Colombia Congratulates Senegal on Elections

Colombia extended its congratulations to Senegal following the presidential elections held there. Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Bassirou Diomaye Faye on his election as President. The democratic process in Senegal concluded on March 24, 2024.

The Foreign Ministry of Colombia also congratulated the president-elect. For his election, President Diomaye had 54,28% of the votes. In this communication, the Colombian government reiterated its intention to deepen friendly ties with the West African country. The Dakar Colombian Embassy, slated to open in 2026, will bring this strategy to fruition.

This is all done in the frame of the African Strategy 2022-2026, a part of President Petros’s foreign policy that has consistently given more protagonism to Vice President Francia Marquez. The idea behind the strategy and the vice president’s involvement is to encourage Afro-Colombian citizens to learn about their pre-colonial legacy. Both the Foreign Ministry and their vice president have actively championed this strategy.

A secondary objective is to strengthen relations between Colombia and countries in Africa. The current administration argues that many governments in the past have largely ignored the continent as a whole, and not given it the appropriate relevance. 

Colombian government congratulates Senegal on its democracy

The Foreign Ministry also celebrated the participation of Senegalese citizens in a peaceful and legitimate presidential election. 

Bassirou Diomaye Faye was part of the Public Prosecutors Office and served a jail sentence. He based his entire campaign on giving the country a 360-degree change in local policy. Diomaye is also one of the main promoters of Pan-Africanism, an ideology that promotes a unified Africa. 

This feeling has been common on the continent since the wave of independence in the 1960s. However, military dictatorships and a variety of health crises have impeded the progress toward unification. Many hope that current elections and European influence will help Pan-Africanism return to the center stage. Ideological waves are significant in Africa and were one of the core reasons behind independence on the continent and the move towards an African Union.