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The spokesman for the UN’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on authorities to respect the rights of Senegalese to demonstrate peacefully. The United States and France recently urged Senegal to hold the elections as soon as possible.
Senegalese authorities suspended mobile internet and banned a march against the delayed presidential elections, which were due to be held this month. President Macky Sall’s abrupt decision on February 3 to postpone the elections until later this year has sparked ongoing protests across the country, with three people reported killed.
The Aar Sunu Election (“Let’s protect our election”) collective, which includes some 40 civil, religious, and professional groups, called for a peaceful rally in the capital Dakar recently. Authorities then banned the march citing logistical concerns. Organizers of the rally have now postponed it until Saturday.
The United Nations and human rights organizations have voiced their concern about the situation in Senegal. The spokesman for the UN’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on authorities to respect the rights of Senegalese to demonstrate peacefully. The United States and France recently urged Senegal to hold the elections as soon as possible.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to the president of Senegal to reiterate the concern about the situation there and to make clear that the US wanted to see elections continue as they were scheduled.
