KU News Release

KU groups to come together to denounce terrorism, honor memory of UN employee

LAWRENCE — Nearly 20 student, faculty and staff groups will come together at the University of Kansas to denounce acts of terrorism, such as the recent bombing in Algiers, Algeria.

On Dec. 11, a suicide bomber carried out an attack at the United Nations facilities in Algiers. Among those killed was Babacar Ndiaye, a resident of Senegal and United Nations employee. His wife, Selbee Diouf, completed her doctorate in English at KU in spring 2006. Both were active at the university, Ndiaye having recently made a presentation at a Kansas African Studies Center seminar.

The KU event will be held at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, at the Centennial Room in the Kansas Union. Emmanuel Birdling, outreach coordinator of the Kansas African Studies Center, said staff at the center wanted to remember Ndiaye and show support for Diouf with a show of solidarity.

“There are many who have been impacted by acts of terrorism,” Birdling said. “Babacar and Selbee Ndiaye are great friends of the university. We here at the Kansas African Studies Center felt the best way to honor Babacar and express our sympathy to Selbee was to organize a forum to denounce these hideous actions of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in North Africa in their totality.”

Among the groups who will make statements denouncing acts of terrorism are the Black Faculty and Staff Council, Muslim Student Association, Chabad Jewish Student Group, Ecumenical Christian Ministries, Campus Christians, Black Student Union and the KU chapter of Amnesty International. The forum is open to all student, faculty and staff groups and the public may attend.

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