News — senegal

In April 1966, The First World Festival of Negro Arts, which is now known as FESMAN, launched its debut as the first modern cultural event celebrating global Black culture.

The Festival took place in Dakar, Senegal and was initiated by Senegalese president Léopold Sédar Senghor who saw it as a way to emphasize the importance of cultural development of newly independent African nations. The Festival’s theme centered around the significance of Black artistry and its role in promoting economic, political, and infrastructural development in Africa. Though literature, dance, and visual and auditory performances, Senghor hoped to facilitate the identification with African culture and creativity which challenged the prior limitations imposed during the age of colonization.

The event brought together more than 2,000 writers, artists, and musicians from throughout the African diaspora including 30 independent African nations, to celebrate the vast diversity within Black cultures. Renowned African American artists including as Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, and Josephine Baker, performed in celebration of Africa’s cultural renaissance which mirrored their own contributions to the Harlem Renaissance, the jazz age, and Negritude.

Festival organizers sought to showcase Black excellence internationally by placing Black art in the company of Picasso, Modigliani, and other famous European figures. This artistic illustration of pan-Africanism contributed to the emerging global dialogue on the cultural importance of Africa and to show that the continent, and indeed all African peoples, were no longer bound by their history of oppression and slavery.

The Festival celebrated a newfound understanding of pan-Africanism, as different cultural performances from artists around the world showcased the collective identity of “blackness.” It promoted the unity of different ethnic groups within Black communities all over the world and reinforced the global demand for racial equality.

Following the events at the festival in Dakar in 1966, the Second Wold Festival of Negro Arts continued in Lagos, Nigeria some years later in 1977. This event was the largest pan-African event held in Africa. The most recent festival returned to its origin in Dakar nearly 30 years later in December 2010, to celebrate the significance of pan-Africanism and Black culture.

Horse racing has been a part of Senegalese culture for more than five decades. A young jockey is on his way to world domination winning his first race. Fallou Diop has a passion for horseracing and according to GMA, he is one of the country’s most promising jockeys.

The 19-year-old jockey won Senegal’s top horse racing prize when he was just 17. He has won some other minor races in recent times and aspires to conquer other races outside his home country. He has his eyes set on France and Morocco.

Diop lives with 12 of his family members. He dropped out of school at the age of 12 and took up a tailoring apprenticeship. The young lad decided to put that on the back burner and pursue his passion for horse racing and it has since paid off.

He has been able to renovate the roofing of his home with the funds from his winnings, sometimes getting as much as $600 per race.

Horses, mules, and donkeys are a big part of Senegalese culture. These animals are used for transportation and agriculture. So, most children grow up around horses and usually, the skills are passed down from generation to generation.

“The elders taught us everything since we were young,” Diop says. “And that’s how I became passionate about horses. Since my grandfather, we’ve supported horses, then my father after him.”

The nearest training program, according to BBC, is 10 miles away and it is run by Adama Bao. Bao’s family has maintained these grounds for three generations, and he believes with the momentum Diop is going, the gifted jockey can excel in sports racing for the next 50 years.

At a recent race in Thiès, Senegal’s third-largest city, Dip won three out of five races, winning about $1000 in prize money, but he aspires for more.

“When I start riding, I get a bit stressed,” he says. “But after a moment, it’s over. At the time of the race, I’m only thinking of victory.”

Diop wants to race on the world stage and he has plans of commencing training sessions in France led by Bao for three months in early 2022 to race for a French-Senegalese breeder.

Makhtar Diop has been named as the chief executive of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private arm of the World Bank. The appointment makes him the first African to head the position.

The Senegalese national replaces Philippe Le Houerou, who stepped down in September 2020 after more than four years as the IFC’s CEO, according to Reuters. Stephanie von Friedeburg, who stepped in as the interim CEO following the resignation of Le Houerou, was appointed IFC’s senior vice president of operations.

