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Momodou
Denmark
11733 Posts |
 Posted - 15 Feb 2012 : 12:52:58
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Senegal bans anti-government demonstration
02/15/2012
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Senegal's minister of the interior has refused to authorize an anti-government demonstration.
If the opposition goes ahead with Wednesday's planned demonstration, police will be allowed to crack down because the event was not authorized.
In a letter dated Monday, Minister of the Interior Ousmane Ngom said the government has the right to "restrict such liberties through legal channels when there is a real threat to public order."
Thirteen opposition candidates are running against 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade in the Feb. 26 election. Protests have been held every few days since the country's highest court in January validated Wade's bid to run for a third term, even though the constitution was revised in 2001 to impose a two-term maximum.
© 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Related topic: Senegal opposition to go ahead with rally
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12311 Posts |
Posted - 15 Feb 2012 : 18:12:27
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"In a letter dated Monday, Minister of the Interior Ousmane Ngom said the government has the right to "restrict such liberties through legal channels when there is a real threat to public order."
What he said is quite true BUT it is obvious to anyone that by banning such demonstrations the threat to public order is vastly increased ,"police will be allowed to crack down because the event was not authorized." what planet are these people on its not earth that's for sure.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Momodou
Denmark
11733 Posts |
Posted - 16 Feb 2012 : 22:27:21
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2 rappers arrested at Senegal opposition protest
RUKMINI CALLIMACHI and THOMAS FAYE
Published: 16/02/2012 18.45
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Police opened fire with tear gas on protesters who had gone ahead with a sleep-in Thursday at a downtown square, even though the government had banned the demonstration being held one week before the country's presidential election.
It's the second day that protesters have continued their demonstrations despite the government's refusal to authorize the gathering. Senegalese police are allowed to use force to break up crowds at unauthorized protests, as they did on Wednesday to stop marchers who got within 500 yards of the presidential palace.
The country's opposition is calling for the departure of 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade, who is insisting on running for a third term in the Feb. 26 election despite growing resistance from the population as well as criticism from the international community.
Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom defended the government's decision to ban the protests even though the campaign season is in full swing, and the ruling party is holding regular rallies. He told reporters Thursday that Senegal has a long democratic tradition, and pointed out that 3050 demonstrations had been authorized last year, while only 245 - less than 5 percent - were banned due to a threat to public order.
He described the recent opposition demonstrations as "a crime spree by vagrants" and said that they cannot be equated with campaign events since most are not being organized by the candidates themselves.
The sleep-in on Thursday is being organized by a group of rappers known as Y'en a Marre, French for "We've had enough," which is allied with the opposition but is not fielding a candidate in the election. Riot police began pelting the group with tear gas, after protesters tried to light tires on fire.
Security forces moved in and arrested Simon and Kilifeu, two of the founders of the Y'en a Marre, who were led away to a police truck.
Ngom also said that the police had recovered one pistol, explosives and several molotov cocktails at recent demonstrations - which he said showed that protesters had the intention of using violence.
Four people have been killed in anti-Wade demonstrations over the past two weeks since the country's highest court ruled that Wade could run for a third term, even though the constitution was revised in 2001 to impose a two-term maximum.
The violence has been mild by comparison to recent elections in Ivory Coast, Guinea and Nigeria where hundreds were killed. But the unrest is rattling Senegal, a nation of 12 million on Africa's western coast, which is considered the most stable democracy in the region.
Alioune Tine, the coordinator of M23, which represents a dozen opposition candidates running against Wade in next week's election, announced that they too would go ahead with demonstrations Friday and Saturday despite the ban.
"Citizens need to come to say 'No' to the violation of our constitution, and to demand the unconditional rejection of President Wade's candidacy," said Tine. "I want to remind the police that it is here to defend the republic. They need to refuse to be used by the regime."
Unlike many countries in Africa, Senegal has never experienced a coup or a military takeover. The country is deeply proud of its democratic tradition, which dates to the mid-1800s when the former French colony was given the right to elect a deputy to the French parliament.
Most of its neighbors in West Africa only began their democratic experiment in the 1960s after independence from France, an experiment that was frequently hijacked by the military. Guinea, for example, which shares a border with Senegal, held its first democratic election in 2010. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11733 Posts |
Posted - 17 Feb 2012 : 21:07:40
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Senegalese police fire tear gas at opposition demo
RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
17/02/2012
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Senegalese riot police fired tear gas at protesters Friday on a main commercial boulevard in the capital, after the country's opposition went ahead with a protest in defiance of a government ban.
