Macky Sall opens up in new book

Senegalese President Macky Sall presented his recently launched new 168-page book, Le Sénégal au cœur (Senegal in the Heart), where he talks mainly about himself, his family, friends and political commitment in order to “present what he really is and embodies.” At the launching of what could be deemed an autobiographical work, Sall declared: “I wanted to talk about myself and my family for once; because they wanted to portray me for what I am not”; asserting that these are opponents driven by politics. “I said to myself: ‘Let’s put the real story out,’” Sall explained in front of a gathering of supporters and members of his regime attending the book launch at the Teru bi Hotel. On his origins, President Sall, born in Fatick (in the centre of Senegal) on 11 November 1961 citing his lineage revealed that he “comes from a line of warriors. You have to go to Fouta and be informed,” he added, in answer to his detractors. “I speak as an African. If you are not rich, and do not have beautiful houses, you are despised; people tend to say you are a ‘deum’ (anthropophagous),” Sall said. “It is not because we are considered underdeveloped countries that we should be ashamed of ourselves”, Sall said, adding that “this is the battle”, then went on to call on Africans “to be proud of what we have, while being patient in the construction of this united Africa which is on the right track”. Sall, in his book, also paid tribute to his late parents, who in his opinion spared no effort to make him pursue his studies despite their modest means. “Without my parents’ will and education, I would not be here,” he said, and also went to praise the fine qualities of his wife, first lady Marieme Faye Sall. Sall is also often depicted as a person with a closed face (as often putting on a strong visage), hence his Wolof nickname ”Niangal” (looking like a tough, no nonsense guy); and Sall described this as “perhaps a front” because, he went on, in everyday relationships he is a nice person. Professor Ousmane Sene of the West African Research Center (WARC), one of the critics reviewing the book, found in his reading of Sall’s book “a sobre and open piece of written work; very touching descriptions; a very sincere delivery in a style that reveals the man’s way of presenting things”. “This book is a direct conversation with the reader…”, he continued, adding that the person speaking in the book “is not very political”. Proceeds from the sale of the book, which was on sale for 5,000 CFA francs, will be donated to the Aminata Mbaye School in Dakar, a school for mentally-challenged children, Sall announced.]]>