5, March 2021
Clashes in Senegal kill one after arrest of opposition leader Sonko 0
Senegalese police clashed with supporters of arrested opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Thursday, leaving one person dead in the south of the country, a police official said.
It was the first death confirmed in clashes since Sonko was arrested on Wednesday for disturbing public order as protests broke out ahead of his court appearance on a rape charge.
Sonko, leader of the opposition Pastef party and former presidential candidate, is considered a key potential challenger for President Macky Sall in elections in three years.
One person was killed in clashes on Thursday in Bignona town, in the southern Casamance region, the police official said.
“We still don’t know the cause, it is under investigation,” said the official who asked not to be identified.
Four police were also injured in the fighting.
Sonko’s arrest has triggered the worst unrest seen in Dakar in years, in a West African country known for its stability.
Dozens of students were still holed up in Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop university on Thursday, where they threw concrete blocks at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Sonko was to be transferred Thursday evening to a Dakar courthouse where his case will be heard by a judge. But his lawyers said the hearing had been postponed to Friday.
“Ousmane Sonko is now the subject of a warrant. He will be taken to the investigating magistrate tomorrow, willingly or by force,” Abdoulaye Tall, one of his attorneys, told AFP.
Senegalese regulatory authorities on Thursday also suspended the signal of two local television channels, Sen TV and Walf TV, accusing them of broadcasting “in loop” images of the unrest after Sonko’s arrest.
Popular with youth
Hundreds of people had followed his motorcade on Wednesday, sounding horns and singing before clashes erupted and Sonko was arrested before reaching the court.
Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome said Sonko had been arrested over a ban on gatherings because of the coronavirus and violating a traffic plan put in place.
“Everyone has to comply. Others have done the same. I wonder why there would be an exception,” he told RFM radio.
Sonko also denies the rape charges filed against him last month by an employee at a salon where he received massages.
A 46-year-old devout Muslim, Sonko is frequently critical of Senegal’s ruling elite and is popular with young people.
He accuses Sall of conspiring to sideline him ahead of the 2024 elections.
Violence also broke out Wednesday in other areas including in Casamance, where Sonko’s father is from and where he has a strong following.
Sonko ran against the president in the 2019 vote, but finished third in a race that delivered the incumbent a second term.
Presidents in the former French colony are limited to two consecutive terms, but Sall launched a constitutional review in 2016, raising suspicions he intends to run again.
Source: AFP
8, March 2021
Niger’s outgoing president wins coveted Mo Ibrahim prize 0
Mahamadou Issoufou, who is stepping down as president of coup-prone Niger after two terms in office, on Monday won Africa’s top prize for leadership.
He was awarded the 2020 Mo Ibrahim Prize for facing “seemingly insurmountable challenges”, ranging from deep poverty to jihadism and desertification.
Despite these enduring problems, “Issoufou has led his people on a path of progress”, said a statement by award committee chairman Festus Mogae, who is also former president of Botswana.
“Today, the number of Nigeriens living below the poverty line has fallen to 40 percent, from 48 percent a decade ago,” the statement said.
“While challenges remain, Issoufou has kept his promises to the Nigerien people and paved the way for a better future.”
Issoufou, 68, is stepping down next month after 10 years in office.
His decision to quit after two terms has enabled Niger to have the first democratic transition between elected leaders since it became independent from France more than 60 years ago.
The handover has been contrasted with that of other countries in West Africa, where presidents have overseen constitutional changes enabling them to extend their time in office — often at the cost of violent protests.
Issoufou’s preferred successor and right-hand man, Mohamed Bazoum, won last month’s runoff, although the results were contested by the opposition and violence in the capital Niamey claimed two lives.
The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is based on principles of sound government, respect for term limits and democratic elections.
It has been handed out by a foundation, set up by British-Sudanese telecoms tycoon Mo Ibrahim, since 2007.
Issoufou is the sixth recipient — the prize has not been awarded in some years because of a lack of a suitable winner.
Past winners include former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and South African apartheid fighter and former president Nelson Mandela, both of whom were also Nobel Peace laureates.
Winners receive $5 million spread over 10 years, and then a life endowment of $200,000 for the rest of their lives.
In a statement on Twitter, Issoufou thanked the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and said he considered the award an “encouragement to continue to think and act to promote democratic values and good governance, not only in Niger but also in Africa and throughout the world”.
Niger is the world’s poorest nation, according to the UN’s benchmark of human development, and is struggling with soaring population growth.
It is also fighting two jihadist insurgencies that have forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
Source: AFP