World Bank President David Malpass praised Diop’s knowledge in both private and public service. He expressed confidence in the Senegalese national’s ability to attract investment to low-carbon energy, transportation, clean water, digital services and other infrastructure.

“Makhtar’s skills at IFC will help the World Bank Group continue our rapid response to the global crisis and help build a green, resilient, inclusive recovery,” Malpass said in a statement released by the IFC. “Makhtar’s skills at IFC will help the World Bank Group continue our rapid response to the global crisis and help build a green, resilient, inclusive recovery.”

According to the statement, Diop’s key responsibilities will be to deepen and energize IFC’s 3.0 strategy of proactively creating markets and mobilizing private capital at significant scale; deliver on the IFC capital package policy commitments including increased climate and gender investments and support for FCV countries facing fragility, conflict and violence.

In addition, the statement said he will strengthen the linkages between IFC, the World Bank, and MIGA, as the World Bank Group accelerates efforts aimed at boosting good development outcomes in client countries.

Diop is a former minister of economy and finance of Senegal, West Africa. Prior to his appointment, he served as the World Bank’s vice president for infrastructure, supervising the bank’s work across energy, transport, digital development and other sectors.

He also served six years as the World Bank’s Vice President for the Africa Region, where he oversaw the delivery of a record-breaking $70 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa to help tackle development challenges such as increasing access to affordable and sustainable energy; boosting women’s and youth’s economic empowerment; and promoting an enabling environment for more innovation and technology adoption, according to the World Bank.

Also, from 2009 to 2012, Diop held the position of World Bank Country Director for Brazil where the World Bank helped finance major infrastructure work and was the Bank’s Country Director for Kenya, Eritrea, and Somalia.

Diop has been named one of the 100 most influential Africans in the world by the Africa Report. In 2015, he received the prestigious Regents’ Lectureship Award from the University of California, Berkeley.

The Senegalese holds degrees in economics from the Universities of Warwick and Nottingham in England.

How is the Covid-19 pandemic impacting investment in large-scale oil and gas developments in sub-Saharan Africa? Ian Lewis sees tough times ahead

Getting upstream oil and gas projects off the ground in sub-Saharan Africa was challenging before the Covid-19 pandemic. Now the operating environment is even tougher, as the industry contends with labour restrictions, disrupted supply chains and the long-term impact on revenues and investment of the collapse in global demand for energy products.

International oil companies that previously regarded the acquisition of new hydrocarbons reserves as a primary indicator of their corporate health are now touting the benefits of prudent investment in their existing oil and gas assets and diversification away from riskier upstream activities. That means all but the most attractive, low-cost African acreage will be a hard sell to international investors.  

This is not good news for either Africa’s would-be entrants to the oil sector promoting frontier acreage, such as Somalia, or for established exporters seeking to shore up dwindling output – and revenues – from existing production through investment in more marginal fields and satellite developments.

The region’s largest oil exporters, Nigeria and Angola, fall into the latter category. Nigeria’s central bank reported in August that the value of the country’s crude oil exports fell to $9.48bn in the first quarter 2020, as the pandemic gathered momentum – a 20% drop compared with the previous quarter. The price of Nigeria’s Bonny light crude was over $65/barrel last December but below $15/barrel by April. 

Fitch Ratings downgraded Angola to CCC in early September. It cited the fall in global oil prices, which it says has exacerbated key vulnerabilities in the Angolan economy, leading to lower external receipts and a sustained weakening of the country’s currency, the kwanza, which has resulted in increasing debt servicing costs and downward pressure on fiscal and external buffers.

Recovery in sight?

However, the picture is not one of unmitigated gloom for African upstream. If a resurgence of coronavirus infections can be averted, the worst impacts of the pandemic on the industry could be behind it.

Global oil prices have recovered from their lows, with Brent crude trading at almost $40 in early September, up from lows of $20 in mid-April, indicating demand recovery that could bolster investment.

