Watch from the video from 22:30
According to Patrick Smith, Editor in Chief of the Africa report (London), the President Macky Sall had the intention to run for a illegal third mandate and privately informed Macron last year.
M. Smith critices President Sall because he could have avoided the violence and deaths if had clearly spoken about his intention not to run years ago.
From the Open Gambia Platform
Two Gambian activists, veterans of the struggle against the dictatorship of Yakhya Diame, discuss how The Gambia and Gambians are being drawn into Macky Sall's plot against his main opponent, Ousmane Sonko. Sulayman Ben Suwareh, editor-in-chief of the Open Gambia platform and former Gambian military intelligence officer, and Juka Ceesay, civil rights activist and broadcaster, whose brother Alhajie Ceesay was murdered on Yakhya
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Seif Magango
Location: Geneva
Date: 13 June 2023
Subject: Senegal
We are deeply troubled by human rights developments in Senegal in recent weeks, where at least 16 people were killed, 350 were injured and more than 500 arrested during three days of protests, between 1 and 3 June.
The use of firearms by security forces during protests sets a negative precedent for Senegal. We note that the authorities have launched investigations and call on them to ensure that the investigations into this use of force are prompt, independent and thorough, and to bring anyone found to be responsible for unnecessary or disproportionate force to account regardless of their status and political affiliation. We offer our Office’s assistance in this respect.
We are also concerned about continuing restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the wake of the protests. Walfadjiri TV, a private station, which was covering the protests live, was suspended on 1 June without clear legal justification and remains off air to date. A Government statement said the suspension would last for 30 days. The Government has also ordered the suspension of a crowd-funding campaign for the station aimed to sustain it during the time it is unable to operate.
The authorities have, since the 3 June protests, denied permission for at least two other protests, including those planned for this past Friday and Saturday.
Access to mobile Internet services was also restricted between 1 and 6 June, ostensibly to stop the “dissemination of hateful and subversive messages.” Internet restrictions must be grounded in unambiguous, publicly available law; must be necessary to achieve a legitimate aim, as defined in human rights law, and proportional to that legitimate aim and non-discriminatory.
It is the primary responsibility of Senegalese authorities to preserve the country’s long-held respect for democratic traditions and the rule of law by guaranteeing the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, as well as the right to information by ensuring that journalists can exercise their profession freely and safely, particularly in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
We reaffirm our Office’s readiness to continue working with the Senegalese Government, civil society, and other partners to strengthen protection of human rights in the country.
ENDS
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The West African nation of Senegal is reeling after clashes between the police and supporters of a leading opposition figure early this month left at least 16 people dead. Many families have found that their loved ones had died from gunshot wounds, raising suspicions that the Senegalese police fired on demonstrators.
Senegal is often hailed as a model of stability in West Africa, but for years anger has been mounting against President Macky Sall and his government over widespread youth unemployment and perceptions of entrenched corruption. Mr. Sall has also remained vague about his intentions to run for a third term next year, which most legal experts say would violate the Senegalese Constitution.
Mr. Sall has praised the professionalism of the country’s security forces, while his interior minister, blaming a “foreign influence” for the riots, has said the death toll could have been much worse had the police not shown restraint.
Yet a different picture is painted by social media footage, testimonies from relatives of victims and human rights defenders, and half a dozen death certificates obtained by The New York Times. The certificates all list the cause of death as wounds inflicted by live ammunition.
The source of the bullets is not mentioned on the death certificates. But Amnesty International, which has counted 23 fatalities, said most of the victims died from bullets fired by the police or unidentified armed men operating alongside them. The Senegalese Red Cross said it had treated more than 350 people, 10 percent of whom were among the security forces.
“The state killed my brother,” said Issa Sarr, whose brother died on June 2 after being shot in the head in Pikine, a suburb of the capital, Dakar. His brother, Bassirou Sarr, 31, was a tailor who invested his spare time in his neighborhood, painting, planting trees and installing lighting to make the area safer, his relatives said.
The Government has rejected accusations that the police fired at protesters and said it had arrested 500 people, some carrying firearms. The Interior Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of various Senegalese cities earlier this month after the country’s leading opposition figure, Ousmane Sonko, was sentenced to two years in prison for “corrupting youth.” He was acquitted of rape and other charges, all which he had denied.
Mr. Sonko’s supporters, and an increasing number of public intellectuals and political observers, say the case was an attempt to block him from running in next year’s presidential election.
