#ABDOULAYE DIOP

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meeting Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop in Moscow, Russia, today, 28 February 2024

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Abdoulaye Diop

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abdoulaye diop for valentino fall 2022

[soirinfotchad]

L’Alliance des États du Sahel (AES) va coûter 5 milliards de dollars américains

En Afrique de l’Ouest, trois pays, notamment le Burkina Faso, le Niger et le Mali ont créé l’Alliance des États du Sahel. L’organisation nécessite un moyen financier important. Créer pour se défendre contre toute agression étrangère et lutter contre les attaques terroristes dans le Sahel. L’organisation a été créée le 16 septembre 2023 par trois 3 pays. Ils ont décidé de conjuguer leurs…

[malibuzz]

La France humiliée | Une Chronique de Adama Gaye

Quand le professeur Marcel Merle fut, à la Sorbonne, le grand gourou de l’enseignement de la coopération française en Afrique, pas une fois ne l’y ai-je entendu parler des dessous de celle-ci. Ni de ce pacte postcolonial par lequel son pays continuerait d’avoir la mainmise sur ses anciennes colonies africaines, une fois leur décolonisation actée sur le principe. Ni des dettes coloniales qui les…

[faultfalha]

On the horizon, the heat of West Africa's recent spate of coups looms large. No one is immune to their consequences, yet few understand the motives behind them. To hear the people speak of it, it is like a dream that keeps changing shape. A nightmare that claws at their waking minds, refusing to be forgotten. Yet if we look past the shadows that veil the truth, perhaps we will find a path to a better future.

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Abdoulaye Diop di Treviglio arbitrerà Messina-Potenza

Abdoulaye Diop di Treviglio arbitrerà Messina-Potenza

Messina-Potenza match della quattordicesima giornata del campionato di serie C sarà diretta da Abdoulaye Diop della sezione di Treviglio. Abdoulaye Diop per la seconda volta nella sua carriera arbitrerà il Messina. La prima volta avvenne in serie d nella stagione 2020-2021 nel match della dodicesima giornata Messina-San Luca, terminato 2-0 per i peloritani. Assistenti: Andrea Barcherini di Terni…

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France of 'Duplicitous Acts' to Destabilize Mali - Diop, FM

France of ‘Duplicitous Acts’ to Destabilize Mali – Diop, FM

Mali’s foreign minister accused former colonial power France on Tuesday of “duplicitous acts” of aggression and espionage aimed at destabilizing the troubled West African country — allegations immediately dismissed by France’s U.N. ambassador as “mendacious” and “defamatory.” The acrimonious exchange at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Mali highlighted the depth to which relations between the…

[whileiamdying]

Review: Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène on Criterion Blu-ray

Together, these films constitute a complex, interlocking portrait of Senegal’s past and present.

by Derek Smith May 30, 2024

Where Ousmane Sembène’s first two films, 1966’s Black Girl and 1968’s Mandabi, each focus on myriad struggles faced by an individual during Senegal’s early post-colonial years, his follow-up, Emitai, takes a more expansive view of the effects of colonialism two decades earlier. Centering on the defiance of a Diola tribe during World War II, 1971’s Emitai sacrifices none of the immediacy and urgency of Black Girl and Mandabi. Indeed, the film is perhaps an even more damning and incisive take-down of French colonial rule.

Painting a concise and pointed portrait of oppression in broad, revolutionary strokes, Emitai exposes the modern form of slavery that was France’s conscription of Senegalese men to fight on the deadliest frontlines of European battlegrounds. The film simultaneously details the meticulous taxation methods the French employed during this period, which, in attempting to seize a majority of tribes’ rice supply to feed their troops, is tantamount to starvation warfare.

