used criminal libel laws to detain and question at least 15 journalists because of political stories, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Another 10 have been handed suspended prison sentences for defamation, though those terms were seldom applied. Wade said he wanted more journalists to be trained.

“They think in the newspaper you can write anything you want,” Wade said. “I should have been more vigilant than this. I should have been tougher.”