Last Updated on 05/10/2024 by Ouestafnews
Ouestafnews – In Senegal, the day after the presidential election is not as enchanting as we hoped. Barely installed, the new power is adopting the same rhetoric and the same practices as the government thanked by voters in March 2024. Interpellations, arrests and bans on leaving the country are increasing and targeting journalists, activists and politicians critical of the regime. Acts which make civil society organizations fear another era of repression, after that experienced during the period 2021-2023 under the fallen regime of Macky Sall.
Cheikh Yerim Seck, journalist; Madiambal Diagne, journalist close to ex-president Macky Sall; Bougane Guèye, businessman and opponent of the new regime; Kader Dia, television columnist; Manar Sall, former general director of the Senegal Oil Company (Petrosen with majority public capital); Cheikhna Keita, former Police Commissioner; Bah Diakhate, activist; Ahmet Suzane Camara, member of the teachers’ network of the Alliance for the Republic (APR-former ruling party); etc. The list of people arrested by the security services, sent to prison or prohibited from leaving the country, since President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko took power, is long.
We are still far from the massive repression of violent demonstrations experienced by Senegal between 2021 and 2023, but the new regime is also not holding back against its opponents and against dissident or critical voices.
The charges brought against those arrested often include: dissemination of false news, defamation, insulting remarks, corruption or even illicit enrichment.
For part of public opinion, all this gives an air of déjà vu: systematic arrests and threats against any dissenting voice, dulling the euphoria of the change that occurred on March 24, 2024.
“We are faced with a certain unilateral desire not to accept dissident voices,” laments Sadibou Marong, director of the West and Central Africa regional office of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in an interview with Ouestaf News. According to him, the recent arrests of media professionals arouse “fear of seeing the demons of the past return.”
The past to which Mr. Marong alludes is still fresh in our minds: between 2021 and 2024, journalists, activists and opponents have paid a heavy price under the governance of the Macky Sall regime. Several dozen deaths have been recorded by human rights organizations.
It is the responsibility of the new authorities to “straighten the course” so as not to “destroy” the hopes held out by those in the press, believes the RSF official.
Read also: Senegal: Macky Sall’s power hardens, serial arrests
Political analyst Babacar Ndiaye, from the West African think tank, Wathi, sees this as a form of “continuity” of events before the presidential election of March 2024. A period marked by strong demonstrations and numerous arrests, particularly during trials against the then opponent and current Prime Minister (Ousmane Sonko) and after an attempt to postpone the presidential election by the then president, Macky Sall.
Elected by 54% of voters in the first round on the basis of a promise to change the “system” and the mode of governance, the duo Diomaye Faye and Sonko in terms of public freedoms remain on the same line as their predecessor.
Faced with the “systematic summons” of journalists and political actors followed by legal proceedings, Senegalese civil society organizations including Article 19 and Amnesty International Senegal expressed their “deep concern” in a joint declaration published on October 3, 2024.
As for the Coordination of Press Associations (Cap), it denounced “an attack” on freedom of expression and demanded the immediate release of journalist Cheikh Yerim Seck. She reminded the new authorities that freedom of expression is enshrined in the country’s Constitution.
Among the sources of concern within public opinion, the continuation of practices that the supporters of the current power had continued to denounce while they were in opposition: arrest without always following the procedures; interference of the executive in the prerogatives of justice, misuse of article 80, instrumentalization of security forces, etc.
Seydi Gassama, executive director of Amnesty International Senegal, has no illusions. There is not yet a “break” in terms of respect for public freedoms because the methods used by the regime of former President Macky Sall are still in place to perpetuate “repression”, he writes on his accounts. social networks.
In this logic, civil society organizations invite the Senegalese government to “restore” civic space and the plurality of opinions in public space. According to them, the “judicialization of opinions” which is currently taking place raises “serious concerns” regarding respect for freedoms of opinion and expression and threatens the “integrity” of public debate.
On the political side, the electoral coalition “Samm sa Kaddu” (Respect your promises) to which Bougane Guèye belongs criticized, in a press release, dated October 2, 2024, the “provocation” and the “insult to democracy” .
In the process, another opposition coalition “Takku wallu Senegaal” (Stand up to save Senegal) denounced “abusive” arrests which, according to it, reflect a “democratic lack of culture” and a “nameless intolerance” among the new power which wants to “silence” all discordant voices.
The two coalitions have announced their participation in the legislative elections of November 17, 2024. Samm sa Kaddu is grouped around the former presidential candidate and former mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall. Takku wallu Senegaal is an alliance between the parties of the two former presidents of the Republic, Macky Sall and Abdoulaye Wade.
But those in power do not want to be cornered. On the contrary, underlines Amadou Ba, one of its political and legal officials, the rapid outcome of these cases is considered proof of the independence of justice under the governance of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.
Moreover, adds this ex-MP, the two heads of the Senegalese executive are “in no way involved in the series of recent arrests”. In a post published on October 3, 2024 on his Facebook page, he asserts that none of the summons against the people arrested was issued following a complaint or an instruction from the prosecutor.
However, in June 2024, during a political meeting with his activists, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko almost threatened the local press. “We will no longer allow the media to write what they want about people, in the name of so-called freedom of the press, without any reliable source,” Mr. Sonko declared.
Moundiaye Cissé, director of the NGO 3D (Decentralization, human rights, local development), welcomed the “appeasement” posture of the Ministry of Justice and the return to “serenity” of the Senegalese government, this after Cheikh Yérim Seck and Bougane Guèye Dani were left free to return home. But other people arrested still remain in detention.
As the legislative elections of November 17, 2024 loom on the horizon, public calls are increasingly coming from the Senegalese for more effective management of the concerns of the populations.
According to Moundiaye Cissé, the authorities in power and their opponents have a duty to raise the current level of political debate by propelling “ideas” into the public space rather than “invectives” with strong political connotations. A trend which greatly bothers Babacar Ndiaye de Wathi who believes that the public debate should be oriented towards the issues of the day, in particular irregular emigration, youth employment, the economy, among others.
It is this type of debate that is “difficult” to pose in the public space, regrets Sadibou Marong. For the head of RSF, it is constant to see that those who express reservations and criticism about the management of the new authorities are “lynched” on social networks. This posture demonstrates a certain desire to refuse the debate. However, he emphasizes, “we are in a democratic society, it will be very complicated to silence people”.
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