Since I have been living in Dakar, the city has been gearing up for the Islamic Conference. Every major road has been and some still are under construction. Upscale hotels have been built, yet ironically, none to my knowledge have been completed.
Its seems over the past week, a big push has been made to finish up the road projects to the best of their ability, or atleast to get them so a dignitary can be driven on them. The results of this push were evident when I was coming home yesterday evening from the American Club in a taxi and the typical 20 minute trip took an hour...it'll be interesting to see what happens once you put motorcades on them.
Referring back to a couple months ago when the street vendors rioted, it seems that the government is trying to keep them off the busy streets during the Conference (I somewhat agree). I can only assume this off of observations because last night when I was coming home, all of a sudden, about 75 street vendors came running off a bridge carrying their peanuts, phone cards, q-tips, steering wheel covers, etc with the police following close behind. My cab driver and I got a good laugh.
The city should get interesting over the next couple days and I must say, I'm looking forward to being here for it.
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