Koranic teachers vow to fight Wade’s regime

Members of the association of Koranic teachers in Senegal have declared a “spiritual war” against the regime of President Abdoulaye Wade.

“We have declared a spiritual war against President Wade,” Mr Mohamed Lamine Fall, the chairperson of the association, told reporters at the end of an emergency meeting.

Mr Fall said he and his colleagues, who number several thousands, have the blessing of powerful Islamic sects in the country, including the Mourides.

The Mouride Islamic fraternity has a membership of about seven million of Senegal’s 12 million population and heavily influences national politics.

“We are optimistic that our war will lead to Wade’s unpopularity soon and subsequently he’ll lose the presidency in 2012,” Mr Fall said.

A statement following an ad-hoc meeting held at the association’s headquarters in Kaolack, central Senegal, at the weekend, said the move stems from the official interdiction of street begging in the country.

“Wade’s interdiction of begging in Senegal is a pretext to get rid of Koranic schools in the country,” the statement said.

Senegal last month declared street begging a crime. President Wade’s government was ostensibly coerced into the decision following years of lobbying by its international partners.

In Senegal, millions of Muslim children known as ‘talibés’ are forced to beg in the streets by their Koranic instructors or ‘marabouts’.

Statistics indicate that the ‘talibés’ collect over $100,000 for their ‘marabouts’, who use the money to sustain their polygamous and extended families.

Children as young as three were being engaged in the activity.