Supporters of rival candidates clash days before Senegal’s presidential election
February 22, 2007
Supporters of rival presidential candidates clashed Thursday in
Senegal’s capital, leaving three people badly injured and burned-out
cars overturned on the streets, party representatives and local media
said Thursday.
The violence, just days before Sunday’s vote, was the most serious
to date and led to warnings that politics may become volatile in this
West African country — often held up as an example of peaceful
democratic rule for the region.
Brawls broke out late Wednesday when a convoy carrying a
presidential contender and his supporters was set upon by a group of
about 500 people rallying for incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade.
Ousman Thiongane, a spokesman for candidate Idrissa Seck, said the
demonstrators — followers of a religious leader who backs Wade —
appeared to have been waiting for the motorcade and then rushed on the
cars as they approached.
"They attacked our convoy with rocks and machetes. A few brandished guns, though I never heard any gunshots," Thiongane said.
Some of the Wade supporters told a local paper that people in the
Seck motorcade had threatened them as they approached, and appeared to
be trying to drive them down.
Wade is running for a second term, and Seck is widely considered his biggest challenger.
Senegal's Walfadjri paper reported that six cars were ransacked in
the ensuing violence and five people seriously hurt, including some
journalists who were riding in the convoy. Thiongane said three people
were hospitalized.
The crowd dispersed quickly when security forces arrived, military
police spokesman Commandant Dawda Diop said. He said there were no
arrests.
Abdou Latif Coulibaly, a political commentator for Dakar's Sud
paper, said the violence reflected the strong involvement of Dakar's
powerful religious leaders in politics — a trend that he said could be
increasing extremism in the country.
"These are bands of fanatics that respond to a religious chief,"
Coulibaly said. "I wouldn't say that this threatens our democracy. But
it presents a real risk."
Separately Wednesday, a convoy carrying another presidential
candidate — Moustapha Niasse — was attacked in the town of Nioro, Diop
said. He said there were also some injuries in that incident.
Wednesday's skirmishes come near the end of a monthlong campaign
period that has been largely peaceful, with a few exceptions. On the
first day of campaigning in early February, a rally for Idrissa Seck
turned violent when Wade supporters mounted a counter-demonstration
nearby. Some opposition leaders were also arrested earlier during a
march. Senegalese officials said they did not have the required permits
to demonstrate.
"Yesterday was pretty serious," Diop said. "Before it was just small incidents."
The U.S. Embassy in Dakar issued a message warning American citizens
to avoid going out in public in Dakar during evening hours because of
the violence.
While some other West African countries fell into totalitarian rule
or civil war after independence from colonial powers, Senegal elected a
statesman president — Leopold Sedar Senghor — after gaining
independence in 1960. The country has also been lauded for its
democratic power handovers — once from Senghor to Abdou Diouf in 1981
and then from Diouf to Wade in March 2000.
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