Senegal: slow return to calm in Dakar after three days of riots
A woman collects food from an Auchan supermarket that burned down in the Almadies district of Dakar on March 6, 2021, after three days of riots following the arrest of the opponent Ousmane Sonko.
AFP - JOHN WESSELS
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In the aftermath of three days of riots and protests, the time has come to take stock of the damage in several sectors of Dakar.
The Senegalese capital still bears the traces of the demonstrations.
But it remains calm for the moment while the arrest of the political opponent Ousmane Sonko, in police custody for disturbing public order, has agitated the country for several days and the "movement for the defense of democracy" ( M2D) calls for demonstrations throughout the territory for 3 days from Monday.
Publicity
Read more
A container has been placed in front of the doors of this Auchan store in the Sacré-Coeur district.
Inside the store, there is not a single item of merchandise left.
Everything was robbed during the night by young people on the sidelines of demonstrations in support of Ousmane Sonko.
Bassirou Ba is the head of a cleaning company, provider of Auchan.
With his feet in the waste, he noticed the damage.
“
There is nothing to recover
, he laments.
They ransacked everything and they took everything.
Then they turned on the taps and let the water run.
This means that all the goods were wet, unrecoverable, turned into trash.
Everything is spoiled, we have nothing left in the reserve
”.
Demba Sow, a local resident, does not understand why supermarkets have been attacked.
“
It shames us
,” he says.
We want peace.
Ousmane Sonko, peace.
Macky Sall, peace
”.
Cyprien, a 25-year-old Senegalese man, did not go out into the streets.
If he supports the young demonstrators, he denounces the looting and waste.
"
Young people demonstrate because they are angry, because there is no work
," he said.
The president hurts the Senegalese.
We want the president to be indulgent to the people.
He must listen to the people in order to govern better
”.
Calls for calm
Accused of rape and threats,
Ousmane Sonko
was summoned on March 8 before the examining magistrate.
Numerous reactions followed the riots in the country.
The ECOWAS condemned the violence which left four dead, according to a report from the Ministry of the Interior.
The West African organization called on all parties to "
restraint and calm
".
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also expressed his concern.
In a statement, he condemned "
acts of violence and looting and any seditious inclination
".
For his part, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, said he was "
very concerned
" and called "
to avoid an escalation
".
In Senegal, the Socialist Party, a member of the presidential coalition, says it fears that the politicization of the Sonko affair is a pretext to destabilize the country.
The Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) of former President Abdoulaye Wade said he was "
opposed to any attempt to muzzle or liquidate an opponent by unconventional methods
".
He called for restraint and condemned violence from all sides.
► See also: Senegal: Sonko notified of charges of rape and death threats, very tense situation in the country
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Senegal
On the same subject
The focus of others
In Senegal, a weekend of violence and anger
Senegal: tense situation and popular indignation after three days of riots
New day of tensions in Senegal, four dead since the start of the protests