A low-key ceremony, according to the institution’s report, but with many voices. On Friday 2 October 2026, Prof. Salif Baldé handed the management of CROUS Ziguinchor (CROUS/Z) over to Mr Ousmane Diallo during a handover ceremony held in front of students, staff and partners of the university community. The session was chaired by Prof. Alassane Diédhiou, chairman of the CROUS/Z board and rector of Assane Seck University of Ziguinchor (UASZ).

Announced on the eve of campus reopening#

The ceremony had been announced three days earlier by a poster: Friday 2 October 2026, from 9 a.m. GMT. It came at a sensitive moment, on the eve of the reopening of the social campuses, then planned for the next evening. The new director thus took office just as students were getting ready to return to their rooms.

The floor first to those who keep university services running#

The programme took an unusual form: before the official speeches, it gave the floor to those who keep university services running every day. The UASZ student coordination, the CROUS/Z women’s association, the cleaning technicians, the delegate colleges of Ziguinchor and Kolda, then the university ombudsman, Mr Nouha Cissé, each gave a testimony.

Their viewpoints were not identical. A student, a cleaning technician and a campus delegate do not have the same window on the institution. According to the CROUS/Z report, all expressed the same attachment to the university public service.

The ceremony also included a look back, in pictures, at the achievements of Prof. Baldé’s term at the head of CROUS/Z since July 2024. A visual review, with no figures published at this stage.

Three speeches#

Three speeches then gave the day its institutional weight: those of Prof. Alassane Diédhiou, of Prof. Salif Baldé, the outgoing director, and of Mr Ousmane Diallo, the incoming director. CROUS/Z has not published the text of these speeches. Its report retains a common thread: the institution’s mission in the service of students.

Five directors in ten years#

With Mr Diallo, CROUS Ziguinchor has had five directors since its creation in 2016, going by the list published on the institution’s website: Professors Mamadou Lamine Diombera (2016-2020) and Moustapha Lo Diatta (2020-2023), then Messrs Sana Sané (2023-2024) and Salif Baldé (2024-2026). The mission has not changed: housing, feeding, caring for and supporting the students of Ziguinchor and Kolda.

In its report, CROUS/Z thanks Prof. Baldé “for the work accomplished and for his commitment to the institution”, and welcomes his successor with best wishes for success. It keeps one line: “People pass. The mission remains.”

A start of the year under immediate pressure#

The new director had no time to simply observe. On the very day of the handover, the reopening of the social campuses was postponed: the management explained why, then met the Student Coordination and finally set a new date. To follow it all, read our chronicle of the start of the year.