By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

DAKAR, Senegal – Two days before the election to determine the next president, there is no sign of an end to the acrimony that has dominated Senegal since January.  Despite appeals from the international community, President Abdoulaye Wade remains in the race.

The situation is unusual for this West African country, which has had free elections since the late 19th Century and has never been upended by a military coup.  Protests have occurred in downtown Dakar, the seaside capital, on a daily basis, leading local businesses to cut their hours of operation in half and send employees home to avoid the chaos.  At least six people have died in rallies against the 85-year-old (officially; he is rumored to be even older) Wade’s candidacy.  After his election to a seven-year term in 2000, the constitution was amended to limit the president to two five-year terms.  It was re-amended to two seven-year terms after his re-election in 2007, which he believes allows him to run again.

Opponents have another story.  Earlier this week, dissenters rallied along Avenue William Ponty, close to Independence Square, singing and chanting: “He should go! He must go! He has to go!” in reference to Wade.  The interior ministry banned events held in Independence Square itself.  Even his former ministers had become disenchanted.

“The Constitution has been violated!” declared Idrissa Seck, one of six former prime ministers to have served under Wade and one of three to be running against him.  “We must prevent the coup d’état that is unfolding.”

Wade’s election campaign continues in spite of the vitriol.  Amadou Sall said that the president was willing to talk to opposition leaders about their concerns.  As far as he was concerned, Wade’s candidacy was legal.

“President Wade is a candidate of a group of parties who support him and we have the majority of the Senegalese people with us, and the constitutional court said the candidacy of Wade is good.  So, he is a legal candidate,” said Sall. “Now, you have the minority in the opposition who contest and who protest and the make demonstrations in just two areas in Dakar and fighting with policemen.  These guys are losers.”

Since Tuesday, former Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo has been in Dakar as head of a joint African Union-Economic Community of West African States observer mission.  He has met with both Wade and opposition leaders about the situation, vowing to do more than observe if things do not improve.  After his meeting with Wade, the ruling party said that it would not postpone the election or withdraw its leader from the poll.

Hopes for success within the mission were running high when Obasanjo arrived in Dakar Tuesday.  But the reality may be much more harsh.  To Arame Tall, a researcher at John Hopkins University-Sais, breaking through the gridlock may not be possible.

“It is a stalemate. On one hand, Wade is obstinate and is at least 90-years-old, meaning that if he wins we would have a president that would finish his term at 97-years-old,” Tall told Al Jazeera.  “On the other hand, we have a highly divided opposition, animated by personal ambition – and they are also guilty of trapping the public because they simply refuse to unite and create a strong front to confront the old man.  The public has no choice, because they are faced with an old man they do not want and a fragmented opposition with no leadership.”

For more information, please see:

AllAfrica — Nigeria: Obasanjo Meets with Senegal Government — 24 February 2012

AllAfrica — Senegal: Wade Ignores Obasanjo Call to Pull Out of Poll –23 February 2012

Al Jazeera — Tensions Build in Run-Up to Senegal Vote — 23 February 2012

New York Times — An Atypical Unrest Troubles Senegal’s Election Season — 23 February 2012

Voice of America — Senegal Ends Campaigning Ahead of Sunday’s Vote — 23 February 2012

BBC — Senegal: Former Nigerian Leader Obasanjo in Peace Bid — 22 February 2012

By Tamara Alfred
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

British Prime Minister David Cameron urged the international community Thursday to help Somalia’s government tackle piracy, militants and hunger, or face terror threats from the troubled African nation.

World leaders from 40 countries, including Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, attended the conference on Thursday in London focusing on stabilizing and rebuilding Somalia after decades of war.  The conference sought to address terror and conflict in Somalia and find ways to resolve other critical problems, including famine and weak leadership.

“These problems in Somalia don’t just affect Somalia,” Prime Minister Cameron said.  “They affect us all.”

In a country where there is no hope,” Cameron continued, “chaos, violence and terrorism thrive.  Pirates are disrupting vital trade routes and kidnapping tourists.  Young minds are being poisoned by radicalism, breeding terrorism that is threatening the security of the whole world.”

The militant Islamist Somali rebel group Al-Shabaab emerged in about 2004 and has been fighting the government since.  Children as young as 10 years old are increasingly facing horrific abuse as the group forcibly recruits them to replenish its diminishing ranks of fighters.  According to Human Rights Watch, patterns have also emerged of children serving as human shields on the battlefields.

Al-Shabaab is also implementing strict Sharia law in the nation.  Women have been stoned to death for adultery; amputations and beheadings are common.  In some areas, listening to the radio has been banned, as have non-Arabic signs.  Al-Shabaab is also responsible for the assassination of several journalists.

