DOCSLIB.ORG

Senegal | Freedom House

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Senegal | Freedom House 4/8/2020 Senegal | Freedom House FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2020 Senegal 71 PARTLY FREE /100 Political Rights 29 /40 Civil Liberties 42 /60 LAST YEAR'S SCORE & STATUS 72 /100 Free Global freedom statuses are calculated on a weighted scale. See the methodology. https://freedomhouse.org/country/senegal/freedom-world/2020 1/16 4/8/2020 Senegal | Freedom House Status Change Senegal’s status declined from Free to Partly Free because the 2019 presidential election was marred by the exclusion of two major opposition figures who had been convicted in politically fraught corruption cases and were eventually pardoned by the incumbent. Overview Senegal is one of Africa’s most stable electoral democracies and has undergone two peaceful transfers of power between rival parties since 2000. However, politically motivated prosecutions of opposition leaders and changes to the electoral laws have reduced the competitiveness of the opposition in recent years. The country is known for its relatively independent media and free expression, though defamation laws continue to constrain press freedom. Other ongoing challenges include corruption in government, weak rule of law, and inadequate protections for the rights of women and LGBT+ people. Key Developments in 2019 In February, President Macky Sall won a second consecutive term with 58 percent of the vote in the first round, making a runoff unnecessary. Two leading opposition leaders—Khalifa Sall, former mayor of Dakar, and Karim Wade, the son of former president Abdoulaye Wade—were barred from running because of previous, politically fraught convictions for embezzlement of public funds. In May, lawmakers approved a measure to abolish the post of prime minister, and Sall signed it later in the month. Critics denounced the reform as a power grab. In September, President Sall pardoned Khalifa Sall, who had been jailed in 2018 for five years on corruption charges and barred from participating in the February presidential election. (Wade, who was also barred from running, had been pardoned in 2016.) https://freedomhouse.org/country/senegal/freedom-world/2020 2/16 4/8/2020 Senegal | Freedom House Political Rights A. Electoral Process A1 0-4 pts Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 3 / 4 The president is chief of state and head of government, and is directly elected to a maximum of two consecutive terms. In 2016, the presidential term was reduced via referendum from seven years to five, effective after the end of President Macky Sall’s term in 2019. In February 2019, President Sall, of the Alliance for the Republic (APR), defeated four challengers including former prime minister Idrissa Seck of the Rewmi Party, and Ousmane Sonko of the Patriots of Senegal for Ethics, Work, and Fraternity party (PASTEF); Sonko is a former tax inspector backed by many young Senegalese who were frustrated by President Sall and his administration’s policies. While international observers declared the election credible, it was marred by the exclusion of two prominent opposition politicians, Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, who might have seriously challenged President Sall; in January 2019, just weeks before the polls, the Constitutional Council had ruled that both were both ineligible to run in the presidential election because both had been previously convicted in separate, politically fraught corruption cases. In May, lawmakers approved a controversial constitutional reform that abolished the post of prime minister, and Sall promptly signed it. The move, which had not been a component of Sall’s reelection platform, prompted an outcry from critics who accused him of seeking to consolidate power. Separately, In December 2019, President Sall suggested that he could attempt to run for a third term in 2024. https://freedomhouse.org/country/senegal/freedom-world/2020 3/16 4/8/2020 Senegal | Freedom House Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 because two major opposition candidates were excluded from the presidential election due to their convictions in politically fraught corruption cases. A2 0-4 pts Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 3 / 4 Members of Senegal’s 165-seat National Assembly are elected to five-year terms—105 are elected in single-member districts, and 60 by proportional representation. In the July 2017 parliamentary elections, the president’s ruling United in Hope (BBY) coalition won 125 seats, followed by Abdoulaye Wade’s Winning Coalition–Wattu Senegaal with 19 seats. Khalifa Sall’s Mankoo Taxawu Senegaal coalition took 7 seats, and 11 groups divided the remainder. International observers deemed the elections credible despite some significant procedural errors and logistical challenges. New biometric voting cards were distributed to only 70 percent of eligible voters before the 2017 elections. To address the problem, the president proposed and the Constitutional Council approved a plan to allow voters to use alternative forms of identification. Some voters were allegedly disenfranchised because of difficulties related to the identification measures, which were approved just four days before the elections. A3 0-4 pts Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 3 / 4 The National Autonomous Electoral Commission (CENA) administers elections. Although the CENA is nominally independent, its members are appointed by the president. The opposition criticized the government for making important changes ahead of the 2017 legislative balloting, including the introduction of the new biometric voting system, without engaging in dialogue or building political consensus. https://freedomhouse.org/country/senegal/freedom-world/2020 4/16 4/8/2020 Senegal | Freedom House The changes were approved in January 2017, only six months before the elections, which observers argued did not provide sufficient time for logistical information about the new electoral