Senegal

Lane pointed me to this article on the BBC site talking about the famed (well, famed to me, anyway) Trans-Gambian Highway, which I had the “pleasure” of crossing a few times during my séjour in Senegal. Apparently there’s been quite a bruhaha going down across the River Gambia. (Senegalese newspaper Le Soleil’s latest article [FR].) BBC: The Trans-Gambian Highway, which runs further inland, has effectively been closed to cross-border traffic for over a month by Senegalese transporters protesting against the…

CS Monitor: Saturday, 10 cities around the world will host some of pop music’s biggest names as part of the “Live 8” concert series (www.live8live.com). Organizer Bob Geldof hopes large turnouts will pressure the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized nations, meeting in Scotland next week, to help put “an end to poverty” in Africa. He also hopes the rock shows will boost awareness about Africa’s plight – and how the wealthy world can help. The Monitor decided to find out…

From Kabissa: Microsoft goes Wolof After Swahili, Microsoft will now turn its hand to translating its software into Wolof, which is the most widely spoken native language in Senegal. According to the managing director of the Senegalese “Agence informatique de l’ƒtat” (AIE or State informatics agency), the agreement was given by the multinational’s president for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Linguists and specialists in the Wolof language from Senegal will be involved in the project. According to the chief…

So, in lieu of doing the tons of work that I have to do in the next two weeks (two radio documentaries, and to finish my book chapter/proposal) — I went with Sarmad, Robert Tuttle and his wife to explore the Arab neighborhood in Astoria. We had lunch at a Lebanese place on Steinway Ave., which was quite good. Following that, we headed down to the African Film Festival currently showing at Lincoln Center, where we saw Moolaadé, the latest…

I heard about this last year when I was in Senegal, but I’m glad to see it now in the American press. France Outsources, Senegal Calls DAKAR — Holding a black telephone and clicking through options on a computer screen, Aissatou Diouf is conducting a customer survey for a big French mobile phone company. Diouf is not calling from France, although she doesn’t mention that to the client on the other end of the line. She is 2,500 miles away…

To all you people who said you wanted to go see Youssou N’Dour with me and then cancelled: you suck. I ended up not going, because I didn’t want to go alone.

There was a minibus crash in northern Senegal today, nearly 30 dead. The paramedics took 50 minutes to arrive. Xinhua News Twenty-eight people were killed immediately, three died later in the local hospital, and 34 others were injured. The authoritieshave flown 14 seriously wounded people in two planes to the capital of Dakar for treatment. Reuters DAKAR, June 24 (Reuters) – Two public buses collided on Thursday in the northern part of Senegal killing 28 people and injuring 27 others,…