FOUR HIGH LEVEL POLITICAL ARRESTS IN SENEGAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 001205

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR DRL/PHD, DRL/IRF, AF/RSA, AF/W AND INR/AA
PARIS FOR POL - D'ELIA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINS KJUS SG
SUBJECT: FOUR HIGH LEVEL POLITICAL ARRESTS IN SENEGAL

REF: DAKAR 00837

Classified By: DCM Robert P. Jackson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

SUMMARY
--------------

1. (U) In the past two months, there have been a series of
high profile arrests of political figures. Labor leader
Ibrahima Sene (Reftel),Amath Dansokho, Secretary General of
the Labor Party (PIT),Jean Paul Dias, head of the center
right party BCG, and Pape Diouf, Mayor of the City of Bambey,
have all been arrested under differing charges and
circumstances engendering much controversy. END SUMMARY.

SENE AND DANSOKHO: DISSEMINATION OF FALSE INFORMATION
-------------- --------------

2. (U) As reported previously (Reftel),leading figures of
PIT have been under fire for some time. On March 22,
Ibrahima Sene, a member of the PIT's Central Committee, was
arrested and charged with dissemination of false information
related to a press conference in which he claimed 440 billion
CFA francs (CFAF) (USD 800 million) had been removed from
Senegal. He was released and charges dropped for lack of
evidence, but the impact of the press conference did not stop
there. On March 24, Amath Dansokho was given orders to
appear at the Division of Criminal Investigations (DIC) to
answer questions about the same press conference. He went
for six hours of questions on April 6, when a crowd of
supporters gathered outside the DIC. The next day,
investigators went to his house to ask him to return for
questioning, but he refused. Hearing that Dansokho was asked
to return to the DIC, opposition party leaders went to his
house to form a human shield. Jean Paul Dias was there and
gathered rocks to throw at any investigators who tried to
take Dansokho. He joined the coalition of opposition parties
(the CPA) while this was taking place and also made a public
statement that, henceforth, no political party convened to
the DIC would agree to go. Ex-Prime Minister Idrissa Seck
paid a visit to praise Dansokho's patriotism and sacrifice.


3. (C) Although the DIC dropped its demand that he return
for questioning, Dansokho was charged with dissemination of
false information, and his trial has been scheduled for May

19. Sene stressed to us that Wade had targeted Dansokho as
part of a strategy of intimidating opposition militants. The
view of those within Wade's governing coalition, though, is
more nuanced. Bassirou Sarr, who is close to And Jef leader
and Minister of State Landing Savane, says the arrests were
uncoordinated and haphazard, with Senior Minister of Justice
Cheikh Tidjiane Sy and Interior Minister Ousmane NGom
competing to please Wade through judicial police arrests of
Wade critics.

JEAN PAUL DIAS ARRESTED LEAVING CHURCH
--------------

4. (C) On April 14, Jean Paul Dias was arrested leaving
Dakar's Cathedral, where he was celebrating the Catholic holy
day of Good Friday. His arrest was portrayed by the media as
scandalous, given that elements of the DIC had been
surveilling him in the Cathedral ahead of time. One
newspaper labeled this an act of profanity and questioned
whether the police would have dared to enter a mosque in
order to arrest someone. Religious and political leaders
alike criticized the arrest. Over coffee, Dias told us
security forces were in the Cathedral but could not arrest
him there because he was protected by other Church-goers. In
fact, he said, they had to "chase" his car for some distance
upon his leaving the Cathedral in order to intercept and
arrest him. He was questioned for ten hours after his arrest
but was released, he says, after some Catholic members of the
Wade government brought in the priest who was saying Mass at
the Cathedral when Dias was there. On April 20, he was
charged with "threatening state security" and "disturbing
public order" as a result of the statement he made on April 7
in connection with Dansokho's case. Dias was imprisoned the
same day he was formally charged.


5. (U) Claiming to be in fear of his life, he immediately
went on a hunger strike, refusing to eat any food brought to
him in prison. He dropped his hunger strike within a few
days, after his family was permitted to bring him food. On
May 10, he was set free under provisional freedom but had to
be forced out of the prison. He initially refused to go,
wanting nothing less than complete dismissal of the charges,
but finally was persuaded to leave. Upon release, he joked
to reporters that "soon, President Wade's political prisoners
could make a football team." The charges against Dias remain
pending.


6. (C) Dias told us the GOS was set to go after him as soon

DAKAR 00001205 002 OF 002


as he joined the CPA. He believes the GOS wanted to
immobilize him because he brought to the opposition a
willingness to confront the GOS. He also said the charges
the GOS levied against him were "empty" but were used because
the GOS did not want to inflame religious sentiment.
According to Dias, Wade only ordered him released on May 10,
because Wade was shortly to receive an international prize in
Paris and wanted to avoid controversy. Dias plans to push to
have all charges against him permanently dropped.

SECK ALLY PAPE DIOUF ARRESTED FOR DESTROYING A WELL
-------------- --------------

6. (U) On May 7, Pape Diouf, Mayor of Bambey, was arrested
by gendarmes from Diourbel, for having ordered the
destruction of a well being built by the Minister of Urbanism
and a local adversary, Assane Diagne. Diouf was charged with
destruction of public property. Diouf claimed the Minister
did not have authority to proceed with the project, but the
two men are long-time political rivals. Diouf was also a
friend to ex-Prime Minister Idrissa Seck. Omar Sarr, Seck's
spokesman, described the unfolding of events as an effort by
the GOS to cover up a blunder by putting all responsibility
for the arrest on Diagne. At his trial on May 12, he and
three co-defendants were given a suspended sentence of two
years in prison, plus fined 500,000 CFAF (USD 1,000) and told
to pay two million CFAF (USD 4,000) in damages.

COMMENT
--------------

7. (U) The facts of these three cases are different.
Charges against Dansokho stem from a press conference that
had the potential to embarass the Government. Nevertheless,
given that the charges against Sene were dropped, Dansokho
would have likely faced the same outcome -- had it not been
for the human shield gathered at his house. The fact that
the DIC was forced to back down may have been an even greater
embarassment and ensured that the case would not end there.
The case against Dias also flowed from the PIT press
conference, but it raised religious questions that have not
surfaced in Senegal for many years. Dias has played up this
dimension of his arrest, referring to himself as a
"political, Catholic prisoner." Diouf is the odd man out,
arrested presumably for going too far in a rivalry that has
lasted for years. Nevertheless, this series of arrests of
high profile politicians has led to many in Senegal wondering
if this is the wave of the future. END COMMENT.


8. (U) Visit Dakar,s classified website at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/af/dakar/.
JACOBS