As news of the verdict against Mr. Sonko spread, protesters set cars ablaze, threw stones at security forces and ransacked properties and businesses. Dakar’s central university, one of the best in West Africa, remains closed until further notice after rioters burned several buildings.
The Senegalese government deployed the military to respond to the protests. It also cut off access to social media for nearly a week.
Many families say that the young men they lost had not even participated in the protests. Bassirou Sarr, the tailor, had been forced to close his shop because of the protests, like most businesses, and was shot as he was standing on a bridge overlooking rioters who were cornering police officers at a tollgate, his brother Issa said in an interview last week. His account could not be verified independently.
Issa Sarr spoke as he was waiting to collect his brother’s body at a morgue in Dakar. Minutes later, another family loaded the coffin of a man killed in the demonstrations on the roof of a hearse. Mr. Sarr and two of his brothers gathered around the coffin with two dozen others and prayed for the victim, Seyni Coly, a baker who died after being shot in the abdomen, according to his autopsy report.
Families of other victims shared similar stories. Elhadji Cissé, a 25-year-old geography student who was about to move to Canada this summer for his studies, was returning from a mosque, his family said, when he was shot in the back. The bullet punctured his right lung and came out of his arm, according to an autopsy report.
With three-quarters of Senegal’s population younger than 35, most of its 17 million people have known only democracy. Even as Senegal has faced sporadic episodes of political violence since it gained independence from France in 1960, it has long taken pride in its culture of free expression and the existence of multiple political parties — in a region where coups are common and aging leaders cling to power.
But that exceptionalism has come under question as the country faces its worst political crisis in decades. In recent years, demonstrations against Mr. Sall have grown more violent, political opponents have been jailed, journalists arrested and news organizations suspended.
In 2021, Mr. Sonko’s arrest, following accusations of rape by an employee of a massage parlor, set off demonstrations and left 14 people dead over six days. But the police response was more violent this year, according to human rights organizations.
Mr. Sonko, who was convicted on June 1, has yet to be arrested. Stranded in his house in Dakar, he has not condemned the violence, instead calling for more unrest. More than half a dozen protesters hospitalized after being wounded in the protests and interviewed by the Times last week said they would keep demonstrating against Mr. Sall’s government. (Mr. Sall was elected in 2012 after defeating an incumbent who had rankled many in Senegal by attempting to claim a third term.)
“I don’t regret anything,” said Samba, a 23-year-old demonstrator who was discharged from a hospital in Dakar this past week after being shot in the chest. He asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of government retaliation.
“Injustice in this country must stop,” he added, referring to the prosecution of Mr. Sonko.
But the strife has also alienated more moderate Senegalese who favor dialogue, observers say.
“Political parties, in power and in the opposition, are rarely insisting on the fact that violence isn’t the solution or that institutions should be respected,” said Guillaume Soto-Mayor, a Dakar-based researcher with the Middle East Institute. “Those same institutions, most recently the justice system, and their leaders have lost credibility.”
As hospitals discharged their wounded, families buried their loved ones in Ziguinchor, a city in southern Senegal where Mr. Sonko is the mayor, and in Dakar and its suburbs.
The body of Mr. Sarr, the tailor, was released by the authorities on Thursday, six days after he died. As relatives and acquaintances lined up on Friday in a narrow alley outside a mosque, the imam urged young mourners to think twice before acting.“Your parents need you alive, not dead,” he said.
Saly Sarr, one of Bassirou’s aunts, said she had had time while waiting for his body to be released to reflect on Senegal’s future.
“What happens if our children grow up in a country where the police shoot at their own people with real bullets?” she asked earlier at the family house. “They’ll just create more insurgents.”
Mady Camara contributed reporting. Elian Peltier is the West Africa correspondent. He joined The Times in 2017 and was previously based in Paris and London. He now lives in Dakar, Senegal. @ElianPeltier
The use of human shields is forbidden by Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions.
It is also a specific intent war crime as codified in the 1988 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and customary international law
From Reuters
Violence has rocked Dakar, Senegal since the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. CNN's Zain Asher speaks to freelance journalist Borso Tall about what she is seeing in Senegal
https://twitter.com/i/status/1665826423452450816
DAKARMATIN - Pierre Dieme 17 May 2023
Déthié Fall: "Enough is enough".
"Macky Sall is the only one responsible for the situation we are living through". This is an accusation made by Déthié Fall, one of the members of the leadership of the main opposition coalition, Yewwi Askan Wi (YAW).
"The hour is gave and extremely serious," he said in a statement made on Wednesday, May 17, after the scuffles recorded on the sidelines of the hearing before the criminal chamber of the "Sweet beauty" case opposing the leader of PASTEF, Ousmane Sonko, to the former masseuse, Adji Sarr. The clashes between the security services and protesters in Ziguinchor and Dakar have resulted in at least three (3) deaths.
Surrounded by other leaders of YAW including Khalifa Sall and Biram Soulèye Diop, the president of the Republican Party for Progress (Prp) took the opportunity to present his condolences to the grieving families of those who lost their lives in the demonstrations. He also wished a speedy recovery to the forty or so injured in the southern capital o Ziguinchor.
For Déthié Fall, "it's a real pity that we have reached this situation, in a context of Senegal, which was once envied as an island of peace" and which was once respected as "an ocean of stability" which the "President Macky Sall should preserve".
But, asserts the opposition party leader, "we tell him one thing, his plan to to remove candidates from contesting the presidential election, will not be allowed to pass. Enough is enough. We want peace but we also want our democracy to be preserved, and its renewal in 2024 to be ensured . We will not accept that he eliminates President Ousmane Sonko as a candidate from the next elections.
Déthié Fall said: "President Macky Sall was with us in 2011 (fighting against a 3rd term of the previous president Wade). He saw how the people were mobilized for him to be the beneficiary of electoral alternation in 2012. He saw what happened at the Place de l'Obélisque with all the dead (demonstrators killed by security services). We thought we would be done with that when he came to power."
He went on to warn "But today he is the one trampling on this democracy, this stability. He has a status that we recognize, that of President of the Republic, which will end in 2024. It is also up to him to respect the status of opposition leaders, that of Ousmane Sonko. Whether he likes it or not, he is a bearer of hope, of a project and deserves this respect. We say it here once again. The leadership of YAW is united, mobilised and standing up. It will confront the power and bring its support and solidarity to Ousmane Sonko. Khalifa Sall is also a victim of these practices of President Macky Sall. He served 32 months in prison. Unjustly arrested. President Macky isthe one responsible for this. Let him know that in 2024, the only person who does not have the right to participate in an election here in Senegal is him (the consitution expressly rules out a third consecutive term). All the other candidates will participate."
To finish, Déthié Falldid not fail to call on the international community. "I have already said, the hour is grave. This is the time to speak out, to remind President Macky Sall of his responsibilities, to draw his attention to the detrimental direction he has taken the country. We did not want this to happen. Since independence the opposition and the government have had to responibly cohabited in peace"
For the head of the PRP, this is no longer the case. "The government in power is multiplying the obstacles, preventing opposition leaders from playing their role"
Dié BA
The Senegal F24 group is an umbrella movement made up of more than 170
political and human rights organisations, trade unions and civil society groups aiming to prevent President Sall standing for an unconstitutiona 3rd mandat.
In a document entitled ''No to the use of justice for political purposes'', the F4 recalls that on 16 May 2023, Ousmane Sonko, President of the PASTEF Party is summoned before the criminal chamber raising fears and questions about the likely consequences on social stability and civil peace in our dear country. Justice is a fundamental pillar of the rule of law and in a democracy, citizens must have a confidence in its integity and processes. F24 calls on the judicial and political authorities to show serenity, restraint and fairness in their decisions and actions in the hours, days and weeks ahead,'' the statement said.
The platform, which says it brings together all the forces of the nation, regrets that the main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, is being prosecuted simultaneously in several cases marked by an acceleration of procedures and even a violation of appeal deadlines, a right he has by law. According to the platform, Macky Sall has already succeeded in eliminating two candidates, namely Khalifa Ababacar Sall and Karim Wade in the presidential elections following unfair judicial procedures and will not accept a third candidate to add to the list.
Based on the provisions of its charter, F24 gives its unwavering support to the leader of the PASTEF Party and rejects any legal-political artifice aimed at hindering his participation in the 2024 presidential election. It calls on the police to stop besieging Ousmane Sonko's neighbourhood without a warrant, to refrain from violence against him and those accompanying him, and to guarantee him the security to which he is entitled when he travels to the court. It also reminds the executive and judicial authorities that it is up to them not to jeopardise the stability of the country and, to this end, to give the accused Ousmane Sonko the necessary guarantees both for the preservation of his physical integrity and for the respect of his rights to a fair trial. This has so far been manifestly lacking.
