The first edition of the International African Media Fair (SIMA), which opened this Monday in Dakar under the theme "Africa facing new media challenges," is intended to be a sort of culmination of a multilateral, inclusive process to reflect together and propose the framework for this new media canvas, that of a dynamic, highly professional and efficient ecosystem.

“Our Africa is not yet taking full advantage of this multidimensional pool”

In his speech, the chairman of the SIMA steering committee, Mr. Matar Sylla, argued that the African continent "is not yet taking full advantage of the media. "In a world where modes of domination are constantly evolving, adopting increasingly sophisticated and sometimes pernicious forms, Culture in general, and the media in particular, are a kind of spearhead of this Soft Power that is taking hold without warning," he explained.

He adds: "A continent with multiple facets, skills, opportunities and the largest youth capital in the world, with nearly 75 to 77% of young people aged 35 and under, our Africa is not yet taking full advantage of this multidimensional pool. Disinformation, fake and false news, internal and external manipulation, role-playing and substitutions are plaguing certain sectors of the African media landscape for often unacknowledged and unavowable purposes."

For this dean of the Senegalese press, SIMA must be a lever of national and pan-African soft power. "Senegal and Africa must make SIMA a true lever of national and pan-African soft power, promoting our immense cultural heritage, our values and traditions, our tourist diversity, our sporting, musical, and literary talents, our economic champions and those in many sectors, but also and above all, an amplifying asset for integration," Mr. Matar Sylla immediately maintained.