Corona stories: Number 12: Senegal 2012

A dangerous terrorist in Matam

After the visit to Mali (number 8) I made my way to St. Louis, a fascinating colonial town in the north of Senegal. I followed the Senegal river, a route which was travelled by Renné Caillié on his first attempts to find Timbuktu. The road from the border to the coast more or less follows the river, which for most of the time forms the border to Senegal’s northern neighbour, Mauritania.

Main street in old Matam

One of the last Adobe buildings of Matam

The second night it stay in the crossroad town of Ouro Segui. Senegal is much less traditional than Mali. Many of the old buildings have disappeared< The country gives a drained out impression. However, not far from Ouro Segui, at the river, is the little town of Matam, which seems to have some traditional leftovers. A taxi takes me right to a concrete platform overlooking the river. The opposite bank is Mauritania.

The Senegal river in Matam

A few old barges lie on the bank, people wash themselves and their clothes, one bathes his horse in the cloudy, green-brown broth of the river. Everything that is not covered by water disappears in trash. As long ago in 1824 Renné Caillié had complained about the dirt in the villages here. He rather left hungry than to accept food of the dirty locals.

I take a couple of pictures.

Laundry in the Senegal river

It is doubtful whether the water quality is good enough for clean laundry

An athletic guy in a white t-shirt and blue jogging pants with the familiar three stripes runs towards me and roars what I have to photograph here. He would be from the gendarmerie. I don't believe a word and ask for an ID. He furiously points to a building on the left where his papers would be. I'm a little intimidated - maybe I did something wrong after all – so I follow him. He is also young, a head taller than me and certainly much stronger.

The story starts with this photo

We walk up a few steps to the covered terrace that forms the entrance to the building. When I'm up I'm stuck in the trap. The terrace is surrounded by an iron grille and he locks the gate behind me. Then he screams into one of the rooms and a woman brings a backpack. He rummages around in it without taking his eyes off me. At last he has actually found a card that has the words “Gendarmerie Senegalese” next to an indistinct photo.

Fishing on the river

He wants to see my passport, searches for my name and nationality, but it is clear that he cannot decipher the document. He can't listen either, because he doesn't care what I want to explain to him. Maybe he just wants to earn a little extra income from my release. The anteroom is like a cage and he is obviously not wrongly afraid that I could escape him. He doesn't want to say why he's holding me here.

When I say something about "ambassade aleman" and pull out my phone, he gives me back my passport, which I quickly put away. Then he supposedly calls his boss. But I only understand something about Toubab (foreigner) and passport.

After a few minutes of mutual shouting, a blue pick-up finally stops in front of the building in a cloud of dust. A small wiry man jumps out who is dressed like my prison guard.

Entertainment in the streets of Matam

The little guy asks me what's going on here. I tell him that the other one dragged me in here (that's not quite true, after all, I voluntarily went into the trap) and locked me up for no reason. The athlete shouts back that I am a liar. As witnesses he calls the ragged figures, who curiously have gathered in front of the building.

Now the boss wants to see my passport too. He immediately reckognises my nationality. To the other he says in French that I am the wrong one and that the one I am looking for does not look like me. He tells me that they are looking for someone and that the other guy has only done his duty. I am allowed to take photos here too. Then they let me go.

Fight terrorism

The next day it turns out that in Naoukchott, the capital of Mauritania, an attempt was made to attack the French embassy. The car, full of explosives, hadn't exploded. The Al Qaeda assassins fled towards the Senegalese border. After crossing the river a couple of times they were caught when trying to return to Mauretania.