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SV President Senghor and President Giscard d'Estaing shake hands and Senghor walks down steps and talks to newsmen.
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SOF STARTS AT 7 FEET: "Bonjour Monsieur..



SOF ENDS: ...sur criminal".



After lunchtime talks with French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing on Friday President Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal spoke to newsmen before leaving the Elysee Palace.



When asked if he ha discussed the Western Sahara, President Senghor replied at length, saying that his Government was in a state of 'active anxiety' over the situation there. He went on to explain that for several months he had been endeavouring to act as an intermediary to bring the three parties to the dispute - Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania - into negotiations. He also stressed that war over the western sahara would be an absurdity not far short of criminal negligence.



Speaking about African politics in general President Senghor said that they had taken a very bed turn when foreign assistance and ideologies had been brought into both differences within individual countries and quarrels between neighbours. He said that this was a betrayal of the principles of Africanisation, democracy and non-alignment.




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Background: After lunchtime talks with French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday (12 March) the President of Senegal, Monsieur Leopold Sedar Senghor, told newsmen that his Government was in a state of "active anxiety" over the situation in the Western Sahara.

President Senghor sid that for several months now Senegal has been trying to act as an intermediary to bring the three parties to the dispute into negotiations. He named them as Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania.

He went on to emphasise that a war in the Sahara would be an absurdity not for short of criminal negligence.

At a philosophical level, President Senghor was of the opinion that African politics had taken a very bad turn with the advent of foreign assistance and ideologies into Africa.

He said that this was a betrayal of Article Three of the charter of the Organisation of African Unity which defines the principles of Africanisation democracy and non-alignment.

President Senghor said that as well as the Western Sahara situation he had also discussed Franco-Senegal relations with President Giscard d'Estaing along with the problems of Angola, Djibouti and the Comoro Islands.

SYNOPSIS: After lunchtime talks with french President Valery Giscard d'Estaing on Friday President Leopold Sedar Seghor of Senegal spoke to newsmen before leaving the Elysee Palace.