Open Letter to to the British Public on the invitation of Macky Sall to King Charles III Coronation

 

 It is with great disappointment that I write this open letter.

I note that President Macky Sall of Senegal has been invited to attend King Charles’ Coronation as a guest .

I am concerned that this will bring a reputational damage on British institutionss by being perceived as “rewarding” someone who is rapidly degrading Senegal’s democracy:

•              Sall and his brother were implicated in a BBC documentary on a $10 billion oil and gas deal corruption scandal involving BP.

•              The Senegalese constitution specifically rejects a third mandate by a sitting president, but the President now says it is his own “personal decision” whether to stand. Bloomberg reports that Sall is “putting the country’s stability at risk by refusing to rule out running for a third term”.

•              The US State Department’s 2022 report on Senegal  highlights “Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by or on behalf of the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees”

•              Amnesty International states; “Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, the Senegalese authorities are weakening human rights protection in the country”

•              Article 19 raised concerns; “As Senegal gears up for an election, media freedom and the protection of other rights, including the right to protest, have been severely compromised…. journalists have been attacked, naturally hindering their ability to perform their duties without fear. Reports indicate violations of the right to peaceful protest, with citizens being met with excessive force and arbitrary arrests during demonstrations… political parties are facing a blatant crackdown, their supporters and members have been arrested and prosecuted across the country. These developments are extremely worrying, as they threaten the democratic process in Senegal”.

 I believe that the invitation should never have been issued and that it is grossly inappropritae and embarassing to see a "wanna be" dictator using a British state occassion, in his few remaining months in office, s to try and get publicity at home to desperately prove his international respectability.

This is a gross error of British diplomacy who should as a minimum remain neutral in Senegalese political affairs

 Yours Sincerely,

 A concerned Senegalese resident of the UK

Tony Blair Hands off Senegal! Stop Supporting Macky Sall’s Dictatorship! - Senegalese in UK prepare to demonstrate against Tony Blair's support for Macky Sall

 

Members of the Senegales Community in the UK, and their supporters are planning to demonstrate on Thursday 30 March outside the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change 50 Broadway, London SW1H 0BL. They will be calling for;  

Tony Blair Hands off Senegal!  Stop Supporting Macky Sall’s Dictatorship!

 On the 21^st March 2023, Tony Blair made his fourth visit to President Mack Sall of Senegal. This was done against the background of a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the country, outlined in a damming report from the US State department, which mentioned:

“Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by or on behalf of the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; serious government corruption”

There is a presidential election scheduled for February 2024, and there is ongoing serious political tension and instability generated by the President Macky Sall’s refusal to rule himself out of running for a third term of office which is not permitted under Senegal’s constitution. There are on-going attempts use the judiciary to rule out all credible opposition candidates, mass arrests and detentions of opposition activists, politicians and journalists, and physical attacks and assassination attempts on opposition and trade union figures.

Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, says:

“The Senegalese authorities are stepping up repression in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election by attacking human rights… including by restricting the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and freedom of the press, banning demonstrations organized by opposition parties, and failing to respect the rights to justice, transparency and truth of victims of the use of force,”

Enter Tony Blair

Why did Tony Blair decide to visit Senegalese President Macky Sall at this time to pledge support to the Presidents “Senegal Emergence” campaign by stating that he "intends to accompany the process of economic growth of Senegal on the road to emergence, through Tony Blair Institute for Global Change”?

Why was the last visit, on the 24th of March 2021, timed just days after the massacre of 14 anti-government protesters by government or pro-government forces?

Is Blair attracted to dictatorial regimes with, like Senegal, huge mineral, oil and gas reserves?

·         Blair is a man who many, including the late Desmond Tutu called for to be prosecuted for war crimes in Iraq.

·         Blair is a man who called corrupt Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak - ‘a force for good’.

·         Blair described president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan as a leader with ‘a very positive and exciting vision for the future’, ignoring his record of massive corruption and reputation for torture, arbitrary arrests and harassment of journalists and non-governmental organizations.

·         Blair helped then president Nazarbayev of Kazakhistan to clean-up his image of corruption and human rights abuse and was paid a fee of $13 million.  ‘We could not have a better adviser,’ said one official.

It is Time for Blair to STOP! It is time for Macky Sall to GO!

Blair’s visit to Senegal and his statement is not appropriate as constitutionally Macky Sall will not be president this time next year.

It is outrageous to provide support to a president who is the main cause of instability through his refusal to rule out a third, illegal, candidacy, and to deliberately ignore the possibility of a change of regime.

It is political interference to prop up a very unpopular dictatorial president who is facing serious accusations of corruption, including financial support for France’s far-right Marine Le Pen.

We do not want a multi-millionaire with a track record of support for dictators interfering in the political affairs of our country. We do not need his “skills”, “influence” and “consultancy” in justifying war crimes and human rights violations.

 

The Senegalese people are demanding:

·         No third candidacy for Macky Sall – respect the constitution.

·         Organisation of free and fair elections with no exclusion of candidates

·         Free all the political prisoners and hold those responsible for human rights violations accountable.

·         No instrumentalization and political interference in the justice system

·         No interference from outside forces in our political process

We want

·         The right to choose the leaders of our choice.

·         The right to freedom of movement

·         The right to freedom of speech

·         The right to freedom from arbitrary arrest and killings

·         An end to endemic corruption

·         The control of our natural resources to be for the benefit of the Senegalese people

 

MACKY DEGAGE!

TONY BLAIR DEGAGE!