Senegal's leader copies French minister

The incident has been embarrassing for the presidency

A plagiarism scandal has hit the Senegalese presidency, after a presidential adviser used large chunks of a speech delivered by the French foreign minister to write an address for President Abdoulaye Wade.

Everywhere, there is violence and desdain, indifference and fundamentalism, as well as the spread of absurd hatred in the most fragile regions

Dominique de Villepin and President Wade

The president's spokesman has apologised in a statement for the fact that quotation marks were missing for the long quotes taken from a speech made by Dominique de Villepin on 31 October.

The French foreign minister, who is a well-known author, read the speech in an address at Mohamed V University in Rabat, Morocco.

A week later, on 7 November, excerpts from that speech were included in an address Mr Wade, a devout Muslim, gave to mark the beginning of Ramadan.

'Incompetence'

In his speech, Mr Wade unwittingly quoted Mr de Villepin when he said that spirituality "is being eroded on the sharp edges of our world, leading to an increasing number of rejections and breaks".

Mr de Villepin is a published author

In his address, the French minister, later quoted by Mr Wade, said that "everywhere, there is violence and despise, indifference and fundamentalism, as well as the spread of absurd hatred in the most fragile regions".

The man accused of plagiarism is an adviser for diplomatic matters whom the head of state had asked to write the speech for him.

President Wade is widely expected to dismiss his aide over the incident which has reportedly "outraged, angered and deeply embarrassed" him, according to the Senegalese newspaper L'Info7.

The BBC's Mame Less Camara in Dakar says the Senegalese press routinely criticises the president's entourage, accusing his advisors of incompetence.