Senegalese authorities halted mobile internet on Tuesday and banned a march protesting the postponement of this month’s presidential election, as the UN expressed alarm about the country’s tensions.
Three individuals were killed in violent protests when President Macky Sall postponed the February 25 referendum, plunging Senegal into one of its worst crises in decades.
“We are deeply concerned about the tense situation in Senegal,” Liz Throssell, a spokesman for the United Nations Human Rights Office, told reporters in Geneva.
“Following reports of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force against protesters and restrictions on civic space, we call on the authorities to ensure that they uphold Senegal’s long-held tradition of democracy and respect for human rights,” she said in a statement.
Demonstrations in Senegal are subject to authorisation, with authorities declining to allow several opposition protests in recent years.
Unauthorised protests frequently result in violent violence. Security troops repressed Friday’s demonstrations.
Throssell stated that at least three young men were killed, and 266 individuals, including journalists, were arrested around the country.
The Aar Sunu Election (Let’s Protect Our Election) collective, which includes over 40 civil, religious, and professional groups, has called for a peaceful march in Dakar on Tuesday at 1500 GMT.
However, one of the organizers, Elymane Haby Kane, told AFP that he had obtained an official letter from Dakar’s local authorities stating that the march was prohibited due to the potential for significant traffic disruption.
“We will postpone the march because we want to comply with the law,” said Malick Diop, coordinator of the Aar Sunu Election group.
‘Subversive hate messages’
On Tuesday, authorities stopped mobile internet connection for the second time this month, blaming “the dissemination on social networks of several subversive hate messages that have already provoked violent demonstrations” (source).
When parliament endorsed Sall’s move to postpone the election, mobile data access was already blocked eight days earlier. It was eventually restored on Wednesday.
The decision to restrict access followed a similar step made by Senegal’s government in June, when mobile internet was restricted due to heightened tensions.
Rights activists strongly deplore the measure, which has been a regular response to curtailing social media mobilisation and communication.
Sall stated that he postponed the election due to disagreements regarding the disqualification of potential candidates and fears of a repeat to the instability observed in 2021 and 2023.
Parliament approved Sall’s suspension of the election to December 15, but only after security personnel stormed the chamber and ejected some opposition lawmakers who opposed the legislation.
The vote allowed Sall, whose second term was set to expire in April, to remain in office until his successor is installed, which would most likely be in 2025.
Senegal’s opposition has condemned the action as a “constitutional coup” and fears it is part of a scheme by the presidential camp to avoid loss at the polls.
It has criticized the postponement as an attempt to extend Sall’s term in office, despite his repeated assurances that he would not run again.
The United States and the European Union have urged the government to restore the original election schedule.
Possible amnesty
Sall, who has been in charge since 2012, is looking for a way out of the chaos.
Media reports have raised the prospect of discussion with the opposition, notably anti-establishment firebrand Ousmane Sonko, who fought the state for more than two years before being imprisoned last year.
Some have recommended an amnesty for Sonko, his imprisoned second-in-command Bassirou Diomaye Faye, and those captured during the insurrection in 2021 and 2023.
The government has not responded to the reports.
Sall has stated that he wishes to begin a process of “appeasement and reconciliation”.
However, the metaphorical olive branch presents a number of problems, including whether Sonko and Faye would embrace it and what it implies for their future.