Thousands March in Protest At Growing Political Violence

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
NEWS

November 6, 2003

Posted to the web November 6, 2003

Dakar

Several thousand people marched through the centre of Dakar on Thursday to
protest at several recent acts of political violence in Senegal which they
said have gone unpunished.

The catalyst for the demonstration, organised by opposition leaders, trade
unionists and human rights activists, was a hammer attack on outspoken
opposition leader Talla Sylla on 5 October.

Sylla, the leader of the Alliance for Progress and Justice (APJ/Jef-Jel)
party, was severely injured in the attack and was flown to France for
hospital treatment. According to witnesses, the assault was carried out by
members of the entourage of President Abdoulaye Wade. Several officials at
the presidency were subsequently questioned by police about the attack,
but no-one has so far been arrested in connection with the crime.

The demonstrators were also protesting at arson attacks over the past
three years on the headquarters of the National Confederation of Workers
(CNT) trade union movement, the PSD/Jant Bi opposition party and the
independent Wal Fadjri radio and newspaper group and the killing of a
student in 2001.

Organisers estimated the number of marchers at 10,000 to 12,000. Police
said there were only 2,500.

Ousmane Tanor, leader of the opposition Senegalese Socialist Party,
said: "We are marching against the generalised atmosphere of impunity, the
shortcomings of the state on security matters. It is unacceptable that,
with three years to go before the next elections, there should be
political violence."

Tanor said he was "astonished" that Wade had refrained from condemning the
hammer attack on Sylla. The president simply described it as "an incident.

Djibo Ka, leader of the opposition Union for Democratic Renewal (URD)
party accused Wade's government of being behind last month's hammer attack
on Sylla. "Instead of assessing what they have achieved in governing the
country since March 2000, they are beating up their opponents," he said.

Despite the existence of a low-intensity guerrilla war by separatist
guerrillas in the southern province of Casamance, Senegal enjoy's the
reputation of being one of the most tolerant and democractic countries in
Africa. The country has had a multi-party political system since
independence from France in 1960, which has never been disrupted by
military coups or the imposition of a one-party state.



Copyright © 2003 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. All rights
reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

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