its ambassador from Iran last Wednesday, saying Iran had failed to be straight with it about a shipment of arms to its neighbor, Gambia.
But new evidence hinted the arms may have been destined for the Lebanese Hezbollah and had nothing to do with Africa.
Senegal’s action fell well short of severing diplomatic relations. Gambia earlier severed all ties with Iran over the shipment.
WADE, President since 2000
Senegal’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement that said, “True to the need for peace and security, which should guide ties between states, and deeming not satisfactory the explanations provided by the Iranian side in this affair, Senegal has decided to recall its ambassador to Iran for consultations as of today.”
Such a recall is purely a political action. Nations often recall ambassadors as an expressions of diplomatic irritation. But the ambassador can be sent back to his post after a day or two, and often is.
What is unclear in this case is whether Senegal will take some stiffer action if Iran does not respond to the recall, with a “satisfactory explanation.”
Senegalese officials fear the arms being sent to Gambia were intended for the rebel Movement for Democratic Forces of Casamance, which has been running a rebellion against Senegal’s government for many years from the province of Casamance, which abuts Gambia.
Gambia, meanwhile, broke its silence on the arms with a vocal denunciation of Senegal, not Iran. In a statement issued last Thursday, Gambia denied that the Iranian weapons were destined for Gambia. The statement charged that Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade “decided to disregard this fact and jumped to his illogical and outrageous conclusions apparently blinded by hatred of the Gambia.” It was the first statement form the tiny country since November 22, when Gambia severed all ties with Iran.
It isn’t clear that the arms were meant for the Casamance rebels. It is difficult to understand why Iran would have any desire to support them.
A clue to the arms may be contained in a US State Department action. Washington this month designated two businesses in Banjul, the capital of Gambia, as part of the financial network supporting the Lebanese Hezbollah. It sanctioned Tajco, an import-export firm, and the Kairaba Shopping Center, which is owned by Tajco. It said both firms are run by Ali and Hussein Tajideen, brothers from Lebanon who the State Department said have long been part of Hezbollah.
No one has specifically tied the arms shipment to Tajco. But the sanctioning of Tajco December 9, shortly after the shipment to Gambia was exposed by Nigeria, has raised eyebrows. A key point of evidence is still missing; Nigeria has never announced to whom in Gambia the arms were addressed.
Iran last week sent then-Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to Senegal to try to calm tensions. Mottaki was fired while he was in Senegal. The Senegalese ambassador was recalled two days after Mottaki left. It is presumably the explanations that Mottaki gave that Senegal found “not satisfactory.”
Iranian newspapers have ignored the arms issue. News reports on Mottaki’s trip to Senegal said not one word about weapons. The report carried by PressTV, the regime’s English language television station, asserted that Mottaki and Sene-galese President Wade talked about expanding joint auto making plans!
The tension between Iran and Africa erupted on October 26 when Nigeria announced that it had seized 13 containers packed with arms and ammunition. The shipment was labeled as building materials and was consigned to two Iranians in Nigeria. The containers had arrived over the summer and had been watched by Nigerian police who had heard they contained weapons. When the two Iranians moved to re-load the containers and send them to Gambia, the Nigerian police pounced.
One of the Iranians holds diplomatic immunity and was allowed to return home. The other has been arrested and faces trial next month.
The episode now has three African countries—Senegal, Nigeria (the most populous African nation) and Gambia (the least populous)—all frowning at Iran. Other African governments are presumably watching and following developments. The case has the possibility of undermining Iranian relations with Africa as a whole. The Ahmadi-nejad Administration has made Africa and Latin America a major focus of its foreign initiatives, trying to tap into anti-American and anti-colonial emotions to develop ties.
However, if the arms were destined for Tajco and Hezbollah, it would mean that the Islamic Republic was not meddling in African politics, just trying to use Africa as a springboard for its goals in the Middle East.