Senegal has built its identity on a tradition of hospitality that is a source of great pride. For decades, our country has welcomed people from across the West African sub-region, as well as from other continents, who come to study, work, start businesses, or join their families. This openness is deeply rooted in our history and values. It is one of the cornerstones of our national identity.

But hospitality is not disorder.

It does not mean the disappearance of the state, nor the absence of rules, nor the abandonment of all control policies. An open society is only sustainable when it is capable of organizing reception, enforcing the law, and guaranteeing that the same rules apply to everyone.

It is precisely because Senegal has always been a land of welcome that it must now consider how to sustainably preserve this tradition.

A problem that should not be ignored

For several months now, a feeling of weariness and exasperation has been expressed more and more openly in a part of the population.

This concern is occurring within a difficult economic context. The cost of living is weighing heavily on households.

Unemployment, particularly among young graduates, remains a concern. Access to housing remains difficult.

Public services are under increasing pressure.

In such a context, any phenomenon giving the impression of a weakening of public authority quickly becomes a source of tension.

However, everyone can see, particularly in the Dakar metropolitan area, the increasing number of situations that fuel this feeling.

Women accompanied by very young children beg daily at major intersections. Children spend their days on the streets instead of being protected. Begging rings sometimes appear to exploit this human distress. The chaotic occupation of numerous public spaces complicates traffic, degrades the living environment, and fosters a sense of disorder.

Added to this is a resurgence of certain forms of prostitution, both on the streets of Dakar and on social media, where soliciting practices are becoming increasingly visible. Beyond moral considerations, this trend raises questions regarding security, public health, the protection of vulnerable people, and the fight against exploitation networks.

Taken in isolation, each of these phenomena calls for a specific response.

But their accumulation produces a deeper effect: a loss of confidence in the State's ability to enforce the rules that organize collective life.

The risk of a rejection that has not yet been named

History shows that tensions between populations almost never arise from a single event.

They are built up gradually.

When citizens feel that certain difficulties persist without being addressed, their frustration sometimes shifts. Instead of questioning the shortcomings of public action, some end up blaming foreigners themselves for problems that are primarily the responsibility of the state.

This is how discourses of rejection originate.

Social media significantly accelerates this phenomenon. A video, an altercation, a scene of begging, or provocative behavior can be shared thousands of times in a few hours and presented as representative of an entire community.

Generalizations then replace facts. Emotions take precedence over reason.

It is precisely this mechanism that must be prevented before it becomes permanently entrenched.

These behaviors fuel misunderstandings.

It would be equally counterproductive to deny that certain individual behaviors can contribute to deteriorating the climate.

During some sporting events, scenes showing people residing in Senegal openly celebrating the national team's defeats have sparked considerable incomprehension. Everyone is naturally free to support their team of origin. However, when these displays are perceived as a provocation in the host country, they foster a sense of distance and sometimes hostility.

Similarly, any behavior that reflects a disregard for laws, customs, or rules of collective life undermines the pact of trust essential for harmonious coexistence.

These attitudes remain the domain of individuals.

They cannot justify a blanket condemnation of entire communities.

But they also remind us that integration is based as much on rights as on duties.

ECOWAS free movement is not laissez-faire

Senegal has ratified the ECOWAS legal instruments guaranteeing the free movement of people. This principle is one of the greatest achievements of West African integration.

But free movement does not mean the absence of rules.

It guarantees the possibility of movement and residence in compliance with community texts and national legislation.

States retain full competence to identify persons present on their territory, verify their administrative status, enforce rules relating to residence, combat criminal networks and preserve public order.

In other words, exercising administrative control is not contrary to the free movement of people. On the contrary, it is one of the conditions for its proper functioning.

A national information campaign has become necessary

In this regard, a simple initiative could produce significant effects.

Many nationals of the sub-region are unaware of the applicable formalities when their presence in Senegal extends beyond the period of free stay provided for by the regulations.

A large-scale national information campaign should be organized.

It could be conducted at border posts, in prefectures, sub-prefectures, diplomatic missions of ECOWAS member states, as well as in the media and on social networks.

Its objective would be simple: to remind citizens of the rights enjoyed by ECOWAS citizens, but also their obligations, particularly those relating to administrative formalities applicable when their stay is extended beyond the time limits provided for by Senegalese regulations.

Such a policy would protect bona fide foreigners as much as it would enhance the efficiency of the administration.

Making the residence permit a tool for good governance

The issuing of residence permits should not be perceived as a bureaucratic constraint.

It constitutes an essential instrument for knowledge of the territory, legal security and good administration.

It allows the State to better understand the populations present, to fight against exploitation networks, to improve public statistics and to better anticipate needs in terms of health, education, security and urban planning.

It also represents a financial opportunity.

Revenue from tax stamps and fees collected when issuing or renewing residence permits could be allocated to strengthening the decentralized services of the State.

In particular, they would allow for the recruitment of additional staff in prefectures and sub-prefectures, the improvement of their working conditions, the modernization of administrative procedures and the reduction of processing times for files.

A better-equipped administration would be able to ensure more rigorous monitoring of administrative situations, while respecting everyone's rights.

Preserving hospitality through state authority

The real danger does not lie in the presence of foreigners on national territory.

It lies in the feeling, real or imagined, that the rules are no longer applied with the same rigor to everyone.

It is this feeling that fuels frustrations.

He is the one who paves the way for simplistic discourse and conflations.

It is this that can gradually lead to an increase in the rejection of the other.

The best way to combat xenophobia is therefore not to deny the difficulties. It is to respond to them methodically.

Strengthen administrative controls.

Combating networks of begging and exploitation of vulnerable people. Enforcing residency regulations.

Preserve public spaces. Protect children.

Ensuring fair competition between economic activities. All these policies are primarily the responsibility of the State. Organized hospitality: a civilizational choice

Senegal does not have to choose between openness and authority. The two are complementary.

Sustainable hospitality requires rules known to all, applied impartially and supported by an effective administration.

Providing a dignified welcome does not preclude monitoring.

Respecting the free movement of people does not preclude demanding respect for national laws. Enforcing the law is never a renunciation of solidarity.

On the contrary, this is the condition for its sustainability.

If the State fully assumes this responsibility, it will preserve what has long made Senegal unique: a nation open to its regional environment, faithful to its traditions of hospitality, but strong enough to guarantee that generosity is never confused with disorder.

Because hospitality is never as strong as when it is based on the rule of law, respected by all and protective of everyone.

I think this version is more intellectually and politically sound. It doesn't make foreigners the problem; it argues that the lack of public regulation can create the

conditions for rising resentment , while proposing concrete solutions (information, residency permits, strengthening administrative capacities, combating exploitation networks, protecting public spaces). This approach is more likely to foster serious public debate and convince a readership beyond those already convinced by this analysis.