It will still be a tough task. Most of the African oil and gas projects for which final investment decisions were originally planned for 2020 require an oil price of $40 and upwards – some much higher – just to break even.   

Some areas of Africa have been less badly hit by Covid-19 than other parts of the world, allowing work to continue on hydrocarbons projects already in progress, albeit at a reduced pace. Nevertheless, the international nature of the oil industry, both in terms of personnel and equipment supply, has led to several projects being put on hold. Now, as international trade and travel resume, these projects can get back on track.

This is leading to more confident talk from upstream developers about getting projects operational as originally envisaged or with slight delays.

Prospects look good in Senegal 

In one of the continent’s emerging upstream hotspots, Senegal, Woodside Energy says it still expects the first phase of its $4bn-plus Sangomar oil project to come on stream in 2023, as planned prior to the pandemic. The Australian company said in August it could achieve this because it had “taken early action to proactively manage the emerging impacts of Covid-19 on the supply chain and project schedule”. When operational, the project will use a floating production storage and offloading facility to produce 100,000 barrels per day (b/d) of oil and 130m cubic feet/day of gas.

However, all has not been running smoothly with the project. Australian junior partner FAR Ltd, which holds a 13.67% stake, had to give up on plans to raise more than $300m needed for its share of the work programme for the project when the oil price collapsed and has been looking to sell the stake. Another Sangomar partner, UK-based Cairn Energy, agreed to sell its 40% stake in the project to Russia’s Lukoil, only for Woodside to say in August it would use its pre-emption rights to block that deal and buy the stake itself.    

Meanwhile, BP says first gas from its Greater Tortue/Ahmeyim floating LNG export project, on the Senegal-Mauritania maritime border, will be delayed by around a year to the first half of 2023, as the coronavirus outbreak prevented the company using this year’s weather window to build a breakwater for the scheme. The project is reportedly already 40% completed.

Mozambique gears up for gas

Across the continent in Mozambique, there is a mixed picture for two onshore mega-projects exploiting the country’s huge offshore gas reserves, mainly for exports to the energy demand centers of Asia.

The $20bn-plus Mozambique LNG project, led by France’s Total, has successfully secured up to $16bn of financing from a plethora of lending institutions, Bloomberg reported in July. This reflects the perceived importance of the project to energy security in countries such as Japan and India. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation signed a loan agreement which could cover $3bn of the total.

The future of ExxonMobil’s Rovuma LNG project, planned for the same location, is less certain. Unlike Total, Exxon has yet to make a final investment decision on its project and said in April that, as part of swingeing cutbacks in its global operations, it would delay doing so until after the end of 2020. The company said it was in talks with its Rovuma partners over cost-saving measures.

Both projects are under threat from an insurgency by a group with connections to Islamic State, which has carried out scores of attacks, largely in Cabo Delgado province where the facilities are being developed. Total recently signed a security pact with the Mozambique government to protect the area.

Projects in the balance

Other planned projects in sub-Saharan Africa that have yet to get under way are also in jeopardy. Progress to develop onshore oil export projects in both Kenya and Uganda have been chequered, and the Covid-19 pandemic has added another layer of uncertainty for developments whose economic viability remain questionable.

In Kenya, Tullow Oil, Total and Africa Oil issued a force majeure notice in May 2020, which said the partners could not meet their contractual engagements for the development of their project to export oil to the coast via pipeline from the remote Lake Turkana region, due to restrictions resulting from the pandemic.

Total is also making progress in South Africa, where it is drilling near its gas discovery off the country’s southern coast in search of more reserves. Early estimates suggest Brulpadda could hold around 500m-600m barrels of oil equivalent. That would be more than enough for a commercial development and South Africa could provide a ready domestic market.

Ultimately, many African upstream producers remain dependent on a speedy resolution of the Covid-19 crisis in order to protect vulnerable projects and boost oil demand in the global economy, allowing them to forge ahead with progress at major fields.