framework to be disseminated in a coordinated fashion. A new electoral law passed in April 2018 requires all aspiring presidential candidates to collect signatures from at least 0.8 percent of the overall electorate before their names could appear on the ballot, and all groups presenting National Assembly lists to obtain signatures from 0.5 percent of voters in at least seven regions. The government asserted that the legislation was necessary to reduce the proliferation of parties that field candidates in elections. Of the 27 candidates who submitted the required signatures prior to the 2019 presidential election, only 5 were approved in January to run after the validation process by the Constitutional Council. In June, an European Union (EU) election observation mission said the controversial requirement could pose “serious political and organizational problems” in upcoming local elections. B. Political Pluralism and Participation B1 0-4 pts Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or 3 / 4 groupings? Registration requirements for new political parties are not onerous, and registered parties can organize and operate without government interference. However, opposition candidates still face major financial inequities when competing with incumbents. There is no public financing for political parties, but the ruling party deploys a vast set of state resources to garner support, whereas opposition leaders are often forced to rely on personal wealth to finance party operations. https://freedomhouse.org/country/senegal/freedom-world/2020 5/16 4/8/2020 Senegal | Freedom House B2 0-4 pts Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 3 / 4 The opposition can increase its support or gain power through elections. However, the 2018 electoral law was criticized by opposition leaders for making it more difficult for candidates to appear on the ballot, and was widely seen as a move to clear the field and ensure President Sall’s reelection in 2019. The prosecutions of some of President Sall’s most prominent political opponents in recent years has also reduced the competitiveness of the opposition. Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, considered one of President Sall’s foremost rivals and a prospective 2019 presidential candidate, was arrested in 2017 after the government alleged that $2.9 million in funding for his office was accounted for with false receipts. The mayor and his defense attorneys argued that such funds are commonly used as political financing and that Sall’s prosecution was politically motivated. The National Assembly lifted Sall’s parliamentary immunity, which he had acquired after being elected to the legislature earlier that year, in late 2017. In March 2018, Sall was found guilty, sentenced to five years in prison, and fined 5 million CFA francs ($8,900). Barthélémy Dias, the mayor of Mermoz-Sacré-Coeur in Dakar and a close political ally of Khalifa Sall, was sentenced to six months in prison in April 2018 for “contempt of court, incitement to disturb public order, and discrediting a judicial decision” after sharply criticizing the verdict. Sall was removed from office as mayor of Dakar in August 2018, and in January 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that he could not appeal his embezzlement sentence. Later in January, the Constitutional Council ruled that Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade were both ineligible to run in the next month’s presidential election because both had been sentenced to prison terms for corruption. Wade, sentenced in 2015, received a pardon in 2016, and subsequently went into exile in Qatar. Although Khalifa Sall was supposed to serve a five-year prison sentence for embezzlement, he was eventually pardoned by President Macky Sall in September 2019. https://freedomhouse.org/country/senegal/freedom-world/2020 6/16 4/8/2020 Senegal | Freedom House In June 2018, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice determined that Khalifa Sall’s preventive detention had been arbitrary.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Case Comparison of Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal
    1 Democratization and Universal Health Coverage: A Case Comparison of Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal Karen A. Grépin and Kim Yi Dionne This article identifies conditions under which newly established democracies adopt Universal Health Coverage. Drawing on the literature examining democracy and health, we argue that more democratic regimes – where citizens have positive opinions on democracy and where competitive, free and fair elections put pressure on incumbents – will choose health policies targeting a broader proportion of the population. We compare Ghana to Kenya and Senegal, two other countries which have also undergone democratization, but where there have been important differences in the extent to which these democratic changes have been perceived by regular citizens and have translated into electoral competition. We find that Ghana has adopted the most ambitious health reform strategy by designing and implementing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). We also find that Ghana experienced greater improvements in skilled attendance at birth, childhood immunizations, and improvements in the proportion of children with diarrhea treated by oral rehydration therapy than the other countries since this policy was adopted. These changes also appear to be associated with important changes in health outcomes: both infant and under-five mortality rates declined rapidly since the introduction of the NHIS in Ghana. These improvements in health and health service delivery have also been observed by citizens with a greater proportion of Ghanaians reporting satisfaction with government handling of health service delivery relative to either Kenya or Senegal. We argue that the democratization process can promote the adoption of particular health policies and that this is an important mechanism through which democracy can improve health.
