Red Guard of Senegal

The Red Guard of Senegal (French: Garde Rouge du Sénégal) is a unit of the Senegalese Gendarmerie which is responsible for presidential security. It also has ceremonial duties and assists in general policing. It is very similar in concept to the French Republican Guard, with which it is officially twinned. The Red Guard is the direct descendant of a French colonial Spahi detachment sent to Senegal in 1845.

This spahi unit is also known as the Red Guard of the Presidency (Garde Rouge de la Présidence) or Red Guard of Dakar.

The name "Red Guard" is derived from their red tunics and burnous cloaks.

French Spahis were required to range over vast areas of the Sahara desert and in 1845 a squadron was sent to Saint-Louis du Sénégal in response to tribal conflicts on the banks of the Senegal river. This detachment became a Senegalese-recruited branch of the Spahis.

In the twentieth century the Senegalese spahis were known as the "Colonial Guard" (Garde coloniale) of the "Colonial Gendarmerie". In 1960, on independence, the Colonial Guard was renamed "Presidential Guard" (Garde présidentielle), while the Colonial Gendarmerie as a whole became the National Gendarmerie.

The Red Guard places great emphasis on its heritage from the French Empire, and considers itself "guardian of the traditions of the squadrons which distinguished themselves on countless battlefields in black Africa and Morocco, in the service of France" ("la gardienne des traditions des escadrons qui s’illustrèrent sur d’innombrables champs de batailles, tant en Afrique Noire qu’au Maroc au nom de la France")

The Red Guard is part of the Security Legion of the Mobile Gendarmerie. It is divided into three "groups of squadrons", each consisting of two squadrons.

One squadron of this group works within the presidential palace, and the other in the vicinity of the palace.

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