'African Renaissance' statue unveiled

SENGAL: Senegal inaugurated its giant "African Renaissance" monument on Saturday, brushing aside complaints that the $28 million personal project of President Abdoulaye Wade was a waste of money and un-Islamic.

Wade arrived at the statue of a man, woman and child to the sounds of African drumming and dancers in traditional costume as hundreds of his supporters watched, some waving banners urging him to seek another term in 2012 elections.

He said the monument was for all of Africa. "It brings to life our common destiny," he said. "Africa has arrived in the 21st century standing tall and more ready than ever to take its destiny into its hands."

Slightly bigger than New York's Statue of Liberty, the monument perched on a hill overlooking the capital Dakar has been criticised as a waste of money in a country with crumbling infrastructure and welfare provision.

One imam in the mainly Muslim West African state issued a fatwa on Friday condemning the statue as idolatrous, a charge dismissed by Wade's allies.

Its supporters argue that Africa, many of whose states are still struggling to find their feet a half a century after independence, needs symbols of hope for the future.

Dakar, Sunday, Reuters