In addition to the violence, the Somali people have endured bouts of natural disasters, including famine, drought and floods.  The U.S. government said 30,000 children had died in Somalia due to famine alone in the summer of 2011.

The prime minister stressed that the world cannot afford to look the other way anymore:  “If the rest of us just sit back and look on, we will pay a price for doing so.  For two decades, politicians in the West have too often dismissed the problems in Somalia as simply too difficult and too remote to deal with.”

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said Al-Shabaab’s recent announcement that it had joined al Qaeda should serve as a wake-up call.  “Clearly, a new and more dangerous theater for terrorist action has emerged in Somalia,” he said, “and this calls for focused and concerted international effort.”

Kenya is host to the world’s largest refugee camp, Dadaab.  The camp is currently over capacity with desperate Somalis who have fled their homeland.  The UN estimates that over 360,000 refugees reside in Dadaab.

Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said that he even welcomed airstrikes to rid his of country of Al-Shabaab terrorists, though this was not on the conference agenda.  “We have to face this menace, and al-Qaeda in Somalia is not a Somali problem – it is a global problem that must be addressed globally,” he said.

However, Secretary of State Clinton said that the U.S. sees no reason for military strikes.  She announced $64 million in humanitarian aid to the Horn of Africa countries and said the focus should be on political progress.  Clinton said the U.S. will continue to work with Somali officials to create jobs, provide health and education services, and conflict resolution.

Cameron announced agreements on key areas including a new task force on piracy ransoms and the willingness of Tanzania, Mauritius, and the Seychelles to take on judicial responsibilities to convict pirates.  There was recognition, however, that it would take time to bring change to a country that has come to epitomize a failed state.

“We are realistic – Somalia’s problems cannot be solved in a day, said British Foreign Minister William Hague, “but its people deserve a better future, and our own security requires their country to become more stable.”

Hague also applauded the UN Security Council’s decision on Wednesday to increase the African Union force in Somalia to 17,700 troops, almost 6,000 more than the current number.  Neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia have both sent troops directly, while Uganda, Djibouti, and Burundi are contributing peacekeepers.  The United States has used drones to target militants in Somalia.

Cameron commended the conference on their movement.  “Today’s conference has put new momentum into the political process,” he said.  “We’ve backed the Somalis’ decision to end the mandate of the transitional federal institutions in August.  This timetable will be stuck to.  There will be no further extensions.  We will hold the Somalis to this.  We’ll act against those who stand in the way of the peace process and we’ve also agreed the formation of a new government must be as inclusive as possible.”

Meanwhile, Hague dismissed criticism of the conference by some critics who said it lacked enough Somalia input.

“It’s not Western, it’s global,” Hague told CNN.  “Part of our objective here is to build up the local governments, the regional governments, the institutions that have been able to take root…which is why they are all here.  It’s not top down at all.”

And yet, at least three demonstrations protested outside the conference.  “The conference is about 40 countries coming together discussing the Somali issue, [but] what we feel is that Somalia not part of it,” said Cabdi Aakhiro of Voice 4 Somalia.  “They are discussing their interests, not the Somali interests.”

BBC Somalia analyst Mary Harper also seemed to think that while Cameron was saying that the conference was “not about telling Somalis what to do,” the policies do not seem to be leaving Somalia to the Somalis.

Amnesty International also said the conference failed to adequately address the “dire human rights situation” in Somalia.

“The recent surge in military operations increases civilians’ vulnerability to attacks and displacement, and brings more arms into a country already awash with weapons,” said Benedicte Goderiaux, Amnesty International’s Somalia researcher.  “Direct attacks against civilians, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, these are crimes under international law, these are war crimes.  This is a lethal mix that could fuel further human rights abuses.  At this conference, we hoped to see more efforts to improve the safety of the Somali population.”

One Somali man expressed unease that the conference gave a lot of attention to ending impunity for pirates.  “What about ending impunity for the war-lords who have killed so many of our children?” said the man.  “What about the African Union peacekeepers who shelled residential areas in Mogadishu?  What about Al-Shabaab and even our transitional government soldiers?”

The next international meeting on Somalia is scheduled for June in Istanbul, Turkey.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Will the world help or hinder Somalia? – 23 February 2012

CNN – Cameron warns world security rests on Somalia’s future – 23 February 2012

CNN – Years of chaos take toll in Somalia – 23 February 2012

Voice of America – Somalia Conference Stirs Range of Sentiments – 23 February 2012