Senegal postpones French auction to save Senghor items
Senegalese authorities said on Friday that they want to buy the personal effects of their first president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, at an auction in France on Saturday, postponing the event as a result.
President Macky Sall has requested that the culture minister, along with the Embassy Senegal in Paris, engage in “appropriate discussions” with the auctioneer, according to a report by TRT Africa.
“My seller and I perfectly understand the excitement caused by this sale among the Senegalese and... we therefore decided to postpone the sale,” auctioneer Solene Laine told AFP Saturday.
Government officials will conduct negotiations in the next few weeks. However, if an agreement is not reached between Senegal and the company, the auction will reportedly be held in December instead.
The sale of Leopold Sedar Senghor’s property, including war medals and jewels, was planned by an auction house in the city of Caen. His belongings were submitted to the firm by an unspecified private seller. According to the company’s website, “these lots from the estate of Leopold Sedar Senghor come from a private individual.”
In addition to being the first Senegalese president, Senghor was also a poet, writer, and professor. He presided over the West African nation for 20 years after gaining independence from France in 1960. He then retired to France, where he died at the age of 95 in 2001.
