The above essay was presented at the West African Research Center (WARC) on Thursday, September 21^st, 2023 with the following panel:

• Professor Ousmane Kane, Harvard University, CERDIS editor
• Professor Penda Mbow, Department of History, University Cheikh Anta Diop
• Aliou Sall, writer and expert in prospective
• Amadou Tidiane Wone, writer and former senegalese minister of culture

The book is partly biographical as it retraces the life of Ndiawar Kane, an african intellectual born by the end of the colonial period and who contributed to the building of the senegalese nation as well as to the emergence of Mauritania as an independent country and state.

The various panelists dwelt on that crucial period and also on the developments of relations between Senegal and Mauritania with a strong emphasis on the unfortunate developments which, in 2005, resulted in the repatriation of Mauritanian refugees from Senegal.

The essay is an insightful document of inter-state relations in independent Africa with ethnic groups separated by artificial borders carved by the erstwhile colonial power.

The event was attended by 64 people including researchers, academics, students and relatives and friends of the author.