POLITICAL LEADERS HARASSED BY POLICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 000959

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2011
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SG
SUBJECT: POLITICAL LEADERS HARASSED BY POLICE

REF: A. DAKAR 0565


B. DAKAR 0837

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

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

1. (SBU) The police's Criminal Investigation Department
(DIC) in recent weeks has called in several opposition and
labor leaders for interrogation. Senegal being ten months
away from legislative and presidential elections, the
increasingly organized opposition has stepped up attacks
against President Wade, especially on issues of good
governance. Wade and his ruling Democratic Party of Senegal
(PDS) have reckoned that urban impoverished masses
concentrated in Dakar and its suburbs and in a few regional
cities will significantly influence the outcome of elections.
The fight to influence the opinion of these urban voters has
been fierce and the GOS has not hesitated to solicit the DIC
to intimidate opponents through lengthy interrogations and
detentions. END SUMMARY.

POLITICAL LEADERS CHALLENGE THE POLICE
--------------

2. (SBU) On April 8, Amath Dansokho, MP and leader of the
small Party of Labor and Independence (PIT),the inspiration
behind Wade's winning coalition in 2000 and the organizer of
the current opposition to Wade, announced he would not obey
an order to appear before the DIC. He argued that the DIC
had questioned him for seven hours two days earlier and he
had nothing to add regarding comments he made on an alleged
illegal transfer of CFA 440 billion (approximately USD 800
million) by Wade's regime (Ref B). Dansokho received the
support of all major opposition leaders, and civil society
members who formed a human shield at his apartment in Dakar
to prevent his arrest. The GOS cancelled the police order to
avoid confrontation, but, two days later, the prosecutor took
the case in hand and served Dansokho a court order to appear
at the court on April 18, a deadline which has been postponed
at the request of Dansokho's attorneys.

POLICE ACCUSED OF DESECRATING THE CATHEDRAL
--------------

3. (SBU) Echoing Dansokho's refusal to report to the DIC,
Jean Paul Dias, who helped Wade build the PDS until their
estrangement in the mid-1990's, invited all political leaders
to boycott orders from the DIC. Dias was immediately
summoned on April 14, but he decided to attend mass on Good
Friday rather than report to the police. Plain-clothes
officers followed him into Dakar's Cathedral, an intrusion
firmly condemned by the CAtholic Archbishop and prominent
leaders of the Christian community. They were particularly
upset that the police had entered the Cathedral on Good
Friday. The GOS denied any police presence in the church and
accused the opposition of manipulating the power of religious
symbols in an irresponsible way. Dias was allowed to go home
before being called again at the DIC. He was interrogated
for ten hours and put under administrative detention. A day
later, Diaz' son, whom Diaz has told us he placed in the
Socialist Party "in order to cover all political bets,"
called the President a "provocateur," and charged that the
DIC has become "a political police."

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

4. (C) In 2005, with the arrest of ex-Prime Minister Idrissa
Seck, Wade admitted that his government had mismanaged public
funds. Despite this admission, many Senegalese are
disappointed by the opacity of Wade's financial management.
Lack of transparency and widespread suspicion of official
corruption promise to figure prominently in the political
debate, but many close to Wade appear resistant to reform.
Any further use of the police to interrogate Wade's
opponents, especially if followed by selective prosecutions,
could further weaken already widely-in-disrepute legal and
judicial institutions, and intensify fears that the rule of
law could be jeopardized for political ends. END COMMENT.
JACOBS