Dakar hosts Africa's first Olympic event amid cost-of-living concerns
Some 2,700 athletes are competing at the Youth Olympic Games, but many Senegalese question the spending as households struggle.
Senegal has opened the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event ever held on African soil. Some 2,700 athletes are competing in Dakar and in the nearby cities of Diamniadio and Saly until 13 November.
The authorities and Olympic officials say the Games will create opportunities for young people through a learning academy and a volunteer programme. The government has committed 36 billion CFA francs ($60 million) to their organisation, including 11.3 billion CFA francs ($19 million) for the renovation of sports venues.
For many residents, however, enthusiasm is tempered by the rising cost of living. In September, Mamadou Wadji was evicted from the shoemaker's workshop he inherited from his father in Dakar's Médina district to make way for a stadium expansion, and was relocated with other artisans to an unfinished school. "We, the general population, and especially those of us in the informal sector, should have been the first to benefit," he said.
Momar Assane Diouf, 33, an entrepreneur who holds several jobs to support his family, said the expenditure was "neither mandatory nor essential for the Senegalese people", and argued that the money could have been used to reduce living costs.
About 75 per cent of Senegal's population is under 35, according to the national statistics agency, and youth unemployment stands at about 23 per cent. The country's debt crisis has left the government with limited means to support households.