Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DAKAR1292
2006-06-01 12:08:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dakar
Cable title:
AN INCIDENT OF PRE-ELECTORAL POLITICAL VIOLENCE
how-toVZCZCXRO4539 PP RUEHPA DE RUEHDK #1292 1521208 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 011208Z JUN 06 FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5277 INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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
-------
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
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