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Missing: Where is Senegal's brightest student?

2021-01-19T13:53:08.510Z


The mysterious disappearance of Diary Sow, an exemplary Senegalese student in Paris, has mobilized both her country's society and the diaspora in France through social media and under the hashtag #RetrouvonsDiarySow


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She is 20 years old and for two years in a row, in 2018 and 2019, she was recognized as the best student in Senegal, which is why she received a scholarship to study in France.

In fact, he is taking what in the French system is known as "preparatory classes" at the distinguished Parisian institute Louis-le-Grand, which should give him access to the Great Schools of higher education, that is, the most absolute university excellence of the French system.

But Diary Sow, this Senegalese student, disappeared on January 4 in Paris, without leaving a trace.

The news of the disappearance of this young woman, a model of success in teaching, has mobilized both Senegalese society and the community of students from the African country in France and other leaders of the diasporas on the continent.

Social networks have made this joint mobilization especially visible through the #RetrouvonsDiarySow campaign (Let's find Diary Sow).

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The campaign on social media has made it possible to unify the efforts of different groups and provoke a wave with which it is intended that the Diary Sow case does not go unnoticed and that the Gallic authorities allocate all the necessary resources to solve the mysterious disappearance.

The case has become a matter of state, both in Senegal and in France, as Serigne Mbaye Thiam, Senegal's Minister of Water and Sanitation and mentor to the missing girl, pointed out.

The media attention received has been unexpected.

On January 4, Diary Sow was due to return to school after the Christmas break.

That day, his identification card was used to leave the student residence in which he lived in the 13th Arrondissement of Paris, but he never showed up in the classrooms of the Louis-Le-Grand institute.

The young Senegalese woman had stood out for her perseverance and dedication to her education so that her own classmates were the first to miss her.


Sharing information on social networks was proposed as a way to multiply the eyes that seek, to try to find witnesses that fill the many gaps that an episode has with all the components of a mystery novel.

One of the first publications on the case, which appeared on the Senegalese news portal Seneweb on January 7, pointed out that these same Senegalese students in Paris had raised the voice of alert through messages on social networks warning of the situation.

But that day, the African country's consulate in the French capital had reported Diary Sow's disappearance to the police and the news had spread rapidly among social media users in Senegal.

Some of those early messages were quite far reaching.

🚨 Urgent, # TL221 si vous avez des informations sur #DiarySow ces derniers jours ci merci de nous faire signe, sur ce tweet.

Sa disparition vient d'être confirmed.

#kebetu #Recherches @EMonteil pic.twitter.com/TGbqPD6LjP

- Princess 🤍🇸🇳 (@Princesssenegal) January 7, 2021

The following day, the Senegalese Consulate General in Paris itself used its Facebook page to request help in the search for the young woman.

And from that moment, especially in Senegalese circles of social media users, the call for mobilization has spread.

It was not only about expressing surprise and dismay at the disappearance of a young woman who was a reference and who was perceived as a source of pride in Senegalese society, but sharing the information was proposed as a way to multiply the eyes that They seek, to try to find witnesses that fill the many gaps that an episode has with all the components of a mystery novel.

The preeminent figure of Diary Sow is completed with the publication of a novel that appeared in August 2020

Sous le visage d'un ange

, which also returned to give him a presence in the Senegalese media.

After those first moments, the action on social networks was organized and a group of tweeters began to recommend the use of the

hashtag

#RetrouvonsDiarySow, which has been key for the matter to achieve unpredictable visibility.

La famille utilisons Hashtag 🙏 # RetrouvonsDiarySow # RetrouvonsDiarySow # RetrouvonsDiarySow # RetrouvonsDiarySow # RetrouvonsDiarySow # RetrouvonsDiarySow # RetrouvonsDiarySow # RetrouvonsDiarySow pic.twitter.com/d0L1Mu1AUN

- SAVE DAKAR (sn) ®️🇸🇳♻️🍀 # Civictech📱💻🇸🇳 (@SAVE_DAKAR) January 9, 2021

The launch of the label has allowed the interest of society to be heard as one voice and has conveyed to the authorities the confidence that the search would be a priority.

