Dozens of people holding Guinean identity documents arrested during the latest violent political demonstrations in the streets of Dakar are in the process of being deported from Senegal. Dozens of other foreign nationals are in detention having been formally identified as having taken part in break-ins, the burning of the library of the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, of numerous vehicles and public installations, and attacks on businesses and other private homes. Large-scale looting was also reported.

Tension in the Country: Macky Won’t Lower his Guard

The group of foreign detainees includes dangerous former military personnel and close associates, sinister « junglers » of the former Gambian dictator Yaya Jammeh, thirsty for revenge against Macky Sall who ousted him from power, at the request of ECOWAS, when he refused to concede defeat to Adama Barrow. The police are also seeking to verify the identities of other arrested people who are not in possession of any relevant documents, and who have the distinction of speaking neither French nor any other Senegalese national language. It is rumoured that this sinister group of criminals includes Liberians, Sierra Leoneans and other scum from neighbouring West African countries. These arrests confirm the repeated warnings in these columns about the use of foreign agents to destabilise Senegal. The aim of creating chaos is obvious, and we recall that the Minister of the Interior, Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome, as early as March 2021, spoke of the presence of occult forces among the demonstrators, driven by the sinister intention of causing serious unrest.

The Senegalese police authorities have once again made this unfortunate observation, which they revealed at a press conference held on 4 June, 2023. This media exercise also proved to be an admission of failure on the part of the police in the area of foresight and intelligence. Indeed, citizens are entitled to ask what the police authorities and their intelligence services and agents were doing to allow such a large number of thugs and people, whose objectives must have been known to the government, to cross borders quietly and penetrate the heart of the country’s capital. In the eyes of the average citizen, there are clearly failings, negligence or shortcomings somewhere for such dangerous people to have been able to operate in broad daylight in Dakar. Certainly, as Montesquieu said: « I love peasants, they’re not knowledgeable enough to reason ».

Fighting after the noise and the fear

We can see that hundreds of people have been questioned, arrested or sent back to their respective countries, but how many have managed to slip through the obviously very porous net of the Senegalese police? With what arsenal were they able to hide in homes, thatched cottages and neighbourhoods? It is no longer disputed that the guerillas of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (Mfdc) have abandoned their positions in the forests and other makeshift camps to blend in with the population of Dakar and the country’s other major cities. We had already asked « what to do with these Mfdc rebels operating in Dakar ».  In our column of 13 June 2022 entitled « Ousmane Sonko will burn himself with the fire he has lit », we pointed out: « We would like to believe that rebels, having left their bases that have just been dismantled by military operations, could magically find themselves in the streets of Dakar to take part in a peaceful, democratic march, with guns blazing, to demand more democracy and above all the right to take part in elections organised by the government of a country from which they are seeking, by force of arms, to separate (Don’t laugh!) ».

Unfortunately, we saw them burn down the university archives and dance around the flames, jubilant, singing the same war songs that welcomed Ousmane Sonko in Ziguinchor when he was campaigning.  We suffer to note that the great intellectuals and dignitaries of civil society, academics and the products of Senegal’s universities, so quick to get on their high horse and invoke the great principles of freedom and democracy, are turning a blind eye to this shameful spectacle.  It is this silence or these blinkers on the auto-da-fé of the University that I cannot forgive, for example, the Boris-Felwine-Mbougar trio who took advantage of this situation of unrest to accuse and further burden the mule, the regime of President Macky Sall of all democratic crimes. They have spared Ousmane Sonko, who has refused to appear in court as any other citizen would, or who has publicly called for insurrection and sedition against the country’s republican and democratic institutions. Sacrilege!

Idrissa Seck: “Senegal is a great democratic nation which can experience violent crises at times”

Moussa Diaw of the University of Saint-Louis, for his part, justifies this odious act by the fact that « the law taught in our universities does not correspond at all to reality and is not consistent with the rule of law. So, there is a problem between theory and practice ». In other words, if judges and journalists appear to be bad, it should be understandable that the law faculties and Cesti should be burnt down, or that Senegalese embassies and consulates could suffer the same fate, because « The Senegalese diaspora is ahead of the game, especially in democratic countries, in terms of democratic practices and the rule of law ». If that’s not an apology for crime, it sure sounds like it!