Sembène, however, is less interested in the methodologies of the oppressor than in the unwavering, often silent protest of the Diola people, especially women, in the face of forces that threaten to wipe out the rituals and traditions that define them. In depicting the tribe’s refusal to turn over their rice not as a means to avoid starvation but as a matter of preserving the central value rice has in their cultural heritage, Sembène adds new dimensions to the conflict and complexity to the resistance of the villagers. The inevitable tragedy that concludes the film is quite the gut-punch, but in counterbalancing it with the rebellious enacting of funereal rites by the village women, Emitai becomes equal parts an indictment of colonial violence and a celebration of resilience and self-empowerment through revolutionary means.

In 1975’s Xala, Sembène presents a searing, often hilarious satire of the greed, corruption, and impotence of the new Senegalese governmental leadership following the eradication of French colonial rule. In the opening scene, we see government officials throw out the current French leaders and proudly proclaim that Africa will take back what’s theirs. This moment of triumph, which includes the removal of statues and busts of various French leaders, is swiftly undercut when the Senegalese officials each open a briefcase packed to the brim with 500 Franc bills.

This sequence, laden with anger and biting humor, is indicative of Xala’s absurdist, comedic tone. And as the film shifts its focus to one corrupt official in particular, El Hadji (Thierno Leye), who upon marrying his third wife is cursed with impotence, its satire becomes more metaphorical than direct. Sembène uses El Hadji’s gradual downfall to reflect the moral and political failings of the entire bourgeois class that came into power under the government of President Léopold Sédar Senghor. Through Sembène’s sly, cutting use of irony, claims of modernity and equality under a new “revolutionary socialism” are revealed to be empty promises, barely concealing the anti-feminist and pro-capitalist motives lurking behind them.

Sembène’s critique of a supposedly freed Senegal is intensely savage when it comes to unveiling the hypocrisies of a patriarchal leadership that betrayed the trust of the people it was supposed to aid and protect. Building to a conclusion that’s as funny and gratifying as it is pitiful and physically revolting, Xala captures the continuing repercussions of colonialism and how the forced delusions of a nation would leave its people perversely feeding on one another.

With 1977’s Ceddo, set in Senegal’s distant pre-colonial past, Sembène follows the conflicts between a growing Islamist faction of a once animistic tribe and the Ceddo, or outsiders, who refuse to convert and give up their animistic rituals and beliefs. This is certainly the most didactic entry in this set, but it’s enlivened by the sheer precision of its dialectical oppositions, through which the many hypocrisies of religious fundamentalism and colonization are laid bare.

Ceddo also reveals the complex intersectionality of religions and cultures that were at play in Senegal long before its colonization. Along with the Muslims, who were attempting to seize political power through religious conversions, white Christians and Catholics are present in the form of priests, missionaries, gun runners, and slave traders. The latter are silent through much of the film, but their presence—much like the white French adviser who remains in constant contact with the Senegalese politicians in Xala—speaks to the monumental power and influence whites held in Senegal even before colonialist rulers took over.

While the film’s subject is historical, Sembène draws clear parallels between the past and the post-colonial present of 1977, with the condescending paternalism of the Muslims, particularly the power-hungry imam played by Alioune Fall, mirroring that of the colonialist French. And rather than using traditional Senegalese music, Sembène employed Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango to compose a jazz-funk score that even further connects the events in Ceddo to the time of its release in the late ’70s. For whenever Sembène sets his film, he’s steadfast in his mission to draw meaningful correlations between Senegal’s past and present—each equally integral to the story of the country he loved and helped to define.

Image/Sound

All three transfers come from new 4K digital restorations and they, by and large, look terrific, with vibrant colors and rich details, especially in the costumes and extreme close-ups of faces. There are some shots where the grain is chunkier and the image isn’t quite as sharp, and the Ceddo transfer shows some noticeable signs of damage in several different scenes, but these are mostly minor, non-distracting imperfections. The mono audio track bears the limitations of the production conditions, so some of the dialogue in interior scenes is a bit echoey though still fairly clear. Meanwhile, the music comes through with a surprising robustness.

Extras

A new conversation between Mahen Bonetti, founder and executive director of the African Film Festival, and writer Amy Sall covers a lot of ground in 40 minutes. The two discuss Ousmane Sembène’s early career and discovery in the West before delving into his use of cinema as “a liberatory force” and his sly, caustic use of irony. The only other extra on the disc is a 1981 short documentary by Paulin Soumanou Vieyra in which Sembène espouses much of his philosophy of filmmaking, particularly the importance of understanding history and political complexities of the society one chooses to depict. (Amusingly, Sembène’s wife casually insults American moviegoers, as well as complains about her husband putting film before family.) The stunningly designed package also comes with a 26-page bound booklet containing an essay by film scholar Yasmina Rice, who touches on Sembène’s humor, feminism, and politically charged subjects, while forcefully pushing back against the notion that the director wasn’t much of a formalist.

Overall

These Ousmane Sembène films from 1970s brim with a revolutionary passion and, together, constitute a complex, interlocking portrait of Senegal’s past and present.

Score

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cast

Andongo Diabon, Michel Renaudeau, Robert Fontaine, Ousmane Camara, Ibou Camara, Abdoulaye Diallo, Alphonse Diatta, Pierre Blanchard, Cherif Tamba, Fode Cambay, Etienne Mané, Joseph Diatta, Dji Niassebaron , Antio Bassene, M’Bissine Thérèse Diop, Thierno Leye, Seune Samb, Younouss Seye, Miriam Niang, Fatim Diagne, Dieynaba Niang, Makhourédia Guèye, Tabara Ndiaye, Alioune Fall, Moustapha Yade, Mamadou N’Diaye Diagne, Nar Sene, Mamadou Dioum, Oumar Gueye.

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Senegal's Dakar Biennale: From red swimmers to floating teapots

Photographer: ANNIKA HAMMERSCHLAG

Nigerian artist Ngozi Ezema

Senegalese artist Diadji Diop

Malian artist Abdoulaye Konaté

Rwandan artist Gilles Dusabe

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The top diplomats of the Alliance of Sahel States met in Bamako for two days. Their discussions aimed to flesh out the workings of the new alliance, with the ministers emphasising the importance of diplomacy, defence and development “to consolidate political and economic integration”. Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said the recommendations will be submitted to each head of state, who are due to meet in Bamako at an unspecified date. The countries’ economy and finance ministers who met on late November advised creating a stabilisation fund, an investment bank and a committee that would study an economic and monetary union. In mid-September, the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a mutual defence pact. The Liptako-Gourma Charter, named after the eponymous historical region, established the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

2 Dec 23

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abdoulaye diop for valentino fall 2022

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Nécrologie : Le Sénégal est en deuil ...El Hadji Mansour Mbaye

La communauté des communicateurs traditionnels du Sénégal est en deuil. El Hadj Mansour Mbaye, président emblématique de cette institution, a perdu l’un de ses fils, Babacar Abdoulaye Mbaye, connu sous le nom de Mbaye Diop Fary Mbaye. Selon des informations rapportées par Asfiyahi, le défunt a été rappelé à Dieu ce lundi matin à Dakar. La prière mortuaire est prévue après « Tisbar », cet…

[malibuzz]

Allocution de Son Excellence Monsieur Abdoulaye Diop, Ministre des Affaires étrangères et de la Coopération internationale de la République du Mali, à l'occasion du débat général de la 78ème Session de l'Assemblée générale

Allocution de Son Excellence Monsieur Abdoulaye Diop, Ministre des Affaires étrangères et de la Coopération internationale de la République du Mali, à l’occasion du débat général de la 78ème Session de l’Assemblée générale des Nations-Unies, ONU (New York, 19-23 et 26 septembre 2023).

[faultfalha]

On the brink: understanding West Africa’s recent spate of coups. In a region where instability has long been the norm, it’s hard to say what comes next. But it’s clear that the old order is crumbling, and what emerges in its place is anyone’s guess. One thing is for sure: the people of West Africa are ready for change.