DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — As gunfire rang out at a protest in Senegal’s capital, a person carrying khaki pants and a T-shirt shot Cheikh’s childhood pal within the chest. The bleeding 21-year-old slumped in opposition to a wall, displaying his wound in disbelief.
“We thought tear gas and grenades would be used against us. We had no idea they would shoot,” mentioned Cheikh, who was inches away when the bullet struck his pal and rushed him to the hospital in an unsuccessful try to save lots of his life. “As I watched him on the way there, I realized it was over.”
His pal, Khadim Ba, was considered one of at the very least 23 individuals killed earlier this month in Senegal throughout the nation’s deadliest clashes between police and protesters in a long time, based on Amnesty International. Like Ba, a number of individuals have been reported shot with dwell ammunition by males carrying civilian garments who gave the impression to be combating alongside the police, based on protesters and rights teams.
Such “nervis,” a French phrase for “thugs” that’s utilized in Senegal to confer with gunmen for rent who’re deployed to close down protests, are allegedly accountable for quite a few deaths throughout the days of clashes between supporters of political opposition chief Ousmane Sonko and police.
An post-mortem report seen by The Associated Press states Ba died from “firearm thoracic trauma” that began within the entrance of his physique and pierced his coronary heart and lungs. He was shot and killed on June 1, the identical day Sonko was convicted of “corrupting youth” and given a two-year jail sentence.
Sonko’s supporters preserve the conviction was the newest episode in a long-running effort by the federal government of President Macky Sall to derail the opposition chief’s candidacy within the 2024 presidential election. Under Senegalese legislation, a felony conviction might bar Sonko from working.
Cheikh advised the AP that he and different buddies acknowledged Ba’s alleged killer as somebody who was shut with an area well-known wrestler. During an interview on the Dakar residence of his late pal’s mother and father, he recalled seeing the person capturing individuals with a pistol whereas standing in entrance of riot police.
The AP can not independently confirm Cheikh’s account and isn’t utilizing his final title as a result of he fears reprisals for chatting with the media. But video photos on social media websites present non-uniformed males holding weapons and standing alongside the police throughout the collection of demonstrations.
Men believed to be a part of the recruited “nervis” additionally have been noticed outdoors the ruling social gathering’s headquarters in Dakar, Amnesty International researcher Ousmane Diallo advised the AP.
An individual working for a distinct civil society group mentioned he noticed younger males armed with rifles and dressed as civilians board a half-dozen pickup vans close to the ruling social gathering headquarters the day after Sonko’s conviction. When they left, the vans tailed the automobiles of safety forces, mentioned the group employee, who was not approved to talk to the media concerning the witnessed exercise.
Senegal’s authorities denies armed civilians collaborated with police. Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome mentioned this week that authorities opened an investigation into the scenes depicted within the movies circulating on social media to “determine responsibility for the deaths and the looting of property.”
During pro-Sonko demonstrations in May and this month, some individuals destroyed retailers, fuel stations, and automobiles and buses lining the streets, and barricaded roads and lit tires on hearth. The harm price the nation tens of millions of {dollars}, based on the federal government, which mentioned the protesters posed a menace to democracy.
Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana mentioned some younger Senegalese individuals organized themselves into neighborhood watch committees to “defend their physical integrity and protect their property.” The scene outdoors the social gathering headquarters was the ruling social gathering’s non-public safety service, which was deployed to guard the premises, Fofana mentioned.
Human rights organizations have accused safety forces of constructing arbitrary arrests and utilizing extreme power, together with using weapons to quell the protests.
Under worldwide legislation, legislation enforcement companies ought to solely use firearms in distinctive circumstances, corresponding to an imminent threat of great harm or demise, based on Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Seif Magango mentioned this week that the choice by the nation’s safety forces to make use of dwell bullet rounds “sets a negative precedent for Senegal.” Conflict analysts warn that mobilizing and arming civilians to strengthen the ranks of police is an much more harmful technique.
“It’s unclear if those men are professional and well-trained personnel to counter (violent protests), and therefore there is a high risk of them behaving recklessly and doing more harm than containing the protests,” Rida Lyammouri, a senior fellow on the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based assume tank, mentioned.
Sonko, who at the moment serves as mayor of his hometown of Ziguinchor and is widespread with the nation’s youth, positioned third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election.
Two years later, he was accused of raping a lady who labored at a therapeutic massage parlor and making demise threats in opposition to her. At least 14 individuals have been killed throughout clashes after authorities arrested Sonko for disturbing public order on his technique to a courtroom listening to.
Large-scale unrest resumed this 12 months throughout the rape trial and escalated after Sonko was acquitted of rape however convicted of a lesser cost of corrupting youth. Under Senegalese legislation, the conviction might bar him from working for president.
Sonko, who didn’t attend his trial in Dakar and was judged in absentia, has not been seen or heard from for the reason that verdict. Security forces encompass his home within the capital, which is the place Sonko is believed to nonetheless be.
At the center of the unrest are fears that Sall, Senegal’s president, will run for a 3rd time period. The structure limits presidents to 2 five-year phrases, however Sall says he can legally search reelection. The argument can be primarily based on deciding {that a} constitutional reform adopted in 2016 permits him to reset the clock on his time period depend.
The mediation of non secular leaders helped calm the scenario in current days, although protests might resurface and spark extra unrest if Sonko is imprisoned or Sall pronounces his candidacy in subsequent 12 months’s presidential election.
Sall has known as for an investigation into these accountable for this month’s demonstrations and praised the “remarkable professionalism” of the safety forces in controling the violence, authorities spokesman Fofana mentioned in an announcement.
Meanwhile, households are reeling from the harm already performed.
“If I had known (he was going to protest), Khadim would never have taken part,” Ba’s mom, Seynabou Diop, mentioned. “I want (the government) to meet the expectations of young people. The government has an obligation to help,” she mentioned.
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