AN INCIDENT OF PRE-ELECTORAL POLITICAL VIOLENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 001292 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL/PHD AND INR/AA PARIS FOR POL - D'ELIA E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2011 TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM KDEM SG SUBJECT: AN INCIDENT OF PRE-ELECTORAL POLITICAL VIOLENCE PUTS MACKY SALL'S JOB ON THE LINE Classified By: DCM Robert P. Jackson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) On May 28, in Prime Minister Macky Sall's hometown of Fatick, the ruling Democratic Party of Senegal (PDS) youth movement mixed it up with followers of Serigne Mamoune Niasse, the partially blind marabout from nearby Kaolack who is backing ex-Prime Minister Idrissa Seck's presidential campaign. The confrontation has caused speculation that Sall might lose his job just days after being appointed Wade's campaign director. END SUMMARY. ROCKS AND ARSON -------------- ¶2. (C) Niasse's May 28 visit to Fatick, his spokesman told us, was met by salvos of rocks thrown by members of the UJTL, the PDS youth movement. Rocks are the weapon of choice in Fatick, which has several construction projects underway. The spokesperson also charged PDS thugs with starting two fires at the site where Niasse's meeting was scheduled to be held and at the home of Niasse's local representative. National TV, taking a very different tack, showed a panoply of machetes police had supposedly seized from Niasse and Seck's supporters. NO CROWD CONTROL -------------- ¶3. (U) Lack of crowd control seems to have aggravated the situation. Only four police officers were initially available. Niasse's entourage ended up calling local security forces and the national police chief in Dakar for help. The physical confrontation led to six injuries, including one serious one. Twenty-six arrests were made but none of PDS members. RP leadership said they deplored the lack of support from the Gendarmerie, which claimed the area where the incident occurred was not in its jurisdiction. Riot police had to be sent in from Kaolack -- 20 miles from Fatick -- and did not mobilize until three hours after the incident began. COMMENT -------------- ¶4. (C) This episode highlighted the real possibility of violence before or during presidential and legislative elections scheduled for February 2007. Sall is under increasingly intense pressure to pull the PDS together, and with his Prime Ministership on the line, he may be expected to take whatever measures may be needed to discipline PDS factions, and especially Seck and his allies. Civil society and religious leaders, meanwhile, are taking every opportunity to urge restraint, hoping to keep the campaign free of fraud and violence. END COMMENT. JACOBS