{"id":4533,"date":"2026-04-01T20:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/?p=4533"},"modified":"2026-04-01T21:01:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:01:06","slug":"april-17th-commemoration-serigne-saliou-thioune-accuses-pastef-and-appeals-to-president-faye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/?p=4533","title":{"rendered":"April 17th Commemoration: Serigne Saliou Thioune Accuses Pastef and Appeals to President Faye"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In an exclusive statement to Seneweb, the Khalifa General of the late Cheikh B\u00e9thio Thioune denounces state interference in organizing the April 17th commemoration. He challenges the sub-prefect of Sindia&#8217;s statements and points fingers at members of the ruling party.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"><strong>SINDIA<\/strong> \u2014 The postponement of the Local Development Committee (CLD) preparatory to the April 17th commemoration has sparked intense controversy. Following public statements by the sub-prefect of Sindia regretting the absence of Serigne Saliou Thioune &#8220;Ndigueul&#8217;s&#8221; representatives, the Khalifa General of the late Cheikh B\u00e9thio Thioune issued a clarification to Seneweb to set the record straight.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold\"><strong>A Broken Tradition Under the New Regime<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The April 17th commemoration marks the historic 1946 meeting between Cheikh B\u00e9thio Thioune and Serigne Saliou Mback\u00e9. Until 2024, the state annually organized a single CLD through the Sindia sub-prefecture, a practice established under the regimes of Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;What happened goes back to last year. Every year, the state organized a Local Development Committee. This dates back to my father&#8217;s time. We did it under Wade and under Macky Sall,&#8221; recalls Serigne Saliou Thioune.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">According to him, a break occurred with the arrival of the new regime. In 2025, two separate CLDs were allegedly organized: one with his family branch, the other, without his knowledge, with a rival faction. &#8220;To my great surprise, I learned they organized another CLD with the other part of the family. Had I been informed, I would have adopted the same attitude as this year,&#8221; he states.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold\"><strong>&#8220;The State is Meddling in Family Affairs&#8221;<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The religious leader firmly denounces what he considers state interference in family matters. &#8220;The family of Cheikh B\u00e9thio Thioune is one and indivisible. I am surprised to see a state meddle in family problems, especially concerning a religious family,&#8221; he asserts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">He adds: &#8220;The role of a state should be limited to bringing together, to uniting a divided family. That&#8217;s where I expected the state to be.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold\"><strong>Fruitless Efforts with Authorities<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">To prevent a recurrence of the situation, Serigne Saliou Thioune claims to have sent a letter to the Governor of Thi\u00e8s requesting the organization of a Regional Development Committee (CRD). Receiving no response, he turned directly to the Interior Minister, who allegedly promised to intervene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Two hours later, the governor allegedly contacted the Khalifa to inform him that a CRD would not be possible due to the president&#8217;s busy schedule in Thi\u00e8s on April 4th. Serigne Saliou Thioune says he accepted this, while setting his conditions: &#8220;Tell the minister that last year, we had two CLD ceremonies, which I cannot accept. If you plan to do two again this year, I will not participate. I&#8217;m not here to be made a fool of.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold\"><strong>Sub-Prefect Accused of Lying<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Addressing the sub-prefect of Sindia&#8217;s statements, who claimed to be surprised by his absence, Serigne Saliou Thioune is categorical: &#8220;He did not tell the truth. He should have said he had been informed of my absence. He preferred to say he was waiting for me, thus misleading public opinion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The Khalifa claims to have notified the local authority by phone the day before, specifying that his absence was not a last-minute withdrawal but a matter of principle.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold\"><strong>Pastef in the Crosshairs<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Serigne Saliou Thioune also points fingers at associates of the ruling party, Pastef. &#8220;I explained to the Interior Minister what is currently happening under the influence of certain figures close to Pastef. He replied that this was not normal and that it would be resolved. Unfortunately, he did not keep his word,&#8221; he denounces.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold\"><strong>A Direct Appeal to President Diomaye Faye<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">In conclusion, the Khalifa makes a direct appeal to the President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, whom he believes is being kept in the dark about these &#8220;machinations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t think the President is aware of these machinations. Since last year, certain Pastef associates have been scheming with the administration to allow this part of the family to act this way,&#8221; he accuses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">A message that illustrates the persistent tensions between certain religious authorities and the new government, in a context where the management of religious commemorations remains a sensitive political issue in Senegal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Seneweb<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an exclusive statement to Seneweb, the Khalifa General of the late Cheikh B\u00e9thio Thioune denounces state interference in organizing the April 17th commemoration. He challenges the sub-prefect of Sindia&#8217;s statements and points fingers at members of the ruling party. SINDIA \u2014 The postponement of the Local Development Committee (CLD) preparatory to the April 17th [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,27,21],"tags":[52,61,62],"class_list":["post-4533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","category-politic","category-trends","tag-pastef","tag-religion","tag-serigne-saliou-thioune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4533"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4538,"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4533\/revisions\/4538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz7.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}