Following 15th May attacks on demostrators protecting the leader of the opposition Ousmane Sonko from illegal arrest by armed security forces, at least one young demonstrator died from a live bullet fired by the Gendarmerie and scores were wounded.
In response leading international human rights lawyer, lawyer for Julian Assange, and member of Ousmane Sonko's legal team Juan Branco issued the following statement:
Any persecution against a member of a civilian population, targeted and identified for his or her ideas, as part of a systematic attack, constitutes an imprescriptible crime against humanity
"We have been given instruction to take the matter of attacks on civilians and human rights before the international Justice system for each and every breech perpetrated on the the population of Ziguinchor.
This complaint will be ledged against President Sall, Mr Diome the interior minister and against any magistrate or civil servant who has issued or obeyed manifestly illegal orders. We will track down those responsible, down to the lowest-ranking police officer.
We recall that any persecution of a member of a civilian population, targeted and identified for his or her ideas, as part of a systematic attack, constitutes an imprescriptible crime against humanity.
We will be particularly attentive to any attempts on the the physical integrity of Mr. Sonko, his relatives, and any demonstrators.
Those accused will face prosecution and held to account if they attempt to leave the country. We will make sure that no Senegalese dignitary accused of a crime can set foot in any of the 123 ICC member countries without trembling at the possible consequences for them"
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Spent live ammunition used against protesters by security forces
It should be noted that at least two demonstrators, including a 15 year old boy have died from live ammunition foired by securty forces on the 15 May, and they join at least 15 other demonstrators killed in protests by the security forces or armed pro government militians since March 2021. No enquiry was ever held into these deaths, although the US statedewpartment has talked of credible reports of extra judicial killings by securityforces and pro government actors.
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The unrest in Ziguinchor, a town in southern Senegal, came one day before the expected start of Sonko’s rape trial in the country’s capital, Dakar. Sonko was charged based on a woman’s accusations that he assaulted her when she worked at a massage salon.
If convicted, Sonko faces up to 10 years in prison and would be barred from running for president.
According to local authorities, a police armoured vehicle struck and killed the officer as it was reversing. The government offered condolences to the officer’s family, calling his death a ‘tragic accident’.
Clashes occurred near Sonko’s home, where he has been staying while vowing to defy any summons to appear in Dakar for the rape trial. Sonko challenged President Macky Sall in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and was elected mayor of Ziguinchor last year.
Supporters gathered outside his home starting Sunday evening, fearing police would move to arrest him to bring him to court. Messages have circulated on social media calling for supporters to act as Sonko’s “shields.” and defend their leader from arrest.
Sonko recently received a 6-month suspended prison sentence in a defamation case and declared he would no longer respond to court summonses without his safety being guaranteed.
His lawyers told reporters at a news conference in Paris on Monday (May. 15) that Sonko had not yet received a summons but would appear “if conditions were met.”
Senegalese police deployed extra officers in Ziguinchor and elsewhere in Senegal.
SENEGAL CONCERN NOTE:
Ousmane Sonko had announced that he would only attend the trial if his safety from the security forces could be guaranteed. During his last two appearances in court of a different trial, he was attached by security forces, his vehicle window smashed, forcibly extracted and on one occassion sprayed with a highly toxic potentially deadly substance in what has been called an assassination attempt.
The rape accusation case itself is widely viewed as a farce aimed at excluding Sonko (who has a commanding lead in the polls) from the presidential race. The medical certificate from one of Senegal's leading gynacologists cleared him, as it revealed there had been no sexual contact, although the doctor then had attempts to bribe him to change the certificate followed by death threats and attempts on his life when he refused. The leading Gendarmerie investigator faced death threats, sacking and military detention after he revealed that an internal Police enquiry had found that the Chief prosecutor had altered witness statements and infroduced false evidence to implicate Sonko. Leaked audi tapes from the supposed victim (which she does not deny making) reveals her admitting the whole matter was an engineered plot as he had never had any relations with her. The investigating judge refused to accept evidence submitted by the accused revealing clear evidence of conspiracy against him.
It should be further noted that President Macky Sall's two previous main presidential contenders have both also found themselves excluded for running against him due to cases brought against them in the courts.
