By EUNICE LEE and APRIL YEE
The UNITY News

Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade told a dozen American journalists today that “there are too many papers in Senegal, too many journalists.”

Wade, who was invited to Chicago by the National Association of Black Journalists to address the UNITY convention, brushed off the media blackout in his country on Monday, when most newspapers did not print as a protest of a reported police beating of two journalists at a soccer match in June. Wade said that police were trying to protect soccer players from the reporters who he claimed were physically attacking the players.

“They’re competing to bring out extraordinary headlines. They attack people, they make up things,” Wade told said to journalists at a breakfast.

“Now, I’m not asking for them to praise me or say good things about me.”

Wade, who spoke in French and English, also addressed about his plans to increase Senegal’s food production and fight climate change, the topic of his UNITY speech on Friday afternoon. He was flanked by his minister of information and spokesperson, and elsewhere in the room sat Senegalese politicians and journalists exclusively from Senegal-owned media outlets, though Wade added that a privately–owned African news organization had been invited.

Wade also addressed International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s July 14 indictment of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Since 2003, when violence in Darfur ignited, some 300,000 people have died and 2.2 million have fled their homes, according to the United Nations.

“What is recognized by everybody is that many people were killed there,” Wade said. “I’m not sure it’s a genocide.”

Wade said al-Bashir called him for advice when initially presented with the charges.

“I think he was a bit surprised by the decision,” Wade said. “I was the one who told him it’s not your collaborators, it’s you. What can I do now? I’m thinking about it, I don’t know.”

“I am a friend of President Bashir,” Wade said. “My friendship does not mean that…I’m going to protect him from the law.”

By EUNICE LEE and APRIL YEE
The UNITY News

More than 50 demonstrators are flying into Chicago from as far away as Paris and Dakar to protest a speech by Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade, organizers said Wednesday.

Critics say Wade, who will speak Friday at an event hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists, has suppressed press freedom in a country that enjoys one of the most vibrant media climates in Africa.

Wade will speak four days after Senegalese media outlets staged a press blackout to protest the beating of two reporters by Senegalese police. Web sites went black, and most newspapers did not publish.

NABJ President Barbara Ciara defended Wade’s invitation, saying “We invite people here so they can answer questions. We are journalists.

“The same would go for President Bush. …The same would go for Condoleezza Rice, figures that are not popular…,” Ciara said. “We want figures that are both popular and unpopular.”

To her point, when Wade was introduced at the UNITY opening ceremony, more than 40 Senegalese-Americans, many in “Wade in 2012” T-shirts, cheered him and waved flags.

NABJ also is hosting an invitation-only $500-per-person dinner with Wade for more than 70 people Friday. Ciara said the proceeds will help pay for NABJ to move into its new headquarters.

Though Senegal once had what the European press called one of the best records regarding a free press in Africa, Wade’s eight-year tenure has been marked by controversy over press freedom. Since Wade was re-elected in a landslide in February 2007, journalists’ complaints against Wade’s treatment of them have increased, even as he is embraced by the international community. Wade recently attended the G8 summit in Japan.

“Senegal has long been a model for press freedom prior to the arrival of Mr. Wade in office,” said Mohamed Keita, of the media watchdog group Committee to Protect Journalists.

In March, Senegalese police Tasered a TV journalist trying to interview an opposition leader at an anti-government demonstration. Last month, Senegalese police beat two journalists covering a soccer match. Newspapers called for Wade to condemn the incident, but Wade did not comment.

After the beatings, journalists banded to form another watchdog group called the Committee for the Protection and Defense of Journalists. And on Monday, Senegalese newspapers, radio stations and TV outlets participated in a media blackout. The Web sites for the daily newspapers Sud Quotidien and Le Quotidien featured a black background and red letters with the words: “DAY WITHOUT NEWS.”

“That’s like shutting your eyes and closing your mouth,” Ciara said. “To me, that’s totally not the approach of a free and open press, to shut yourself down.”

John Yearwood, the NABJ member who helped coordinate Wade’s visit, said, “There’s discontent against just about every leader in about every country. But this discontent does not mean that that president should not have been invited to speak.

“You have a country that clearly has work to do,” Yearwood said. “But what we are looking for from President Wade is a commitment to improve the sustainability of the press in his country.”

On Friday, Wade will answer questions from U.S. reporters after his speech about maintaining farmlands and providing more food to Senegalese residents. His critics, who include members of Senegal’s opposition political party and journalists, are not impressed.

Diop said the June beatings were the catalyst for recent outrage among Senegalese about the government’s treatment towards journalists.

“We fought for him to be elected, for him to be president, because we wanted there to be a free press, and that is what he is refusing,” Diop said. “We want to make American opinion leaders press the president to change the way he’s treating journalists.”

Ali Sarr, a Senegalese-American citizen who lives in the U.S. said, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for somebody who’s violating those (press) freedoms … I don’t think that kind of person should really be the person to make a presentation about freedom at all.”