Demonstrators are calling for the departure of 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade, who is running for a third term in next week's election.
The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned that there may be unrest if Wade is declared the winner of the vote. He has told reporters he expects to win with a clear majority.
On Avenue William Ponty, police used grenade launchers to throw volleys of tear gas down the wide boulevard. Small groups of youths tried to defy them, with a dozen or so braving the police cordon.
They held their arms up in an X, a symbol used by the opposition to denote the bound hands of the people in this normally placid nation of 12 million. "Liberate the people," they screamed, before being chased back by the police.
Senegal is just a week away from a much-anticipated presidential election, the first in five years. Electoral law allows candidates to hold rallies in the pre-election period, but the interior minister issued a statement this week saying that he had refused to authorize the protests because of the threat to public order. He described the various demonstrations that have disrupted daily life in Senegal for the past two weeks as "a crime spree by vagabonds."
On Wednesday and Thursday, police sparred with the packs of protesters who set fire to tires, pulled down lamp poles, smashed signs and set alight the wooden tables used by market women to sell their wares. Abdoul Aziz Diop, a spokesman for the M23 coalition of opposition parties, said that their supporters had refused to respect the ban because it is unconstitutional.
A 61-year-old woman who is part of the opposition was led away by police, screaming as reporters crowded around to interview her. Madiguene Cisse had fought since the 1980s to help get Wade elected, and voted for him in 2000 when he first came to office, in an election that marked the end of 40 years of socialist party rule.
"It's not easy to uproot a baobab tree that has been there for 40 years," she said outside the central commissariat, after she was released. "At the end of our pain, we expected things to change. Wade - when he was in the opposition - used to tell the youth, if you don't have a job raise your hand. Well, our hands are still in the air."
Wade, who is a few months shy of his 86th birthday, has angered the population by refusing to step aside at the end of his second term. If he wins the Feb. 26 election, he will be in office past his 92nd birthday in a nation where the average lifespan is 59. He is also running for a third term, even though he oversaw a revision of the constitution in 2001 that imposed a two-term maximum.
Compared to demonstrations elsewhere in Africa, the ones in Senegal have been restrained. Four people have been killed in two weeks of unrest, compared to the death toll in election violence last year in Ivory Coast, in which dozens were killed in the same period of time. But the violence here is jarring because of Senegal's history, which has long been a model of stability in the region.
Shopkeepers barricaded their stores and the vendors who normally hawk their wares on William Ponty were standing to the side, their goods bundled up.
"We are people that make ends meet by selling things on the street," said 60-year-old Mountaga Diallo, a plastic bag full of plastic bottles hoisted over his shoulder. "Our country isn't rich. There's no gold. There's no diamonds. ... This entire week, I've earned nothing. ... We can be poor, but if we don't even have peace than we are really in trouble."
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Associated Press writers Sadibou Marone and Thomas Faye contributed to this report. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11733 Posts |
Posted - 18 Feb 2012 : 23:18:09
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Police in Senegal open fire with tear gas
RUKMINI CALLIMACHI and THOMAS FAYE
18/02/2012
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Police opened fire with tear gas Saturday on a commercial avenue in Senegal's capital, as security forces wrapped up early voting in a contentious presidential race.
It marks the fourth straight day of protests before next week's critical election, which is pitting the country's 85-year-old president against a young opposition demanding his departure. The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned there may be unrest if President Abdoulaye Wade is declared the winner of the vote.
On Saturday morning, the country's 23,000-strong security force including police and military, lined up to vote early. European Union observers said the ballots had arrived on time and voting proceeded calmly.
The normally bustling capital of Senegal has been disrupted by protests every few days since January when the country's highest court ruled that Wade could be a candidate in this month's election. Just months shy of his 86th birthday, Wade is seeking another seven-year term in a nation where most people don't live past the age of 60.
If he wins, it would be his third term, even though he oversaw a revision to the constitution in 2001 imposing a two-term limit.
Shopkeepers pulled down metal grills to protect their businesses as the blast of tear gas being fired resonated in the capital's downtown core. The vendors that hawk their wares on the street hurried to pack up their goods.
Four people have been killed since the protests began, a death toll that is small compared to the election violence that recently gripped Ivory Coast, Guinea, Nigeria and Congo, but high for Senegal which has long been seen as a model of tolerance and stability.
Late Friday, police attempting to disperse a crowd launched a tear gas grenade inside a mosque belonging to the Tidiane Muslim "confrerie," or brotherhood. Enraged worshippers ran outside.
