At least three killed in protests, other civic space violations as President Macky Sall delays presidential elections

General

President Macky Sall postpones presidential elections slated for 25th February 2024

On 3rd February 2024, hours before the start of the official campaign period for the presidential elections slated for 25th February 2024, President Macky Sall announced that the elections would be postponed to an undetermined date. President Sall cited a conflict between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council over the candidate list for the presidential poll as reason for the delay. On 31st January 2024, the National Assembly had set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the Constitutional Council’s vetting process and allegations of corruption.

The extension of Sall’s mandate, which formally ends on 2nd April 2024, is unprecedented while causing a public outcry. Opposition and civil society have openly questioned the legality of the delay of the elections.

On 5th February 2024, Senegal’s National Assembly voted to delay the elections to 15th December 2024, in a chaotic session in which opposition lawmakers attempted to block the proceedings and security forces intervened to force them off the central dais. Meanwhile, the announcement to delay elections sparked protests, to which security forces responded with excessive use of force, killing at least three people, and the detention of protesters. Authorities further restricted access to mobile internet and withdrew the broadcasting licence of the Walfadjiri media group.

Following the ruling by the Constitutional Council, on 15th February, that the decree postponing the elections was unconstitutional and therefore null and void, President Sall announced he would hold presidential elections “as soon as possible”.

Senegal was added to the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist in September 2023 due to the deterioration of civic space ahead of the presidential elections. Civic space violations have included the arbitrary detention of journalists, protesters and activists, a crackdown on opposition protests, suspension of media outlets and restrictions to the access to the internet. In December 2023, Senegal’s civic space rating was downgraded from Obstructed to Repressed as its civic space conditions deteriorated significantly.

Human rights groups raise the alarm over civic space violations in Senegal

In response to Senegal’s deteriorating civic space conditions, several civil society groups have raised the alarm. On 5th December 2023, Spaces for Change launched the documentary Civic Space Outlook in Senegal, which highlights the trends, drivers and impact of the deteriorating civic space conditions in Senegal, while providing early warning signals for civic actors working on defending civic space in the country.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) also published a report on 22nd January 2024, documenting the crackdown on civil society, media and civil society while highlighting how the promise of holding free and fair elections is at odds with the incarceration of hundreds of political opponents who were arrested over the past three years.

Peaceful Assembly

Protests against delay elections: at least 3 people killed, 60 injured, 271 arrested

Protests erupted in Senegal following the announcement by President Sall delaying the presidential elections. On 4th February 2024, clashes were reported in Dakar after security forces used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who gathered to protest against the electoral delay, and further chased fleeing protesters, while protesters erected barricades and threw stones at the security officers. Gendarmes arrested presidential candidate Anta Babacar Ngom and former Prime Minister Aminata Touré who participated in the protest.

On 9th and 10th February 2024, at least three people were killed and dozens injured in Dakar, Saint-Louis and Ziguinchor when security forces used excessive force, including tear gas, live ammunition and rubber bullets, against protesters. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 271 people were arrested on 9th and 10th February 2024. Security forces reportedly also used excessive force to disperse protests in Mbour, Mbacké, Tivaoune and Touba.

Local authorities in Dakar banned a silent march, organised by civil society collective Aar Sunu Election (Let’s Protect Our Election) to take place on 13th February in Dakar, using grounds of ‘risks to seriously disrupt traffic’. Further attempts to mobilise against the postponement of the elections in the following days were repressed by security forces. For example, on 16th February 2024, security forces used tear gas to disperse dozens of people attempting to demonstrate in Dakar.

In a rare occurrence, the prefect of Dakar authorised a silent protest march organised by the Aar Sunu Election collective on 17th February 2024. That day, thousands marched to demand authorities respect the electoral calendar, without incident.

Protests to demand release of prisoners of conscience

On 27th October 2023, hundreds of people gathered in Dakar to demand the liberation of prisoners of conscience on the call of Forces Vives de Sénégal F24, a platform of political and human rights organisations, who claim that about 1,000 prisoners of conscience are behind bars in Senegal, with a majority still in preventive detention. It was reportedly the first time since May 2023 that a protest with opposition members was authorised.

Initiative documents June 2023 protest killings

The initiative CartograFreeSenegal, by 40 journalists in Senegal, seeks to identify and document the deaths that resulted from the crackdown against the June 2023 protests in Senegal.

Association

Liberation of political prisoners

In an attempt to appease political tensions, on 15th February 2024 authorities released 136 people considered as political detainees from opposition party PASTEF, as well as journalists and civil society actors. Since 15th February 2024, more political prisoners have been released, although authorities deny they are political prisoners. According to human rights organisation Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits Humains (RADDHO), a total of 664 political prisoners have been released since 15th February 2024. Among those released are Aliou Sané and Pape Abdoulaye Touré.