    [Show full text]
  • Urban Guerrilla Poetry: the Movement Y' En a Marre and the Socio
    Urban Guerrilla Poetry: The Movement Y’ en a Marre and the Socio-Political Influences of Hip Hop in Senegal by Marame Gueye Marame Gueye is an assistant professor of African and African diaspora literatures at East Carolina University. She received a doctorate in Comparative Literature, Feminist Theory, and Translation from SUNY Binghamton with a dissertation entitled: Wolof Wedding Songs: Women Negotiating Voice and Space Trough Verbal Art . Her research interests are orality, verbal art, immigration, and gender and translation discourses. Her most recent article is “ Modern Media and Culture: Speaking Truth to Power” in African Studies Review (vol. 54, no.3). Abstract Since the 1980s, Hip Hop has become a popular musical genre in most African countries. In Senegal, young artists have used the genre as a mode of social commentary by vesting their aesthetics in the culture’s oral traditions established by griots. However, starting from the year 2000, Senegalese Hip Hop evolved as a platform for young people to be politically engaged and socially active. This socio-political engagement was brought to a higher level during the recent presidential elections when Hip Hop artists created the Y’En a Marre Movement [Enough is Enough]. The movement emerged out of young people’s frustrations with the chronic power cuts that plagued Senegal since 2003 to becoming the major critic of incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade. Y’en Marre was at the forefront of major demonstrations against Wade’s bid for a contested third term. But of greater or equal importance, the movement’s musical releases during the period were specifically aimed at “bringing down the president.” This article looks at their last installment piece entitled Faux! Pas Forcé [Fake! Forced Step or Don’t! Push] which was released at the eve of the second round of voting.
    [Show full text]
  • Télécharger Le
    Avec et sans nostalgie (turbulences ou histoire lacunaire d'une lutte et d'un goût très vif de la liberté) une proposition de lecture performée d'Emmanuelle Chérel avec Mamadou Khouma Gueye et Marie-Pierre Groud, pour l'exposition Wiwildu de Patrick Bernier et Olive Martin, au Centre d'art contemporain Le Grand Café, Saint-Nazaire, Automne 2016. « De reconnaître ceux qui ont existé et existent en dehors de nous et, voyant ce dehors, de commencer de nous voir nous-mêmes du dehors » . Omar Blondin Diop, dans le film de Jean-Luc Godard, La chinoise, 1967 « La voie la plus courte pour aller vers l'avenir est celle qui passe toujours par l'approfondissement du passé1». Cette lecture dresse quelques pistes et lignes de fuite esquissant des relations qui se sont établies de l'Indépendance (1960) à nos jours entre la sphère de l'art et les minorités politiques de gauche au Sénégal. Cette configuration narrative, archéologique, symbolique, effectuée avec Mamadou Khouma Gueye, réalisateur, s'appuie sur des notes établies à partir de documents et de traces. Elle dessine un territoire complexe qui rend visibles des coïncidences ou chevêtres (qui se recoupent en un point précis, signalant qu’un repère ou du commun se sont instaurés). Elle invente à partir d'elles pour tout à la fois trouver ce qui est enfoui et construire ce qui n’existait pas. Sa trame tente d'écrire le trajet de ces idées et de ces luttes, de saisir l’épaisseur et la fragilité de leurs trajectoires. Elle veut aussi faire entendre le souffle de ces voix multiples et divergentes (tout comme celles de leurs opposants) afin d'inviter à s'interroger une nouvelle fois sur les voies qu'elles désignaient.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Spontaneity and Senegalese New Social Movements, Y'en a Marre and M23: a Re-Reading of Frantz Fanon 'The Wretched of the Earth"
    POLITICAL SPONTANEITY AND SENEGALESE NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, Y'EN A MARRE AND M23: A RE-READING OF FRANTZ FANON 'THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH" Babacar Faye A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December 2012 Committee: Radhika Gajjala, Advisor Dalton Anthony Jones © 2012 Babacar Faye All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Radhika Gajjala, Advisor This project analyzes the social uprisings in Senegal following President Abdoulaye Wade's bid for a third term on power. From a perspectivist reading of Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and the revolutionary strategies of the Algerian war of independence, the project engages in re-reading Fanon's text in close relation to Senegalese new