Senegalese TV showed an officer who braved the cloud of gas in order to kick away the spewing canister from the door of the mosque, in order to calm the anger.
The country's Muslim brotherhoods hold enormous sway, and on Saturday, Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom traveled to Tivaouane, home of the Tidiane's khalife, religious leader. A mob of angry youths encircled the house of the khalife, as Ngom was inside, according to Ngom's spokesman Mbaye Thiam who was reached by telephone in Dakar.
The state-owned news service said that the youths were preventing Ngom from leaving and that they had also set fire to a government building nearby.
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Sadibou Marone contributed to this report. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2012 : 05:26:00
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GAINAKO NEWS WITH A COMMENTARY FOR;
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toubab1020
12311 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2012 : 13:21:02
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Totally fragmented opposition,every one out for what they can get,result nothing changes.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 20 Feb 2012 : 05:37:08
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JOLLOF NEWS;
FREEDOM NEWS;
SENEWEB TRANSLATED NEWS SUNDAY 19TH FEBRUARY, 2012;
"The state gave them a nice 48 hours for them to cast their vote, the military and paramilitary Diourbel will, themselves, chose, overwhelmingly, to stay home. One fact, at once, surprising and amazing! Of 577 registered on the entire Diourbel, only 168 military and paramilitary expressed their vote. This number includes 11 voters who expressed their choice as agents and that brought the enrollment to 588.
Apart from those reported Saturday, the department reported Sunday Diourbel 19 new votes. Bambey side, only 10 people were added to the list yesterday while at Mbacke 34 voters responded to the call.
In percentage terms, the votes cast were by 28.57%. An extremely low rate considered by the local political observers landerneau. A paramilitary who abstained from voting justify his act by his certainty that the election by civilians will never happen." |
Edited by - kobo on 20 Feb 2012 08:21:00 |
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Momodou
Denmark
11733 Posts |
Posted - 20 Feb 2012 : 08:33:54
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Senegal protests grow before presidential poll
RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
19/02/2012
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Protesters demanding the departure of Senegal's aging president on Sunday seized control of a three-block stretch in the heart of the capital, erecting barricades and lobbing rocks at police just days before a contentious presidential poll.
It marks the fifth day of violent protests ahead of the country's crucial vote. President Abdoulaye Wade, 85, is insisting on running again, despite the deepening unrest and calls from both France and the United States to hand power to the next generation.
Sunday's clashes marked a worrying development, because they took on a religious dimension in this normally tolerant Muslim nation. Hundreds had gathered outside a mosque as religious leaders met to discuss a Friday incident in which police used grenade launchers to throw tear gas down the wide boulevard, at one point hitting the wall of the mosque.
Footage of the incident shown on Senegalese TV indicated that the police had not shot inside the mosque, only outside where a crowd had gathered. But the cloud of gas enveloped worshippers praying both inside and outside the shrine, deeply offending Senegal's largest Muslim brotherhood which owns the mosque.
On Sunday morning as the crowd outside the mosque grew larger, a truck of riot police took a defensive position at one end of Lamine Gueye Boulevard, and the dozens of youths erupted in jeers. They then began grabbing cinderblocks from a nearby construction site, smashing them on the pavement in order to make smaller projectiles which they hurled at police. Security forces responded with waves of tear gas.
They sparred for over 1 hour and by then, the protesters succeeded in seizing control of a three-block stretch of Lamine Gueye, one of two main commercial avenues traversing downtown Dakar. They grabbed market tables and pieces of plywood that had been nailed across shop windows, using them as shields to protect themselves from the tear gas grenades.
They then lined them across the road's median, as police were momentarily pushed back, waiting for reinforcements.
Each time the youths charged the police, they screamed, "Allah Akbar" and "There is no God but Allah," religious phrases that are rarely heard in his this nation that is over 90 percent Muslim but which has long embraced a secular identity.
"I'm worried - yes. What I'm seeing here could really degenerate into another kind of situation, a religious one," said Moustapha Faye, a young member of the Mouride Muslim brotherhood, the second largest in Senegal, as he stood behind the police line watching the confrontation. "We must absolutely avoid violence."
The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned that there may be worse unrest if Wade is declared the winner of next Sunday's vote. In power for 12 years, Wade oversaw a 2001 revision to the constitution which imposed a two-term maximum, a move that at the time was hailed as proof of Senegal's democratic maturity. He disappointed many when he argued that the new constitution was not retroactive and so should not apply to him.
Senegal has seen protests every few days since January, when the country's highest court ruled that Wade was eligible to run for a third term. Wade has been dismissive of the opposition, characterizing their protests as nothing more than a "light breeze which rustles the leaves of a tree, but never becomes a hurricane."
