The French interior minister met with the Senegalese interior minister in Dakar, where they talked about bilateral concerns like immigration and student visas.
The “hot issue of heavy drug trafficking” between the two nations was also covered in the conversation.
In Dakar, in the presence of his Senegalese colleague, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin stated that he wished to put an end to the “rumor” of significant drug trafficking between the two nations.
Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome, a Senegalese colleague, discussed a “very insignificant” subject and spoke out against the “clichés” associated with the role played by his countrymen in drug trafficking, particularly crack in Paris.
“We note – and I think it is a shared view in the intelligence – that there is not, at least not in very large quantities, drugs that circulate between Senegal and France,” Darmanin told reporters after talks with his counterpart during a 24-hour visit to this traditional ally of France.
“We do not see the arrival of traffic constituted between Senegal and France, I would like to cut short this rumour,” he said.
“But we need to discuss more about the few people – it’s really only a few people – who are involved in trafficking, especially in Paris,” he said while asserting that Paris and Dakar already had “excellent cooperation” on the subject. Crack cocaine use and trafficking in Paris is a widely reported concern in France.
Darmanin demanded in July that Paris be free of crack cocaine, a highly addictive and smokable cocaine derivative known as the “poor man’s drug” due to its price (10 euros per dose), “within a year.”
Several media outlets have reported on Senegalese involvement. In May 2021, French politician and 2022 presidential contender Eric Zemmour said that “all crack dealers (were) Senegalese” in Paris.
“There may be Senegalese living in France who are prosecuted for certain offenses as there may be French people living in Senegal prosecuted for offenses of this nature,” Diome said.
“This is a really marginal issue compared to our discussions, but even compared to the magnitude of the phenomenon of trafficking that can take place in Senegal or in France. There are often clichés that must be broken,” he said.
“The Senegalese who live in France are Senegalese who live with dignity in this country, as the French who live here in Senegal are French who live with dignity,” he said.
According to Diome, 35,000 French people reside in Senegal, and 250,000 Senegalese, including those with dual citizenship, live there permanently.
He emphasised the challenges Senegalese have in renewing their residency permits or obtaining new ones, as well as the recent extension of the wait times.
Individuals are interested in this topic, especially young people. Students apply for visas in significant numbers.
Invoking the delays brought on by COVID-19 over the globe, as well as the fact that trafficking and visa fraud “also occur in part in Senegal as elsewhere,” Darmanin claimed to understand the complaints.
In order to restore regular immigration to France at pre-pandemic levels, he pledged a “return to normal” in Senegal visa issuing times within a few weeks.