Ferry disaster: Ministers quit
2002-10-02 08:06
Dakar - Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade on Tuesday accepted the resignations of Transport Minister Youssouph Sakho and Armed Forces Minister Youba Sambou after a ferry disaster which claimed almost 1 000 lives.
"I am resigning to put the government at ease," Sakho declared
in a state television interview.
"Senegal has experienced a profound trauma over the past five
days ... for the truth to come out, I've decided to leave the
government and put the head of state at ease," Sambou told
Senegalese television.
Wade was also expected to address the nation late on Tuesday.
Sources said the two ministers have come under fire for
Thursday's disaster in which only 64 of an estimated 1 034 people aboard the passenger ferry Joola survived when the vessel capsized off the coast of Gambia, sandwiched between the northern and southern sectors of Senegal.
The army-operated vessel was plying its regular route up the
coast to the capital Dakar from the southern province of Casamance when the disaster struck.
Even before results of the technical inquiry were released,
sources said the ship was not adapted for ocean-going voyages and
was clearly overloaded because it had been licensed to carry only
some 550 passengers.
The two ministers had been expected to submit further reports on Tuesday for publication on Wednesday.
The disaster has provoked outrage among many Senegalese with the Senegal Consumers' Association Ascosen announcing plans Tuesday to sue the state for "negligence leading to the deaths of almost 1 000 persons", joining other movements calling on the government to assume responsibility for the tragedy.
The design of the Joola, the state of its engines, the
overcrowding of passengers and probably also cargo, the delay in
raising the alarm and the slow progress of rescue attempts have all been criticised.
A Casamance business group, the Collective de Cadres
Casamancais, said Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye's government
should go, citing negligence, contradictory statements by officials and chaotic management of the aftermath of the tragedy.
The Committee of Senegalese Intellectuals and Artists has also
said the state's responsibility for the disaster called for "the
collective resignation of the current ministerial team. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA