Senegalese President Apologises On Controversial Statue
The
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has apologised to the
Christian minority for comparing a controversial statue to Jesus
Christ.
President Wade sent his influential son, Karim, who is also a
cabinet minister, to deliver a personal apology to Archbishop of
Dakar, Theodore Sarr, after stone-throwing Christian youths
clashed with security forces outside a cathedral in the capital,
Dakar.
The archbishop had said: ’’we were shaken and humiliated by the
comparison which the head of state made between the monument to
African renaissance and the representations found in our
churches.’’
Archbishop Sarr said the comments had ‘humiliated’ Catholics,
leading to angry protests by hundreds of Christian youths.
The statue
The $27m North Korean-built ‘African Renaissance’ statue has
also been criticised as a waste of money.
President Wade had sought to deflect the criticism of this
statue on religious grounds by comparing it to the statues of
Jesus Christ found in churches.
He hopes that the statue will attract more tourists to the
country but many Senegalese feel the money could be better
spent.
The statue, intended to symbolise the fight against racism, was
Mr. Wade's idea and he says he will personally take 35% of the
revenue it generates, with the rest going to the state.
When completed early in 2010, it will be bigger than the Statue
of Liberty in New York.
Senegal has majority Muslims population and an influential
Christian community of over 6 per cent.
BBC/Qasim/Yinka
