Amnesty International Report 1996 - Senegal

More than 200 suspected supporters of an armed separatist organization, including many possible prisoners of conscience, were detained without trial in connection with political unrest in the Casamance region. Many of the detainees were reportedly tortured by government forces, who were also responsible for "disappearances" and possible extrajudicial executions. Armed separatists in Casamance also committed human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians. An 18-month cease-fire ended when renewed fighting broke out in Casamance in January between government forces and armed separatists belonging to the Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance (MFDC), Democratic Forces of Casamance Movement. The fighting continued throughout the year. Tension was further heightened in April when four French tourists went missing in Casamance; they remained unaccounted for at the end of the year. Both the government and the MFDC accused each other of being responsible for the abductions and the army launched a concerted operation to find the tourists, attacking MFDC bases in the process. In September the government created a national commission for peace in Casamance, composed of members appointed by the Prime Minister and chaired by a former minister of foreign affairs. This commission, which included no MFDC representative, went to Casamance and met the two parties to the conflict in order to renew the dialogue between them. Father Diamacoune Senghor, Secretary General of the MFDC, was placed under house arrest in Ziguinchor in April after he publicly accused the French and Senegalese Governments of having organized the tourists' abduction. Father Senghor was never brought before a judge or charged. He was released in December. Following Father Senghor's arrest, four other MFDC leaders, including Edmond Bora, and hundreds of unarmed villagers were detained by the army; many were beaten. Some were quickly released, but more than 200 others were reportedly charged with threatening state security. They included former prisoners who had been arrested in 1992 and 1993 and held without trial until their release in an amnesty in July 1993 (see Amnesty International Report 1994). In June more than 170 of the detainees were transferred to Dakar, where most remained held without trial at the end of the year. The four MFDC leaders were sent back to Ziguinchor in October and held under house arrest until their release in December. Thirteen women detained in Dakar were released in November and 34 other detainees, including minors and old people, were released in December. At least 40 others continued to be detained without trial in Ziguinchor. Most of the prisoners had no access to a lawyer. Many of those held appeared to be prisoners of conscience. They included Kéba Ndiaye, the mayor of Goudoump, who was arrested in May, after one of his employees alleged that he had collected money for the MFDC, and severely ill-treated. He was released in December. Many of those detained in Casamance were reported to have been tortured or ill-treated. Witnesses were said to have seen detainees at the civil prison in Ziguinchor who were bleeding and almost unable to walk. Reports of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners were also received from other parts of the country but, as in previous years, the authorities appeared reluctant to investigate such allegations, or took action only after prolonged delay. No steps were taken to investigate the alleged torture of Mody Sy and Ramata Guèye or the death in custody of Lamine Samb (see Amnesty International Reports 1994 and 1995). In a few cases police officers and gendarmes were arrested, but only several months after complaints had been lodged against them. None had been tried by the end of the year. In July, two gendarmes were arrested and charged with torturing Babacar Thior, a criminal suspect, at the gendarmerie in the Foire district of Dakar in 1993. Babacar Thior's body was doused with inflammable liquid that was set alight causing first- and second-degree burns. A formal complaint was lodged in 1994 but delay in carrying out the arrests was apparently due to resistance by the Ministry for the Armed Forces, which has responsibility for the gendarmerie. Also in July, five police officers were arrested for allegedly torturing Marème Ndiaye, a criminal suspect, in 1994. She was reported to have been raped and to have had inflammable liquid poured onto her genitals. The five police officers had not been brought to trial by the end of 1995. There were reports of "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions perpetrated by the army in the course of its operations against the MFDC in Casamance. Youba Badji, a suspected MFDC leader, was detained in the Niaguis area in January and reportedly tortured, then hanged and secretly buried by soldiers. In February several people were arrested by the army and "disappeared" in the same area, including Bakary Diédhiou, who may have died as a result of torture after having molten plastic dripped onto his skin. In July, six people belonging to the entourage of a traditional queen, Anna Sambou of Djiwant, "disappeared" after they were detained near Edjoungo by the security forces. Their relatives were told unofficially that the six had been executed extrajudicially at Niambalang bridge. In April and again in October, a local human rights organization reported the presence of mass graves in the Niaguis area where the victims of extrajudicial executions were apparently buried, but no official investigation took place. The MFDC also committed gross human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians because of their ethnic origin or because they were suspected of assisting government forces. The victims included Boubacar Bal and Mamadou Sy, two fishermen who were killed at Kaléane village in February, apparently because they were from northern Senegal, and a traditional leader, Elhadj Kéba Sagna, who was killed in April in the village of Boulom. His two wives were wounded. In November Amnesty International submitted information about its concerns regarding the use of torture in Senegal to the UN Committee against Torture, pursuant to Article 20 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Amnesty International published a report, Senegal: Comments by Amnesty International on the second periodic report submitted to the United Nations Committee against Torture, in which it expressed concern at the apparent reluctance of the authorities to open judicial inquiries into allegations of torture and to take adequate steps to prevent torture. The UN Committee against Torture was due to examine Senegal's compliance with the Convention against Torture in November, but was unable to do so as the government said it would not be able to send a delegation to the session.