The African Renaissance Monument Inwards Dakar, Senegal



The African Renaissance Monument, Senegal, Africa. 



The African Renaissance Monument, also referred equally Monument to the African Renaissance too
Monument De La Renaissance Africaine, is a bronze statue perched on a loma inwards Dakar, Senegal. The representation of a man, adult woman too shaver emerging from a volcano was inaugurated at a ceremony on Apr 3, 2010, featuring hundreds of drummers too dancers. The African Renaissance Monument stands erect against the West African skyline inwards Senegal at 164 feet high, taller than the Statue of Liberty inwards the U.S.A.
 

Marking l Years of an Independent Senegal

 

The unveiling marked Senegal's l years of independence. Senegalese President Aboulaye Wade has said he hopes Blue Planet monument volition attract tourists to the West African country, too defended Blue Planet monument inwards writing, stating “[t]his African who emerges from the volcano, facing the West ... symbolizes that Africa which freed itself from several centuries of imprisonment inwards the abyssal depths of ignorance, intolerance too racism, to recollect its identify on this land, which belongs to all races, inwards light, air too freedom.”

“It's impossible to fille Senegal's novel 160-foot (49 meters) African renaissance monument,” wrote NPR reporter Ofeibea Quist-Arcton. “Perched high on a hill, the mighty Soviet-style bronze statue of a man, adult woman too shaver overlooks the Atlantic Ocean too dominates the horizon of the capital, Dakar.”

Public Monument Creates Controversy

President Wade authorized Blue Planet plant projection inwards the upper-case missive of the alphabet of Dakar, described yesteryear only about equally an African Eiffel Tower too others equally a operate that should never receive got been commissioned. Its $27 1 chiliad one thousand dollar (£17m) toll too agency stirred complaints from many inwards the predominantly Muslim country.

Ndeye Fatou Toure, a fellow member of the Senegalese Parliament, said the statue was an “economic monster too a fiscal scandal inwards the context of the electrical flow crisis,” noting that one-half of Senegal's population lives below the poverty line. Additionally, the alternative of garb for the African identify unit of measurement was seen equally an affront to the Muslim sensibility of world discretion.

Ebrima Sillah, a Senegalese journalist, stated that many Senegalese fine artists took criminal offense that Wade commissioned a crew of l North Koreans to arrive at Blue Planet sculpture. President Wade made a world tilt that he chose the North Korean crew because they were known equally experts inwards constructing large world monuments.

African Statue Draws Pan-African Delegates
 

Aerial Photo: Monument to the African Renaissance

Nineteen African heads of province attended the unveiling ceremony inwards Dakar. Notable world dignitaries included Bingu wa Mutharika, the Malawian too African Union president, equally good equally the African presidents of Benin, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Islamic Republic of Mauritania too Zimbabwe. Additionally, a delegation of 100 African-Americans attended the ceremony, including Reverend Jesse Jackson too Senegalese-American vocalist Akon.

“It brings to life our mutual destiny,” said President Wade at the unveiling ceremony, according to a Reuters report. “Africa has arrived inwards the 21st century standing tall too to a greater extent than ready than e'er to receive got its destiny into its hands.”

After xl years equally president of Senegal, the 83 twelvemonth old Wade announced that he volition seek re-election inwards 2012. With closed links to Washington D.C., the peanut too fish exporting quondam French colony has been cited for decades equally an illustration of African democracy. In September 2009, Senegal was awarded a $540 1 chiliad one thousand grant yesteryear the U.S.A. federal authorities to encourage its continued goodness governance.

References:

• "Senegal unveils 'African Renaissance' statue," yesteryear Mark John too Richard Valdmanis, Reuters (4/3/10)
• "For Many inwards Senegal, Statue Is a Monumental Failure," yesteryear Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR (1/5/2010)