In Senegal, the security forces implicated in the repression

2023-06-04 18:36:07

Tension remained high this Sunday, June 4 in Senegal, five days after the sentencing of the main opponent and candidate for the presidential election of 2024, Ousmane Sonko, to two years in prison for “youth corruption” in a rape case. Clashes between the security forces and demonstrators, mainly young people, persisted in Dakar but also in the regions, such as in Ziguinchor (south of the country, where Ousmane Sonko is from) or Saint Louis.

In Dakar, the scars of the scuffles testify to the violence of the exchanges: shredded tires, charred tree trunks, carcasses of cars… Already targeted during the deadly riots of March 2021, triggered following the arrest ofOusmane Sonko in this same rape case, Auchan supermarkets were ransacked, gas stations attacked. Usually very lively streets and neighborhoods of the capital have been almost at a standstill in recent days. Since the start of the riots, 16 people have died, according to the Interior Ministry, a figure probably underestimated according to several sources. In addition, 357 people were injured, says the Red Cross.

Live ammunition fired at protesters

While the firing of live ammunition at the population is denounced by several witnesses, Antoine Felix Diome, Minister of the Interior, spoke of “attacks by occult forces”which would be linked to a “foreign influence”. Without giving more details.

In recent days, more than 500 people were arrestedwhile the army was deployed in the streets of Dakar to “secure sites deemed strategic”, says the Ministry of the Interior. Amnesty International asks “the immediate end to police violence and arbitrary arrests” and condemns the restriction of social networks since 1^is June, justified by the government in order to prevent “the dissemination of hateful and subversive messages”.

“A long tradition of impunity”

Videos and testimonies on the violence of the security forces and civilians against demonstrators, but also the populations, circulate despite everything on the Internet. “As in March 2021, we observe the presence of thugs, big guys recruited and paid by politicians, who operate in parallel with the security forces with complete impunity and in reprisal against the demonstrators”, notes Seydi Gassama, executive director of Amnesty International Senegal. While the light on the 14 deaths during the 2021 riots has still not been shed, Seydi Gassama deplores “a long tradition of impunity towards the security forces” in Senegal.

In recent days, many calls for an end to the violence have succeeded. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged the ” detention “ and condemned the violence, while the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, called for the “immediate cessation of violence”. The bishops of Senegal expressed great concern about the social and political climate of the country and warned about “the dangers of division and violence”. Following the demonstrations in the holy city of Touba, the caliph of the Mourides (a very powerful Muslim brotherhood) had ordered an end to the clashes.