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BFF-08
SENEGAL-VOTE
Pro-govt supporter killed in Senegal clashes ahead of polls
DAKAR, Feb 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A pro-government campaigner was killed in eastern
Senegal on Monday, in the first fatality from a string of pre-election clashes between
supporters of President Macky Sall and the opposition.
A police official told AFP the individual was stabbed during “scuffles” between the
Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), which is led by opposition leader Issa Sall, and pro-
government campaigners.
The body was taken to a hospital in Tamboucounda, about 400 kilometres (250 miles)
east of the capital Dakar, the source said.
A police source said a motorcyclist was killed by a vehicle speeding away from the
scene of the stabbing. A journalists’ association meanwhile said eight reporters were
also injured in the violence.
President Sall told an election meeting that the stabbing victim was a member of his
governing Alliance for the Republic (APR) and called for “light to be shed (on the
killing) so that the electoral campaign does not become a pretext for violence”.
Violence has buffeted Senegal ahead of presidential elections on February 24, despite
appeals for calm from religious leaders.
Sall urged his supporters not “to succumb to provocations” and called upon political
rivals to issue similar appeals.
“This is a result of a call to violence issued by certain politicians,” the president
said of the death, adding: “They will have to answer for their actions in court.”
Five human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (RADDHO), said they wanted to “remind election
candidates and coalitions of their duty” to tell their supporters not to resort to
violence.
On Sunday at least two people were “seriously injured” in Fatick, a presidential
stronghold in Senegal’s centre-west, in clashes with supporters of rising opposition
candidate Ousmane Sonko, local media reported.
Four people, all Sonko supporters, were badly hurt on February 4 in the northern city
of Saint-Louis, Sonko’s campaign said.
Senegal, a former French colony, is seen as a beacon of democracy and relative
prosperity in West Africa.
But its election campaigns are often marred by accusations of corruption, influence-
peddling and misinformation.
BSS/AFP/AU/08:35 hrs