social movements, Y'en A Marre and M23. The overall analysis addresses many questions related to Fanonian political thought. The first attempt of the project is to read Frantz Fanon's The Wretched from within The Cultural Studies. Theoretically, Fanon's "new humanism," as this project contends, can be located between transcendence and immanence, and somewhat intersects with the political potentialities of the 'multitude.' Second. I foreground the sociogeny of Senegalese social movements in neoliberal era of which President Wade's regime was but a local phase. Recalling Frantz Fanon's critique of the bourgeoisie and traditional intellectuals in newly postindependent African countries, I draw a historical continuity with the power structures in the postcolonial condition. Therefore, the main argument of this project deals with the critique of African political leaders, their relationship with hegemonic global forces in infringing upon the basic rights of the downtrodden.
    [Show full text]
  • Senegal#.Vxcptt2rt8e.Cleanprint
    https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2015/senegal#.VXCptt2rT8E.cleanprint Senegal freedomhouse.org Municipal elections held in June 2014 led to some losses by ruling coalition candidates in major urban areas; the elections were deemed free and fair by local election observers. A trial against Karim Wade, son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, began in July in the Court of Repossession of Illegally Acquired Assets (CREI), where he is accused of illicit enrichment. Abdoulaye Wade, who had left Senegal after losing the 2012 presidential election, returned in the midst of the CREI investigation in April. The Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), which he founded in 1974, requested permission to publicly assemble upon his return, but authorities denied the request. In February, Senegal drew criticism for the imprisonment of two men reported to have engaged in same-sex relations. The detentions of rapper and activist Malal Talla and of former energy minister Samuel Sarr in June and August, respectively, also evoked public disapproval; both men were detained after expressing criticism of government officials. Political Rights and Civil Liberties: Political Rights: 33 / 40 [Key] A. Electoral Process: 11 / 12 Members of Senegal’s 150-seat National Assembly are elected to five-year terms; the president serves seven-year terms with a two-term limit. The president appoints the prime minister. In July 2014, President Macky Sall appointed Mohammed Dionne to this post to replace Aminata Touré, who was removed from power after losing a June local election in Grand-Yoff. The National Commission for the Reform of Institutions (CNRI), an outgrowth of a consultative body that engaged citizens about reforms in 2008–2009, presented a new draft constitution to Sall in February.
    [Show full text]
  • Senegal Country Report BTI 2010
    BTI 2010 | Senegal Country Report Status Index 1-10 5.53 # 71 of 128 Democracy 1-10 6.30 # 53 of 128 Market Economy 1-10 4.75 # 88 of 128 Management Index 1-10 5.66 # 44 of 128 scale: 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) score rank trend This report is part of the Transformation Index (BTI) 2010. The BTI is a global ranking of transition processes in which the state of democracy and market economic systems as well as the quality of political management in 128 transformation and developing countries are evaluated. The BTI is a joint project of the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Center for Applied Policy Research (C•A•P) at Munich University. More on the BTI at http://www.bertelsmann-transformation-index.de/ Please cite as follows: Bertelsmann Stiftung, BTI 2010 — Senegal Country Report. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2009. © 2009 Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh BTI 2010 | Senegal 2 Key Indicators Population mn. 11.9 HDI 0.46 GDP p.c. $ 1737 Pop. growth % p.a. 2.6 HDI rank of 182 166 Gini Index 39.2 Life expectancy years 55 UN Education Index 0.42 Poverty2 % 60.3 Urban population % 42.1 Gender equality1 - Aid per capita $ 67.9 Sources: UNDP, Human Development Report 2009 | The World Bank, World Development Indicators 2009. Footnotes: (1) Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). (2) Percentage of population living on less than $2 a day. Executive Summary Historically, Senegal has been one of the showcases for democracy and a market economy in West Africa. Despite only modest – if any – economic success, the country has remained politically stable and has seen uninterrupted civilian rule since its independence.
