The Locust Plague

September, 2004

We had been hearing about the southern migration of enormous swarms of locusts since July. When I was visiting in the States in late July and early August, I even read an article about it in The New York Times. I got e-mail from friends asking me about it. I returned to Senegal in mid-August and every day in the local newspaper was an article describing the locusts (les criquets pèlerins or locust pilgrimage) and their slow southern migration.

From what I have been able to gather, the locust swarms originated in northern Mauritania and slowly were eating their way south, devastating crops along the way. A friend who works at the US Embassy here described to me driving in his pick-up truck from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, back to Dakar, and the swarm was so thick, perhaps a square mile of them, that they couldn’t drive and the windshield was covered by squished bugs.

Editorials in the Senegalese newspapers criticized the Mauritanian government, the Malian government, various international aid organizations, and everyone besides the government of Senegal for not doing anything to stop the locusts. Apparently this is the first time since 1968 that the locusts have been this great, although there was a minor event in 1987. Potential devastation to the various economies is imminent. And yet nothing is being done to stop the locusts, just a travelogue every day of how far south they had progressed the day before. Finally one day I pick up the paper and the headline is something like, “Locusts at the Palace Gate”. I suppose now President Wade will have to do something!

Finally two weeks ago, I was walking back to campus after lunch at my residence when I notice live and dead gigantic bright yellow grasshoppers all over the road and the paths. They are about three inches long with much longer wings. It is hard to tell whether they are alive or dead, since they just sit there. I get to my office and look out the window onto the football field. Above the field is a cloud of them. Yes, the locusts are here, the locusts are here! By the end of the day, Dakar is covered with them. It is almost impossible to walk. When I get back to my residence after a day’s work, I look at the red clay roof. It is covered in resting locusts, making it look yellow rather than its original color.

Most mornings I go for a swim in a beautiful outdoor pool that is walking distance from my house. I am wondering if the locust invasion will prevent this, but set out to see. All along the road are more squished locusts, but they aren’t in the air. I think the usual morning breeze has blown them away. Well, the pool surface is full of drowned bugs. What the heck, I take my swim as the pool guard, Amadou, uses the long-poled net to scoop them out. I guess as long as I keep my mouth closed, I’ll be OK. By the time I have finished my swim, the air is again full. I wish I had my camera to take a picture of the volleyball net weighted down with thousands of them. They certainly are a beautiful yellow color.

I am assuming that the locusts will stay in Dakar for a while before continuing on their southern path. However, after about three days, they seem to be gone. Dakar is on a peninsula and generally has a breeze, which must have discouraged them. Also, there is not as much to eat as in the fields of millet and peanuts of the countryside. I read in the newspaper that they have already arrived in MBour, an hour’s drive south of Dakar, and are again devastating local agriculture. Editorials in all of the local papers point fingers at who is responsible for not doing anything. Again, no blame on the government of Senegal, but plenty on governments of the other affected countries and even more on international aid agencies for not giving enough money. There is even a notice of a coalition meeting between the governments of Senegal and Mauritania. Now that is an alliance that will really get things moving quickly!

The economic indications are that the devastation to Mauritanian, Senegalese, Malian, and Guinean agriculture will be felt for a long time. Since Senegal has some other industry besides its agriculture and a fair amount of foreign aid, it will probably be less affected than the other countries, although that is little consolation to those living in the subsistence villages. I suspect that Mali and Guinea will suffer very badly from the devastation.

Each day now, as the migration has made its way south past Dakar, there is less and less about the locusts. My guess is that the story will die out until harvest time. Then all of a sudden they will all notice that the harvest is very small, indicating potential for starvation and high food prices. Then there will be another round of editorials and finger pointing, culminating in calls for more foreign aid. And the cycle will continue.

The Bible is full of references to plagues of locusts as punishment for something or other, or a strong warning of the power of the Almighty. I know that the plagues took place in the Passover story, but as I sit here, a fairly isolated Jew in a sea of Muslim Africans, spending the High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) with a small group of Israeli, American, and French Jews in Dakar, I wonder what the real significance of this locust pilgrimage really is. Is West Africa being warned? Is it being punished? Is there a lesson here?

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