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Although major educational reforms have been implemented
in the country, much is still similar to the French-inspired
school that existed in the country before liberation.
Attempts have been made to introduce local African languages
into teaching, although French is the official language of
instruction. Officially, the 6-year compulsory schooling
from the children is 7 years. About. 60% of children start
primary school. The secondary school is divided into two (4
+ 3 years). The country has three universities as well as
colleges. According to UNESCO's calculations, approx. 61% of
the adult population illiterate (2002). Check topschoolsintheusa for test centers of ACT, SAT, and GRE as well high schools in the country of Senegal.
Chad's ex-president Hissene Habre was detained in November,
but the same month a Senegalese court declared himself
unable to rule on a possible deportation of the ex-curator
to Belgium, where he would be tried in court for war crimes.
Habre had had political asylum in Senegal since his reign in
1990 was brought down by rebels. He is accused of being
responsible for the execution of 40,000 people and the
torture of another 200,000.
The rebel movement that continued its fight for
Casamanca's independence clashed in March 2006 with forces
from Guinea Bissau at the border between the two countries.
In May, the UN Committee Against Torture gave Senegal 90
days to either bring Habré to justice or to prosecute him in
Belgium. The request was rejected. In February 2009, Belgium
therefore appealed to Senegal before the International Court
of Justice in The Hague, demanding extradition of Habré for
prosecution.
In February 2007, Wade was re-elected to the presidential
post with 56% of the vote. Following the June parliamentary
elections, he appointed his former finance minister Cheikh
Hadjibou Soumare as new prime minister. The opposition
fiercely protested the election, and boycotted the
parliamentary elections later this year. In April 2008, the
president declared that he no longer saw any opportunity for
dialogue with the opposition.
In July 2007, the president declared "war on illegal
emigration". He also stated that the African countries
should make their borders more open to people, thereby
increasing growth. Also in July, Wade spoke at the African
Union Summit in Ghana, advocated the formation of the United
States of Africa and continued: "If we fail to join, we will
become weak and if we live in isolated states run we are
facing a serious risk of economic collapse with the stronger
and united economies ”.
In July 2008, the National Assembly changed the
constitution so that the presidential term will be seven
years ahead - as it was before the constitutional change in
2001. The change does not affect the current presidential
term (2007-12), but only the subsequent one. In 2009, Wade
declared that he could envisage a third term in 2012 if
health allowed.
Following widespread attacks by the MFDC movement against
military and civilian targets in early 2010, the military
went into attack on the MFDC's positions. Both the
government and the MFDC declared their readiness to
negotiate, but by the end of the year this had not yet
happened. In February 2011, Senegal cut off diplomatic
relations with Iran, as the country believed to have
evidence that the IRD had supplied the MFDC with ammunition.
In July-August, thousands demonstrated against the
recurrent interruptions in the electricity supply.
The "Arab Spring" reached Senegal on February 18, 2011,
when soldier Oumar Bocoum set fire to himself outside the
Dakar presidential palace. The protests took place in the
following months in protest against Wade's rule, and in June
forced the president to abandon 2 amendments to the
constitution. Wade would have lowered the threshold for
winning the presidential election in the first round from
50% to 25. That way, he would be able to secure victory in
the first round against a split opposition. At the same
time, he wanted to introduce a vice-presidential office,
which he planned to fill by his son.
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