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Senegal plans to remove French colonial-era street names, 65 years after achieving independence.
About 60% of Dakar’s streets are named for French figures — “administrators and governors, commanders, but also French writers and doctors,” according to Le Monde.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye wants to rename them for Senegalese “national heroes,” including individuals or groups such as the tirailleurs who fought in the French army in the World Wars. The move is part of a broader push in the region to dismantle the Francafrique project.
In 2023 alone, French troops were forced to leave Burkina Faso and Niger, while Mali blocked French media, and anti-French sentiment has been rising in the Sahel region.
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