West Africa Democracy Radio report:
May 12, 2023
The Open Society Foundation and African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies have expressed concerns about regional stability with particular emphasis on Senegal and Sudan.
This was made during the side event of the 75th Session of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights in Banjul, the Gambia.
Meanwhile, a Senegalese CSO, Africa Jom is calling for the unconditional release of all political prisoners in the country
Our Banjul correspondent Sankulleh Janko has more in this report
Thousands or protesters took to the streets of the Senegalese capital Dakar, Friday 12 May, against President Macky Sall's refusal to rule out standing for a third term in office.
The demonstrations were organised by a group callled the "Movement of the living forces of Senegal F24"; referring to the scheduled election date of February 24 2024
Tensions have been stoked by Sall's refusal to rule out running for a third term as president, a move his opponents say would be unconstitutional.
Protester, Famo Dabo, explained why she was at the protest.
"We came here to liberate Senegal, to tell Macky Sall that he has to stop his dictatorial path," she said.
"He only has to release the political prisoners, we are fed up, we don't want him anymore, we tell him ‘Enough.'
"He only has to leave our Senegal, we want peace, we don't want problems with anyone."
The Senegal F24 group is an umbrella movement made up of more than 170 political and human rights organisations, aiming to pressure Sall not to stand for election next year.
Opposition leaders and influential members of organisations addressed the rally, calling on Sall to leave power and demanding the release of more than 300 "political detainees."
Another protester, Mamadou, said: "Senegalese democracy is in a coma. Why is it in a coma? The simplest principle in democracy, the free participation of political actors in elections, is biased, this simple principle is flouted.
"President Macky Sall systematically blocks the democratic process in our country."
Many protesters pledged their support for opposition politician Ousmane Sonko, who was recently sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence for defamation and insults against the tourism minister which threatens his eligibility to run for president.
Mamadou believes the sentence is politically motivated.
"There will be no elections in this country without the candidate Ousmane Sonko, this is very clear, we do not fool ourselves, we do not fool ourselves.
"And we will have a defensive posture to impose this candidacy of right, whatever the means. We will not let ourselves be taken advantage of, this country is ours, this country has given us everything, this country has given us everything.
"We are the youth of this country and we want Ousmane Sonko, it is as simple as that."
The opposition has accused Sall's government of using the judicial machinery to target potential challengers.
Although it is widely thought that Sall intends to run for election, he has not confirmed or denied it.
BARACK OBAMA'S SECRET MISSION TO MACKY SALL
africa-intelligence Cheikh Dieng Publication 13/05/2023
Less than a year before a crucial presidential election for Senegal, things are getting more complicated for Macky Sall, president of this country. If on the legal level, the latter can rejoice at the recent verdict sanctioning Ousmane Sonko, his main opponent, to a sentence that could invalidate his candidacy, on the diplomatic level, nothing is even less certain. And in the West, Macky's decision to run for a third term is not viewed favourably.
This is at least what the investigative media Africa Intelligence revealed on 11 May, which tells us that the former US president, Barack Obama, met secretly (by phone) with Macky Sall on this extremely scabrous subject. And the first black president of the United States passed on to his former counterpart the doubts concerning his decision to remain in power a third time. According to the same source, the phone call between Macky and Obama was coordinated through Joe Biden, the current US president.
"According to Africa Intelligence, former U.S. President Barack Obama met with the Senegalese head of state by phone to discuss the February 2024 presidential election. The exchange was held in close coordination with the Biden administration, at a time when the scenario of a third term of Macky Sall is taking shape more and more," says Africa Intelligence.
It should be noted that the call of Barack Obama comes in a very tense political context in Senegal marked by the recent conviction of the main opponent of the country to a fine of 200 million and 6 months in prison suspended. Such a sentence could possibly disqualify his candidacy for 2024, which could trigger strong tensions in the country. It should also be recalled that Barack Obama is not the only Western politician to worry about Macky Sall's third term. Indeed, on March 2, the same source (Africa Intelligence) informed us that at the Elysee Palace, the idea does not seem to please Emmanuel Macron.
"With less than a year to go before the presidential election, the prospect of Macky Sall running for a third term is increasingly worrying France and the United States. The subject was discussed directly by Emmanuel Macron with his Senegalese counterpart. At the same time, the issue is embarrassing in the capitals of ECOWAS member states," the source said.