In this way, there have been many messages that have been addressed to the Senegalese president Macky Sall to demand diligence and to the French Emmanuel Macron to convey the zeal that was expected from the French institutions in the search.

The digital actions have been the complement of the mobilization of Senegalese students in France who have organized to distribute posters with the photograph of the young student.

Pour tenter de retrouver notre très chère Diary Sow, l'association des étudiants seénégalais en France is present on the streets of the 13th arrondissement of Paris for distributors of flyers with coins and recollections of the ladite.

#RetrouvonsDiarySow!

pic.twitter.com/3aWB70psi5

- Moustapha NDIAYE 🌳 (@Ndiaye_ODD) January 10, 2021

Most of the accounts of digital activists and

influencers

from Senegal, actors, comedians, presenters have collaborated in making this case visible.

In the same way, in recent days, there have been messages from some prominent personalities and with considerable weight in the African diaspora communities, such as the popular pan-Africanist militant Nathalie Yamb, the journalist and anti-racist activist Rokhaya Diallo or the writer Alain Mabanckou.

Even the fashion actor, Omar Sy, retweeted the message of request for help launched by the consulate general of Senegal in Paris.

Elle s'appelle Diary Sow.

Elle a été la meilleure élève du Sénégal.

Aujourd'hui, she studied in class at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris.

Sauf that depuis plusieurs jours, she fired.

If you go, please contact the general consulate 🇸🇳 +33785933211 pic.twitter.com/rZ8uR74gLb

- Nathalie Yamb (@Nath_Yamb) January 9, 2021

The case has acquired a special repercussion, as evidenced by the attention paid to it by the media.

Senegalese have turned to the minute by minute of this notorious disappearance, but so have the French who have a global vocation, televisions and radios have dedicated interviews and spaces in various broadcasts, and it could be said that all the newspapers and digital news portals have taken a look at the mysterious Diary Sow case, sometimes with extensive coverage.

Even some international media have followed the evolution of the event, from the BBC or The Times in the United Kingdom, to the Washington Post or the New York Times, in the United States.

And also a good part of the African media with a continental vocation.

During these two weeks of disappearance, different hypotheses have gained strength, despite the fact that they have not officially transcended the investigation channels, some small details have been leaked, such as his trip from Toulouse to Paris in a shared car after the festivities of Christmas.

The spread of rumors has been what has caused some information, for example, when the message about his appearance jumped onto the networks and the consulate rushed to deny it, the authorities insisted that there were indications that Diary Sow was still alive.

These speeches together with the fact that, according to various sources, the inspection of his room revealed the absence of some essential personal belongings such as clothing and documentation have reinforced the hypothesis of a voluntary disappearance.

In recent days, different circles have insisted on the pressure that the young student endured, precisely delving into this possible explanation.

Thus, the long journey of this matter has meant that not all activity on the networks has been information, solidarity and mobilization.

There have been some other episodes of rumors, unconfirmed information and false news.

The biggest hoax was a message published by a Senegalese journalist in which he claimed to have found the young woman.

This information was quickly neutralized but produced a wave in the networks that forced the Senegalese authorities to make an official denial.

Fake news has been poorly received by the network user community, who have severely punished those who spread it and forced its authors to publicly apologize.

J'avoue avoir PÉCHÉ.


The quantity of information that does not receive a la minute augmente.

Elles nous arrivent par de nombreux canaux différents.

Gérer et Évaluer cette somme d'informations are an ideal. @ ConsulSenParis1 et communauté Twitter je vous present month sincere excuses.

- D.Thioune Jr. Officiel (@Dr_ThiouneJr) January 13, 2021

When a case as popular as that of Diary Sow is prolonged in time, gluttony to attract attention is unleashed and that often causes some media to give more credit than expected to all kinds of versions and lend microphones or spaces to everything type of alleged witnesses and the most unlikely informants.

The reaction of Internet users to these drifts has also been disapproval through comments and messages on social networks.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-01-19

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