Senegal unveils statue of 'African Renaissance' to rival NYC's Liberty

Senegal inaugurated its giant 'African Renaissance' monument on Saturday, brushing aside complaints that the $28 million personal project of president Abdoulaye Wade was a waste of money and un-Islamic.

Wade arrived at the statue of a man, woman, and child to the sounds of African drumming and dancers in traditional costume as hundreds of his supporters watched, some waving banners urging him to seek another term in the 2012 elections.

Wade said the monument was for all of Africa. "It brings to life our common destiny," he said. "Africa has arrived in the 21st century standing tall and more ready than ever to take its destiny into its hands."

Slightly bigger than New York's Statue of Liberty, the monument perched on a hill overlooking the capital Dakar has been criticised as a waste of money in a country with crumbling infrastructure and welfare provision.

One imam in the mainly Muslim West African state issued a fatwa on Friday condemning the statue of a man, woman, and infant as idolatrous, a charge dismissed by Wade's allies.

Its supporters argue that Africa, many of whose states are still struggling to find their feet a half a century after winning independence from their colonial masters, needs symbols of hope for the future.

"Every architectural work sparks controversies. Look at the Eiffel Tower in Paris," pro-Wade senator Ahmed Bachir Kounta told Reuters, speaking of the 19th-century structure labelled by early critics as an expensive eyesore.

Wade, who at 83 has confirmed that he will seek re-election in 2012, has invited around 30 African and other heads of state to the ceremony which took place after 1500 GMT (8:30pm IST). Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe was among those attending the event. Veteran US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and US-Senegalese rapper Akon were also expected.

At the foot of the statue sat dozens of facepainted children representing a charity for impoverished youth which is due to receive cash from the monument's tourist proceeds.

Wade wore a modern Western-style suit to the inauguration while his wife wore a colourful boubou, a flowing full-length garment traditional in West Africa.

Many Dakar residents, struggling with increasingly frequent power cuts, disintegrating city roads, and scarce formal employment, have mixed feelings about the monument.

"In 2010, Africa has to re-born," said 36-year-old Thierno Dienj, a supporter of Wade's rival Socialists who was among the crowd at a small anti-government rally on Saturday.

"But this monument doesn't take into account the rising cost of living here," he said, repeating a common complaint over the increase in prices of basic foodstuffs and public transport.

The notion of African Renaissance came to the fore in the 1990s amid optimism that the continent was shaking off the effects of colonialism and Cold War-era meddling by the superpowers.

Leaders such as Wade and South Africa's Thabo Mbeki picked up the idea and used it to drive projects such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), an economic development programme with modest results so far.