    [Show full text]
  • Senegal Since 2000. Rebuilding Hegemony in a Global Age Vincent Foucher, Tarik Dahou
    Senegal since 2000. Rebuilding Hegemony in a Global Age Vincent Foucher, Tarik Dahou To cite this version: Vincent Foucher, Tarik Dahou. Senegal since 2000. Rebuilding Hegemony in a Global Age. Turning Points in African Democracy, 2009. hal-02614085 HAL Id: hal-02614085 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02614085 Submitted on 20 May 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Mustapha_01 1/5/09 15:48 Page 13 2 Senegal since 2000 Rebuilding Hegemony in a Global Age TARIK DAHOU & VINCENT FOUCHER Senegal is often seen as a model of democracy in Africa. The changing character of Senegalese political life since independence has been paralleled by just as many changes in the literature about it. Initially most work tended to focus on the long history and rooted character of Senegalese democratic culture. This was essentially an urban-based political history centred on the lives of an enlightened class of évolués, African elites with a French education. In various shades, subse- quent authors described how the powerful Muslim brotherhoods functioned as mechanisms for political integration in the countryside: in exchange for agricultural services and other resources channelled to client marabouts, the party-state could count on the votes of the disciples attached to these marabouts (Copans 1980; Coulon 1981).
    [Show full text]
  • Senegal: Presidential Elections 2019 - the Shining Example of Democratic Transition Immersed in Muddy Power-Politics
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Munich Personal RePEc Archive MPRA Munich Personal RePEc Archive Senegal: Presidential elections 2019 - The shining example of democratic transition immersed in muddy power-politics Dirk Kohnert and Laurence Marfaing Institute of African Affairs, GIGA-Hamburg 12 March 2019 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/92739/ MPRA Paper No. 92739, posted 15 March 2019 17:14 UTC Senegal: Presidential elections 2019 The shining example of democratic transition immersed in muddy power-politics Dirk Kohnert & Laurence Marfaing 1 The rush of presidential candidates to the religious leaders Source: Landry Banga (nom de plume, RIC). Dakar: La Croix Africa, 19 February 2019 Abstract: Whereas Senegal has long been sold as a showcase of democracy in Africa, including peaceful political alternance, things apparently changed fundamentally with the Senegalese presidentials of 2019 that brought new configurations. One of the major issues was political transhumance that has been elevated to the rank of religion in defiance of morality. It threatened political stability and peace. In response, social networks of predominantly young activists, created in 2011 in the aftermath of the Arab Spring focused on grass-roots advocacy with the electorate on good governance and democracy. They proposed a break with a political system that they consider as neo- colonialist. Moreover, Senegal’s justice is frequently accused to be biased, and the servility of the Constitutional Council which is in the first place an electoral court has often been denounced. Key Words: Senegal, presidential elections, governance, political change, political transhumance, social networks, West Africa, WAEMU, ECOWAS, civic agency JEL-Code: N17, N37, N97, O17, O35, P16, Z13 1 Associated research fellows at the Institute of African Affairs, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg, Germany.
    [Show full text]
  • Presidential Elections in Senegal: a Brief Overview of the First Round
    Presidential elections in Senegal: a brief overview of the first round Senegal is a small country of West Africa known for its democratic achievements. Dominated by Muslims who represent more than 90 per cent of a population of little more than 13 million, le pays de la Teranga (the country of hospitality in Wolof) has preserved traditions of tolerance, religious pluralism and peace. 1. Type of elections The first round of Senegal’s 10th presidential elections – the 7th in the era of multipartism - has taken place on February 26th 2012. A second round will be probably be required as according to provisional results no candidate has attained the absolute majority. 2. Short evaluation of the political situation related to the elections According to the Mission of Observation of the European Union, the commission of observation sent by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the numerous observers of the African and Senegalese civil society, the elections have been regular and transparent. This achievement is in itself very laudable given a very gloomy pre-electoral context. When the Constitutional Council has decided to validate the candidature of the incumbent President Wade - against the spirit of the Senegalese constitution and despite earlier statements made by Wade himself related to the fact that the constitution does not allow him to postulate for a third mandate - a divided opposition regrouped under the M23 (Movement of June 23rd) has organized many demonstrations in order to demand the withdrawal of the candidature of Wade. Unfortunately, this has occasioned six deaths and many wounded persons.
