In Senegal, are "thugs" out?

Status quo in Senegal after the explosion of violence that shook the country last Thursday and Friday, in the wake of the sentencing of the opponent Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison for "corruption of youth". In this context of latent tension, the presence of "thugs" – henchmen – alongside the forces of law and order raises questions.

Students and supporters of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko clash with security forces, after Sonko was sentenced to prison in Dakar, Senegal, on June 1, 2023. Are henchmen dependent on the ruling party acting on their side? © ZOHRA BENSEMRA / REUTERS

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With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac

Dozens of vehicles, including unregistered white pick-up trucks, have been parked since Sunday in front of the headquarters of the Alliance for the Republic (APR), the presidential party, in the Mermoz district. Young people leave the building before rushing into the cars. "They arrive, they will pass in front of the police to arrest people and they are armed," describes Maître Moussa Diop, now a member of the platform of the Forces Vives F24, who denounced this Monday, June 5, the recruitment of thugs by the power.

« There are people who depend on the party in power. I want to make this clear because I have images, I also have the starting point. They are used by power to do work that is not theirs. Private persons cannot be taken to ensure public order. »

Moussa Diop left the presidential coalition in 2020, and says he "did not know any thugs" before the deadly riots of March 2021. However, "this practice is far from new in Senegal's political history," says a civil society leader, "and by different parties." At each peak of tensions, these dreaded pick-ups appear.

While Minister Mame Mbaye Niang called to "face, neighborhood by neighborhood", who are these young people gathered in recent days at the headquarters of the RPA? "All the people at the headquarters of the Alliance for the Republic are activists. The Alliance for the Republic has not recruited any young people to confront anyone. Our party has always had a car fleet," said MP Abdou Mbow, the party's deputy spokesman. As for the individuals seen on pick-up trucks alongside the defense and security forces and who are not in uniform, the RPA official replies: "In all countries of the world, we see plainclothes policemen. These are questions that must be asked of the defence and security forces.

For its part, the police denounced the presence of "armed civilians" among the demonstrators.

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