« If you attack their homes, you’ll find billions stashed ». Ousmane Sonko on 8 June 2022

We already said that the wolf has entered the hold, and terrorist circles will now be able to find recruits or agents willing to strike at key targets in Senegal, certainly with greater ease. When you consider that main water and electricity plants have been sabotaged by « budding terrorists », you can bet that these gangs will not hesitate to improve their skills and join forces with the first person they meet to do more harm to Senegal, which remains a potential target for international terrorist groups with deep roots in neighbouring Mali and the sub-region. Mercenaries and other Mfdc rebels can form dormant battalions that can be activated by subversive principals.

Read the column: Ousmane Sonko Wants a Civil War and Alioune Tine Theorized It

However, beyond the fact that the Mfdc, with the help of a politician called Ousmane Sonko, has succeeded in setting up headquarters and outposts in Dakar and its suburbs, there are legitimate concerns about the unfortunate consequences of the presence of such hooligans of all kinds in major cities. There is a serious risk of a proliferation of organised crime, with bloody hold-ups, attacks and targeted assassinations. The circulation of small arms and light weapons, and even weapons of war, needs to be monitored. The Director of Public Security, Divisional Police Commissioner Ibrahima Diop, has already stated that some demonstrators have been found carrying weapons that even the defence and security forces (Fds) do not have. The national police force has called on citizens to be more vigilant and encouraged them to work closely together « to report any suspicious or unusual activity « .

The phenomenon of a resurgence of organised crime following periods of political unrest, which encourage armed people, particularly mercenaries, to enter towns, is fairly common in Africa, and the most emblematic case is that of Côte d’Ivoire. At the end of political crises, these people, who are in possession of lethal weapons, often use them to spread terror in order to find a means of subsistence and to fuel mafia-style trafficking. Senegal appears to be an ideal place for this, as Ousmane Sonko clearly enjoined his « fighters » on 8 June 2022, that « if you attack their homes, you’ll find billions stashed « .

The dreadful syndrome of Abidjan and Bouaké

Last week I was in Abidjan to take part in the Africa CEO Forum, an annual event aimed at boosting investment in Africa. The absence of the Senegalese authorities was conspicuous, fuelling a great deal of conversation. Our Ivorian friends are very concerned that Senegal will suffer the same fate as their country. For many long and painful years, Côte d’Ivoire has suffered the consequences of political unrest, which led to the introduction of mercenaries from various West African countries into the cities of Abidjan and Bouaké in particular.

Read the column: Senegal Will Win Again

A detailed report by Human Rights Watch on the resurgence of organised crime in Côte d’Ivoire after the 2011 political crisis is revealing. Hundreds of people were murdered along the main roads in Côte d’Ivoire. Daily hold-ups were systematically carried out by heavily armed thugs. Numerous cases of rape were reported, and this situation reflected a striking increase in acts of banditry on the roads and violent crime in cities and villages. Assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles blocked the roads. Burglaries and other violent hold-ups and targeted killings were reported in large numbers. The population, living in a situation of unprecedented insecurity, was forced to find its own means of defence in the neighbourhoods and in its private residences. These major investments to ensure their security weighed heavily on household spending. The Ivorian state had to try to take the bull by the horns, and the defence and security forces were given instructions that were probably not always very respectful of the rule of law. The hunt for the big bandits was very bloody before fear changed sides. Humanitarian organisations have deplored the disappearance of many people arrested for organised crime. 

President Ouattara’s government has taken the commendable step of multiplying by ten the funds earmarked for the fight against organised crime and purchasing equipment for the Fds, whose manpower has also considerably increased. Criminal laws have been tightened to curb the scourge, and magistrates have made a point of collaborating in what has become a national cause. But « since then, Côte d’Ivoire has not been the same country. Some areas are still cut-throats, and the young ‘mosquitoes’ (editor’s note: small bandits from the neighbourhoods who engage in petty theft and drug trafficking) have turned into real kingpins. They’ve been to school, » comments a disillusioned Abidjanese.

By Madiambal DIAGNE / mdiagne@lequotidien.sn 

• Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE