Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye decided Wednesday to rename a major Dakar street honouring former French president Charles de Gaulle, calling it after independence icon Mamadou Dia instead.
Boulevard General-de-Gaulle, which traditionally hosts the Independence Day parade, will now bear Dia’s name instead, a government statement said.
Independence Day, which takes place on Friday, “will be marked by this decision” renaming the “emblematic axis of the capital”, the statement said.
The boulevard leads to a giant obelisk symbolising independence from France.
During commemorations in December marking the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre perpetrated by the French army in 1944, Faye announced his intention to rename streets, buildings, and colonial monuments after national and African figures.
Dia, who died in 2009 aged 98, was Senegal’s first prime minister after it broke away from French rule in 1960, while De Gaulle was in power.
Dia is considered one of the fathers of Senegalese independence, alongside Leopold Sedar Senghor, who served as president from 1960 to 1980.
Dia was accused of plotting to overthrow Senghor in 1962. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1963, released in 1974 and later pardoned.
