Former Guinean Prime Minister Kabiné Komara published a memoir on the occasion of the centenary of former President of the Republic of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, celebrated on May 29th. In it, he recounts nearly twenty years of "personal and strategic relations with this great man," from their initial economic exchanges to the handling of the events of September 28, 2009, and the injury of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. Former Prime Minister Kabiné Komara states that he repeatedly sought the assistance of the former Head of State during critical moments for Guinea. Here is the full text of his memoir.

“President Abdoulaye Wade turned one hundred on May 29, 2026. The coincidence of this date with the Tabaski festival explains why the event has been the subject of less solemnity for the moment.

However, such longevity for an exceptional individual always provides an opportunity for those who had the honor and good fortune to know him, even briefly, to express their gratitude. This is what I will attempt to do in this account.

I fell under the spell of this great statesman, laden with degrees, when one day in 2006, while I was working at Afreximbank in Cairo as Senior Department Director, I was introduced to him in Dakar by his very professional and affable economic advisor, Ms. Gnounka Touré, to explore the possibility of making Dakar the headquarters of Afreximbank's West Africa Regional Office.

“When I came in April 2009 to offer Guinea’s condolences on the death of his daughter-in-law…”

“Very quickly our exchanges turned into lively debates on the financing mechanisms for the continent’s development. Since then, he instructed this respected lady that I should have privileged access to him in order, he said, to give me the opportunity to “challenge him freely” on economic and financial issues; which I did not hesitate to do afterwards.

When I was appointed Prime Minister in December 2008 by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara to lead the military transitional government at the time, our relationship took on a more strategic dimension.

When I came in April 2009 to offer Guinea's condolences on the death of his daughter-in-law, Aida Marème Karine, he did me the great honor of giving me the phone numbers I could easily reach him by. God knows that this proved useful to me later on.

First, to convince him to make an official visit to Guinea while the country was under sanctions, so that his stature and the well-known influence he had over the CNDD could open a privileged channel of communication with the international community. Few people understood at the time the advantage the country gained from this visit.

"I will contact him without hesitation."

"Then I had to rely on his great open-mindedness to secure the financing and expedite the studies for the Kaléta hydroelectric dam, the energy of which would be shared between Guinea, Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.

It was also this privileged relationship that I used to manage part of the aftermath of the tragic events of September 28, 2009. Indeed, I contacted him in the early evening of that fateful day to arrange a telephone meeting with Captain Dadis Camara. The Captain then granted me permission to go to the Pasteur Clinic, where the leaders of the civil society, Cellou Dalein Diallo, Jean Marie Doré, François Lounceny Fall, Bah Oury, Sidya Toure, and Mouctar Diallo, were being held under guard. My aim was to bring them back to their respective homes that same evening. This was accomplished, with the exception of Mr. Cellou Dalein, whose health required him to remain under medical care.

This same special attention, with the support of ECOWAS, enabled President Wade to dispatch his plane a few days later to evacuate Cellou Dalein to Dakar. That day, to avoid any last-minute obstacles, I personally drove him from the Pasteur Clinic to the airport in my official vehicle. Along with my Minister of Transport, Mr. Mamadi Kaba, I personally oversaw his boarding, along with his entourage, onto the plane, without his passport, which some opportunistic police officers wanted to subject to unnecessary and nitpicking checks.

I will conclude this account of the very special attention that Dean Abdoulaye Wade has always paid to my requests by mentioning the help he gave me on December 3, 2009, when Commander Toumba Diakite shot Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. As the highest authority in the country that day, I had to take immediate control of the situation. I contacted him without hesitation.

"He also showed magnanimity towards me by allocating me a plot of land in the Almadies district."

"He immediately followed up on my request by sending me a medical team during the night, whose diagnosis, in the early morning, led me to bother him again so that he would authorize this same medical team to transport the seriously injured President Moussa Dadis to Morocco.

Dean Abdoulaye Wade also showed magnanimity towards me by instructing the land and urban planning services of Senegal to allocate me a plot of land in the Almadies district, when he learned that I had carried out my duties as Prime Minister without salary and without budget, that I had been forced to sell my second property at the time to meet my expenses and that, for ethical reasons, I had declined the offer from my successor Mr. Jean Marie Doré for the allocation of land from the Guinean State.

I know that across Africa President Abdoulaye Wade has taken many life-saving actions, not to mention his own country which owes him the fact that he was the inspiration for the first real democratic alternative.

That is why, after having lived through a whole century, I express my sincere wishes for the health of this great baobab tree that Senegal has given to all of Africa.