Amnesty International Report 1999 - Senegal

SENEGAL

More than 160 alleged supporters of an armed separatist organization in the Casamance region, some of them arrested in previous years, remained detained without trial; most appeared to be prisoners of conscience. Trade unionists and human rights defenders, including prisoners of conscience, were arrested during the year. There were reports of torture and ill-treatment. The army was responsible for "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions in Casamance. Armed separatists in Casamance also committed human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians.

In January Father Diamacoune Senghor, Secretary General of the Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de Casamance (MFDC), Democratic Forces of Casamance Movement, made a new call for a negotiated settlement in Casamance. He asked the MFDC to stop laying anti-personnel landmines, killing civilians and destroying property. He also said for the first time that the MFDC was ready to give up its demand for Casamance's independence. Despite his call, tension continued in the region, notably after the intervention of Senegalese troops in neighbouring Guinea-Bissau (see Guinea-Bissau entry).

In May, despite claims of fraud made by the opposition parties, the general elections passed off peacefully. The ruling Parti Socialiste, Socialist Party, won a majority in the national assembly.

More than 160 suspected MFDC sympathizers remained in prison without trial throughout the year. About 90 had been arrested in 1995 and at least 60 since September 1997. Most appeared to be prisoners of conscience, arrested because they were members of the Diola community. They were charged with "threatening state security", but no evidence was produced of their individual responsibility for acts of violence (see previous Amnesty International Reports).

In July, following a strike by electricity workers, 26 trade unionists were detained, including Mademba Sock, leader of sutelec, the electricity workers' union. They were charged with sabotage, but appeared to have been detained because they opposed the privatization of the state-owned electricity company. All had been released by the end of the year, except Mademba Sock and another trade unionist who were sentenced to six months' imprisonment in December.

Human rights defenders were also targeted. In April Professor Cheikh Saad Bouh Kamara, President of the Association mauritanienne des droits de l'homme, Mauritanian Human Rights Association, was detained in Dakar as he was about to attend a meeting on human rights and expelled to Mauritania. In October Anquiling Diabone, the Casamance regional representative of the Senegalese human rights organization, Rencontre africaine pour la défense des droits de l'homme, African Conference for the Defence of Human Rights, was arrested at a military checkpoint 40 kilometres from Ziguinchor, the main city in Casamance. He was held for four hours and severely beaten by soldiers.

Many Casamance civilians arrested by the security forces were reportedly tortured or ill-treated while held incommunicado for up to 10 days before being presented before an examining judge. A number of them were allegedly burned with petrol-filled plastic bottles set alight. None of these allegations were investigated.

Despite official promises, no steps were taken to end the impunity enjoyed by members of the security forces. None of the nine police officers and gendarmes charged in 1995 and 1996 with acts of torture had been tried by the end of the year (see Amnesty International Report 1998). Following protests by a human rights organization, an inquiry was opened into the beating to death of Moussa Ndom by police officers in February in Dakar.

In May security forces fired live ammunition to break up a student demonstration in Saint-Louis, Senegal's second city. Nine students and one policeman were hurt in these clashes. The university was subsequently closed.

The army was responsible for "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions in Casamance. In April Djoumondong Bassène, Louis Bassène, Babao Manga and Lamine Tendeng were detained in Djiromaïte. They were reportedly asked to dig their own graves and then shot. Adrien Sambou "disappeared" after being arrested by soldiers in Kabrousse in July. In November soldiers broke into Djifangor Banjal, a neighbourhood near Ziguinchor, and killed some 30 civilians in a door-to-door search for MFDC rebels. The fate of those who "disappeared" in previous years remained unknown (see previous Amnesty International Reports).

The MFDC was also responsible for human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians, some of whom were targeted because of their ethnic origin. In February suspected MFDC members killed seven fishermen in Saloulou. The same month, six people suspected of supporting the Senegalese authorities were killed in Singuere.

In February Amnesty International published a report, Senegal: Terror in Casamance, in which it called for the immediate and unconditional release of anyone detained in the context of the conflict in Casamance where there was no evidence of their direct participation in a recognizably criminal offence. The report also denounced human rights abuses committed by both sides against civilians. President Abdou Diouf dismissed the report as a "web of untruths and lies". In April the Senegalese authorities published a white paper about the Casamance crisis, but this failed to answer Amnesty International's questions, notably concerning extrajudicial executions and "disappearances".