Landing Savané

Landing Savané (born January 10, 1945) is a Senegalese politician and the Secretary-General of And-Jëf/African Party for Democracy and Socialism.

Savané is from Casamance, in the south of Senegal; he was born in Bignona. He was a prominent figure in the radical student movement of the 1960s and a member of the underground communist African Independence Party (PAI). In 1965 Savané revolted against the PAI leadership and formed a separate Senegalese Communist Party. This split led to the dismantling of the Dakar cell of PAI. Savané's new party aligned with China. The Senegalese Communist Party did not last long, but Savané continued his political activity in other movements. Initially Savané and his followers regrouped as Democratic Youth. In 1970 Savané founded the Movement of Young Marxist-Leninists (MJML). After the dismantling of MJML, Savané formed the underground Marxist group Reenu-Rew (Roots of the Nation) in 1973. Reenu-Rew gave birth to And-Jëf (Act together) in 1974. Savané was jailed in 1975, but released in 1976. In 1981 And-Jëf was able to register itself as a legal political party. As the leader of And-Jëf, Savané was one of the most prominent opposition leaders in the country.

He unsuccessfully ran for President in 1988 and 1993, taking 0.25% of the vote (fourth place) in 1988 and 2.91% (third place) in 1993. Savané was a Deputy in the National Assembly from 1993 to 2000. During the Presidency of Abdou Diouf, from 1981 to 2000, Savané never took part in the government, and And-Jëf was the only major opposition group to consistently refuse to participate in the government. Following riots on February 16, 1994, Savané and fellow opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade were arrested on February 18. Savané was eventually released in July 1994. In 1998, he compared Diouf to a mafia leader: "after 20 years in power, a ruling clique comes to resemble a mafia, and heads of the mafia generally don't resign." Savané was re-elected to the National Assembly in the May 1998 parliamentary election, and subsequently he was a Vice-President of the National Assembly from July 1998 to March 2000.

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