As reported previously on the Monitor, on 5th October 2023, urban police officers arrested Aliou Sané, coordinator for social movement Y’ en a Marre and deputy coordinator of the platform Forces Vives de la Nation (F24), at his home in Dakar in execution of an arrest warrant issued by the Dakar High Court on 25th July 2023. The court had appealed the decision of the investigating judge, on 4th June 2023, to grant Sané provisional release after he was arrested on 29th May 2023. Sané was accused of participation in an unauthorised demonstration and disturbing public order for having attempted to visit opposition leader Ousmane Sonko at his residence in Dakar as Sonko was prevented by police from leaving his residence.

Member of platform F24 Pape Abdoulaye Touré was arrested on 2nd June 2023, reportedly in the context of the June 2023 protests, and was badly beaten by thugs ahead of his arrest. He was reportedly charged with calling for an insurrection and participation in a prohibited gathering.

Expression

Journalists detained, attacked while reporting on protests over the delayed presidential polls

According to press freedom organisation Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), police officers detained, attacked, harassed or tear gassed at least 25 journalists while they were reporting on the protests over the delayed polls.

On 9th February 2024, CPJ documented at least six incidents in Dakar in which 20 journalists were detained, harassed, physically attacked or tear gassed. Among the documented incidents are:

• Police officers grabbed, slapped and kicked Seneweb reporter Absa Hane, who lost consciousness as a result. The reporter was detained in a police vehicle for 30 minutes before being released.
• Mor Amar, a journalist for the newspaper EnQuête, was hit and insulted by a police officer. Both Amar and Hane wore clear press vests.
• Police officers also threw tear gas cannisters at a group of five journalists, including Fana Cissé who works for online news site PressAfrik. Cisé further told CPJ that an officer grabbed and twisted her arm and threatened to throw another tear gas cannister after she got into her car. French freelance journalist Thomas Dietrich said he also had a tear gas cannister thrown at him, “inches” from his face after he was ordered to leave.

Several incidents were reported between 3rd February and the protests of 9th to 10th February:

• During opposition protests on 4th February 2024 (see under Peaceful Assembly), gendarmes briefly arrested Mame Ndack Mbacké, a reporter for Agora TV, and Khadija Ndatté Diouf, ITV journalist. They were reportedly bundled into a vehicle and released after 30 minutes. The gendarmes also seized their equipment.
• Clément Bonnerot, journalist for media outlet TV5 Monde, had tear gas fired at him twice.

Walf TV: signal cut, licence withdrawn

On 4th February 2024, Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy (MCTPEN), Moussa Bocar Thiam, indefinitely withdrew the broadcasting licence of the Walfadjri group, shortly after Walf TV’s signal was cut. Authorities accuse the broadcaster of ‘subversive, hateful and dangerous content endangering state security’ over its coverage of the protests. A sit-in organised in solidarity with the Walfadjri group in front of their offices was dispersed by security forces, who used tear gas to break up the sit-in.

Following other protest actions by journalists and press associations, such as the Coordination des associations de la Presse (CAP; Coordination of Press Associations) who declared a “boycott of all government activities” and was threatened with a nationwide news blackout, a dialogue was organised between authorities and the media group, resulting in the reinstatement of Walfadjri’s broadcasting licence on 11th February 2024.

Since March 2021, Walf TV has been systematically targeted with suspensions over its coverage of opposition protests. The broadcaster was suspended for 30 days in June 2023, for seven days in February 2023 and for 72 hours in March 2021.

Access to mobile internet restricted

On 4th February 2024, during protests over the delayed elections, Senegal’s Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy (MCTPEN) issued a statement announcing that access to mobile internet was ‘temporarily’ suspended from 22:00 due to the dissemination of ‘hateful and subversive messages relayed on social networks in a context of threats to disturbances to public order’. The access was reportedly restored in Dakar on the morning of 7th February 2024. On 13th February 2024, ahead of the planned – and banned - Aar Sunu Election demonstration, authorities again restricted access to mobile internet.

In 2023, authorities restricted access to mobile internet and access to social networks several times, in June 2023 and July-August 2023, both in response to widespread protests against the prosecution of Ousmane Sonko. Additionally, authorities suspended social network TikTok on 2nd August 2023, accusing it of threatening the stability of the country.

CSO and journalists take 2023 internet shutdowns to ECOWAS Court

On 31st January 2024, Media Defence and the Rule of Law Impact Lab at the Stanford Law School filed a lawsuit at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, on behalf of CSO AfricTivistes and journalists Moussa Ngom and Ayoba Faye, challenging the government-sanctioned internet shutdowns in June, July and August 2023.

Journalist subjected to death threats

In January 2024, journalist Babacar Fall, editor-in-chief of radio station RFM, reportedly received about 120 threatening or insulting messages from unknown individuals, including death threats, after he criticised President Sall’s opening speech to the 50th International Francophone Press Union conference held on 9th January 2024 in a live broadcast.

Journalist arrested

On 13th November 2023, police officers arrested Pape Sané, a journalist for the Walfadjri group, after he left the media group’s offices in Dakar. On 21st November 2023 Sané was charged with dissemination of false news and acts or manoeuvres likely to compromise public security, reportedly over a Facebook post discussing the replacement of the high commander of the gendarmerie, who was dismissed after the March 2021 protests. He was provisionally released and placed under judicial control on 21st November.