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The new Preisident juggles allies, woos French business and upsets the neighbours

The famous victory of 19 March (AC Vol 41 Nos 5 & 7) is 100 days old. The democratic elan and spirit survive but the 'state of grace' is fading as President Abdoulaye Wade's new team faces the new political realities. The armed forces have been purged, to avert the (remote) chance that they might try to imitate Côte d'Ivoire's Christmas coup. There is no more talk of military intervention in Guinea Bissau, as happened in 1998-99. Wade has replaced the armed forces chief, General Mamadou Seck, head of the armed forces, with Colonel (now Brigadier) Babacar Gaye, and has promoted colonels to replace other generals (who were pensioned off with jobs in unprivatised parastatals, which bodes ill for Wade's economic reforms)....

(This article contains approximately 1361 words)

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Keywords:

Abdoulaye Wade, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mamadou Seck, Babacar Gaye, Mamadou Niang, Lamine Cissé, Abdoulaye Bathily, Amath Dansokho, Abdou Diouf, Landing Savané, Moctar Diop, Moustapha Niasse, Idrissa Seck, Ousmane Tanor Dieng, French sortie, France, Karim, Britain, Sierra Leone, Léopold Sédar Senghor, United States, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, Viviane, Jacques Chirac, Lionel Jospin, Hubert Védrine, Omar Bongo, Gabon, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Congo-Brazzaville, Nigerian, Olusegun Obasanjo, Kumba Yalla, Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, Salif Sadio, Ansumane Mané, Libya, João Bernardo Vieira, Sani Abacha, Mauritania, Moroccan, Mohammed, alter ego, Parti Démocratique Sénégalais, Parti Socialiste, Tidjane, Tijjaniya, Mourides, Mouride, Alliance des Forces du Progrès, socialisme factice, Président Directeur Général, Electricité de France, Lyonnaise des Eaux, Société Générale, Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer, Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de la Casamance