    [Show full text]
  • The Executive Survey General Information and Guidelines
    The Executive Survey General Information and Guidelines Dear Country Expert, In this section, we distinguish between the head of state (HOS) and the head of government (HOG). • The Head of State (HOS) is an individual or collective body that serves as the chief public representative of the country; his or her function could be purely ceremonial. • The Head of Government (HOG) is the chief officer(s) of the executive branch of government; the HOG may also be HOS, in which case the executive survey only pertains to the HOS. • The executive survey applies to the person who effectively holds these positions in practice. • The HOS/HOG pair will always include the effective ruler of the country, even if for a period this is the commander of foreign occupying forces. • The HOS and/or HOG must rule over a significant part of the country’s territory. • The HOS and/or HOG must be a resident of the country — governments in exile are not listed. • By implication, if you are considering a semi-sovereign territory, such as a colony or an annexed territory, the HOS and/or HOG will be a person located in the territory in question, not in the capital of the colonizing/annexing country. • Only HOSs and/or HOGs who stay in power for 100 consecutive days or more will be included in the surveys. • A country may go without a HOG but there will be no period listed with only a HOG and no HOS. • If a HOG also becomes HOS (interim or full), s/he is moved to the HOS list and removed from the HOG list for the duration of their tenure.
    [Show full text]
  • Democracy in Senegal Tested: a Personal Reflection
    Democracy in Senegal Tested: A Personal Reflection by Dr. Maimouna Barro I am a Senegalese woman living in Champaign-Urbana. From a far distance, I have been following the latest developments in Senegalese politics with a vested interest like millions of other Senegalese whether at home or abroad. In many ways, I identify myself with the thousands of young Senegalese university students of the mid-1990s who played an important part in politics and looked up to incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade as the ultimate actor of change and progress. As I sit back to write this piece, Senegalese people celebrate the victory of 50-year-old President- Elect Macky Sall, a geological engineer by profession, as well as former prime minister of incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade. Given President Wade’s defiance of Senegalese popular will in his determination to seek a third term and the background against which the entire electoral process unfolded, the potential for instability was high, but the second round of elections concluded peacefully. A happy ending! President Abdoulaye Wade has accepted defeat by Macky Sall on the Sunday March 25th 2012 run-off. Once again, the Senegalese have demonstrated that democracy does not just come from governments-- no matter how democratic the process by which they have been put in place--but really from people and their determination to fight for it and be part of the struggle to maintain it whenever that democracy is threatened. They have also proved that lasting change does not come from governments; it comes from the people and is sustained by them.
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19 in Senegal: Exploring the Historical Context
    REVIEW COVID-19 in Senegal: Exploring the Historical Context 1 Sydney Bertram 1Department of Public Health Sciences, Clemson University, SC, USA ABSTRACT While many academics and popular journalists have recently addressed historical epidemics in the context of COVID- 19, much of this literature concerns the history of former colonial powers rather than the history of formerly colonized states. This review finds that the French colonial regime frequently used disease as a means to exert its increased political power over the people of the Senegal. Primary sources, analyses of colonialism and disease in Senegal and current popular media reveal that post-colonial successes in managing epidemic disease, contrasted with colonial-era racialization of rampant disease, is likely shaping the Senegalese government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. KEY WORDS COVID-19, Senegal, Colonialism INTRODUCTION Senegal’s complex, multi-staged history has in modernity been marked by multiple disease outbreaks. During the colonial era, French fears of disease were used as a means for enforcing residential segregation in the cities of Saint Louis and Dakar and subjugating the African population’s religious practices. Following independence, the Senegalese government has managed the HIV/AIDS epidemic1 and Ebola crisis2 of the mid-2010s, both of which have not established a strong foothold in the country. The legacy of colonial failures and postcolonial successes has resulted in a Senegalese response to the COVID-19 pandemic marked by a political rejection of European guidance. However, the urban and rural poor are facing the brunt of economic shutdown, food shortages, and lack of effective, accessible healthcare during the pandemic.3, 4 Senegal, home to roughly 15.7 million people of diverse ethnic groups, is located on the northwest Atlantic coast of Africa.
    [Show full text]