An unhealthy debate has begun in Senegal following a banal incident at the airport involving a foreign music celebrity and members of the border police. Some even began to use terms akin to the Grand Replacement theory, so dear to the hearts of Western racists, of whom Eric Zemmour is one of the most ardent spokesmen. At a time when the countries of Africa have so many existential problems, some people always find a way of adding to them. They forget that countries and peoples that have confidence in themselves are not afraid of foreigners. Take the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an example.

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A federation of 7 (seven) desert emirates, in the 1970s, at the end of the British protectorate, decided to join forces, on the initiative of the Emir of Abu Dhabi, to, among other things, resist the ambitions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The emirates are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras Al Qayman and Umm Al Qaywan. The political capital is Abu Dhabi, although Dubai is the centre of economic influence. With a total population of around 11 million spread over 83,600 km², over 8 million of the population are foreigners, representing more than 80% of the population. And yet there is no racist or xenophobic discourse. Residents point out that any manifestation of xenophobia or any offence or expression of segregation based on race or religion is punished to the full extent of the law. And this rigour is not just a figure of speech. It’s a huge success when you consider that nearly 200 nationalities live side by side and have done so for years. But above all, it’s the success of a dynamic policy aimed at developing the country through openness and exchanges with the rest of the world.

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When the emirs decided to turn their country into a luxury tourism and economic exchange area, they realised that, in order to achieve this ambition, they needed to open up to the whole world, in order to raise the capital necessary for their ambitions, but also, and above all, to bring together the skills of all the people likely to serve their interests. So, they welcomed all kinds of expertise, from bankers to housekeepers, architects, teachers, airline pilots and even shopkeepers and traders, as well as any number of other occupations that might be needed. This conglomeration of diverse aspirations takes place under the strictest of conditions. Foreigners only reside in the Emirates under very strict conditions. You don’t go looking for work in this country; you only go there once you’ve got a job, which is a prerequisite for obtaining a residence permit. It is virtually impossible for a foreigner to obtain Emirati nationality, unless he can demonstrate exceptional services or outstanding abilities.

Once they have lost their job, and with no possibility of finding another position after a certain period of time, all foreigners are strongly advised to leave the country as quickly as possible. These conditions allow the natives to live with a certain degree of ease and with the certainty of the most extensive social protection in the world. Moreover, given that foreigners hold almost all the jobs in the country, only functions in the fields of national security, surveillance of the territory, major public administration… are reserved for nationals. And nobody has a problem with that.

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Of course, foreigners, especially poor migrants, do not always sing the praises of prosperity in the Emirates, a country with the most pronounced social inequalities, especially when it comes to the poorest foreigners. Nevertheless, they arrive every day from almost everywhere. And since in the Middle East, potentates like to measure themselves by the munificence of their palaces, the beauty of their cities and the opulence of their countries, the Emirates’ economic model is tending to take hold all around the Persian Gulf and in other Arab capitals.

One of the important keys to its success is the discipline and authority shown by the country’s leaders. Once they had set themselves goals and mapped out their development plans, they did everything in their power to ensure that nothing could derail their great ambition. By welcoming so many foreigners into their country, they knew they had to open up to others without losing their soul. While the large number of mosques reminds foreigners that this is a country with a very large Muslim majority, the practice of other religions is not restricted, even if proselytising in public places is not encouraged. Religion is not forbidden, but neither is it recommended to publicly display one’s religious practice. This is important in a country where more than 33% of Hindus, the majority of the population, are not Muslims or, if they are, do not practise the same Islam as that of the people of the Gulf. And that’s not to mention the Buddhist Nepalese, the Christian Filipinos and Koreans, or the East Africans, who have their own form of Christianity.

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This requires an omnipresent police force in a region where there is no shortage of political tensions. The effectiveness of the intelligence services is formidable and is not taken lightly. The slightest dissident thinking is suppressed without mercy, but very often discreetly. Journalists assure us that it is not by following the local media that we will know exactly what is happening in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. The major Qatari channel, Al Jazeera, knows how to filter its programmes for broadcast in the major Emirati cities. This is the only way it can continue to be received by its neighbours.

All this means that tourists can move around at any time of the day or night in complete peace of mind, travelling almost anywhere in the country without having to worry about their lives or property. As a result, people who visit Dubai, even if they don’t see any police on the streets, never think about being mugged because offences are punished as harshly as possible. The only thing that worries foreigners, whether visiting or living here, is whether they have enough money to afford the luxurious lifestyle on display before their very eyes.

Though many, especially Africans, forget that in the 1970s, and even well afterwards, the standard of living of the inhabitants of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere was no higher than at home. The difference is that when the Bedouin chiefs got together and decided to open up their country to foreigners under certain conditions, ours preferred to go begging for money from Westerners, some of them promising these Western leaders a good part of it in the form of kickbacks. The consequence is that, at a time when a country like Senegal is losing its coastline as a result of ill-considered land pressure and uncontrolled coastal erosion, the cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are gaining ground on the sea by building cities on polders, greening their former arid lands by desalinating seawater and using drip irrigation on a large scale. To the point of creating more than 50 km of forest in the 120 km between the federation’s two largest cities, and implanting wildlife…

As a result, at a time when certain countries want to gargle with the term « emergence » for the decades to come – if all goes well – so-called developed and industrial countries are going to Dubai to seek inspiration and try to copy the development model admirably traced from the sands of the desert.

By Mouhamed GUEYE / mgueye@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE