Gambiaj.com – (DAKAR, Senegal) – Retired General Meïssa Sellé Ndiaye, former aide-de-camp to President Macky Sall, on Sunday sounded a warning call about the growing jihadist threat along Senegal’s borders and the increasing presence of underground forces within the country.

Speaking during the sponsorship ceremony for the Koki High School in the Louga region, General Ndiaye cautioned against complacency, saying, “The mistake would be to believe that this only happens to others. No one is immune.”

He urged Senegalese authorities to take security risks seriously, emphasizing that while security is the responsibility of defense and security forces, it also depends on the active engagement of the population.

“It is the people who see, who alert, who help with intelligence. Without this collaboration, the work of the security forces risks being incomplete,” he stressed.

General Ndiaye also expressed concern about the rise of an “imported Islam” brought in by new preachers trained abroad, whose practices differ sharply from the country’s traditional Sufi Islam.

“When Islam first arrived, our ancestors adapted it to our cultural values. It was based on humanism and harmony, serving as a bulwark against jihadism,” he explained.

He warned of visible signs of rupture, noting that some preachers live outside of mainstream society, refusing to participate in social rituals like funerals and baptisms, and shunning community solidarity. “We must question their sermons in the daaras, the education they provide, and their sources of funding,” he insisted.

According to General Ndiaye, some of these groups are supported by criminal networks linked to drug trafficking and hostage-taking. “Dirty money fuels their influence,” he denounced.

In conclusion, General Ndiaye called for “a collective mobilization” to face the jihadist threat, noting that massacres based on ethnic or religious divisions have already been committed elsewhere.