Since the announced fall of Bashar al-Assad, the thousands of Syrians exiled around the world have found hope of being able to return and reunite with their families. This is also the case in Senegal, where some 30,000 Lebanese-Syrians live. One of them, Akram el Hamouri, took advantage of a work contract in Senegal in 2012 to go into exile there.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Dakar, Léa-Lisa Westerhoff
With drawn features, smoking cigarette after cigarette, Akram is still upset by the unexpected escape of Bashar al-Assadthirteen years after the start of the civil war. “ I assure you, I haven’t slept for three days. At times, I cry when I see the state of the people who leave the prison, then at times I am overjoyed when I see people who find members of their family or friends who return to the village “, he tells us.
Akram, 44, has arrived in Senegal in 2012 to work on the construction site of the new airport. Since then, he has never left. He managed to bring his two sons. Behind him, he left a mother and two daughters in Syriabut also his father and one of his brothers arrested in 2013 near Damascus. And since the fall of the regimethey still have not reappeared.
“ I’m trying to find them, I contacted all my friends, I looked at all the photos from prison from Kaysar, one after the other. But to date, no news. I think he’s dead and now I’ve come to even hope that he died as soon as he was arrested, that’s better. »
Reuniting your family in Senegal or Syria?
The objective now is to reunite his family in Senegal or Syria. The question is not yet resolved, the shots from Israel turned everything upside down again. “ My daughter called me yesterday and told me they were shooting right next to the house, she said, “Come dad now to see.” If I can, I’ll go home the next minute. Today rather than tomorrow ! »
But for the moment, as Syria has plunged into the unknown, Akram is once again forced to wait before he can return to his country.
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