The country is considered key to the stability of West Africa. It's the only nation in the region and one of the only in Africa that has never experienced a military coup.
While most African countries began experimenting with democracy post-independence in the 1960s, Senegal's democratic traditions date to at least the mid-1800s, when citizens in this former French colony were given the right to elect a deputy to the French parliament. Among them was Lamine Gueye, whose name now graces the boulevard where the youths sparred with police and who served as a senator in France in the 1950s.
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Associated Press Writers Sadibou Marone and Thomas Faye contributed to this report. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11733 Posts |
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Senegambia
175 Posts |
Posted - 20 Feb 2012 : 14:25:43
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| Looks more like a government/presidential blunder to me. President Wade has disappointed many people who looked up to him as one of Africa's best. |
Tesito
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toubab1020
12311 Posts |
Posted - 20 Feb 2012 : 16:17:45
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I agree its another example of, "Don't blame me, blame someone else" thinking that appears prevelent in African politics, correction ,no all politics,and political thinking worldwide. "Responsibility for my actions,I don't believe that's the right way to go" A thought that is uppermost in ALL politicians minds,there may be a few exceptions,if you know of one please post !.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Momodou
Denmark
11733 Posts |
Posted - 20 Feb 2012 : 19:33:19
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Senegal: Candidate has recruited militia
RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
20/02/2012 16.40
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Senegal's government said Monday that one of the candidates vying to unseat the nation's elderly leader in this week's election has recruited a militia in a bid to install chaos and make the country ungovernable.
Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye, spokesman for Senegal's 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade, refused to identify the candidate and said that authorities would reveal the breadth of the plot in coming days. He said that the unnamed candidate had appointed a retired army colonel to recruit a militia, made-up of 200 ex-soldiers.
"Beyond these 200 soldiers recruited and led by the colonel, there are also youths being recruited in the neighborhoods and in the interior of the country," Mbacke said.
"Those who think that we don't know, let them understand that we have formally identified them. We know who's in charge of recruiting, how much they are paid per day, who is financing it," he said. "Those that are behind this plot are after one thing only - blood. That lots of blood be spilled in our country. The fundamental thing for them is that chaos installs itself in the country so that the nation becomes ungovernable."
Senegal is less than a week away from a crucial presidential poll and unrest is growing, with protests over the weekend spreading from the capital's downtown core to a dozen neighborhoods and to the interior. The level of violence is highly unusual in this nation of 12 million on Africa's western coast that has long been held up as a model of stability.
Wade, who is just a few months shy of his 86th birthday, has insisted on running for a third term in Sunday's ballot, despite the increasingly strident calls for him to step down.
Both the United States and France have urged Wade to retire, and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, who is known for being the first military leader of Nigeria to agree to hand power to civilians, is due in Dakar shortly to help negotiate a solution.
At least six people have been killed in recent demonstrations and on Monday, the country's opposition planned to lead another protest at a downtown square.
Unlike all of its neighbors, Senegal has never experienced a coup. And unlike in neighboring Guinea and Ivory Coast, where recent election violence was brutally suppressed by security forces, police in Senegal have so far used minimal force relying largely on tear gas and water cannons to control the rioters, rather than live ammunitions.
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Associated Press writer Thomas Faye in Senegal, Dakar contributed to this report. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12311 Posts |
Posted - 20 Feb 2012 : 20:32:37
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Re.Senegal: Candidate has recruited militia
"Unlike all of its neighbors, Senegal has never experienced a coup. And unlike in neighboring Guinea and Ivory Coast, where recent election violence was brutally suppressed by security forces, police in Senegal have so far used minimal force relying largely on tear gas and water cannons to control the rioters, rather than live ammunitions."
He said that the unnamed candidate had appointed a retired army colonel to recruit a militia, made-up of 200 ex-soldiers.
"Beyond these 200 soldiers recruited and led by the colonel, there are also youths being recruited in the neighborhoods and in the interior of the country," Mbacke said.
I cannot understand why the "unnamed candidate" is still a candidate,all very strange,the truth will come out sometime,what is the truth about this problem?
I suggest failure to relinquish power MAYBE.but there again I could be wrong, not the first time 
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 20 Feb 2012 20:36:09 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 21 Feb 2012 : 00:20:19
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THE DAILY NEWS;
JOLLOF NEWS;
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| Bantaba in Cyberspace |
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Topic Locked
Senegal has been rocked by five straight days of violent protests 