Unrest in Senegal as opponents tell president to cancel looming election

Abdoulaye Wade, seeking a third term after pledging to serve only two, plans to allow weekend poll to go ahead

It is one of west Africa's more stable democracies, often singled out as an example to its benighted regional rivals. But Senegal is teetering on the edge of the kind of electoral confrontation that has troubled the likes of Ivory Coast and Liberia recently.

In the worst riots in the country for decades, thousands of opposition activists have taken to the streets daily for the past month in protest at a decision by the country's constitutional council to allow the incumbent president, Abdoulaye Wade, to run for a third term in the election this weekend.

Senegal: Why anti-Wade protests and momentum might end in heartbreak

Like all other street protests in recent years, I was out there in the streets of Dakar on Friday evening for another round of the so-called citizen protest aimed at stopping Senegal’s octogenarian president, Abdoulaye Wade from running for a controversial third term.

By 6pm, thousands of protesters scattered around the ‘forbidden’ independence square, the epicenter of opposition protest in recent days. They are Senegalese citizens from all regions across this beautiful West African nation. They are united by one goal: To force their ageing president to quit.

They wore T-shirts and held placards with such clearly spelt messages as ‘Down with Wade’, ‘We are fed up’, ‘You leave in peace or be forced to leave: It’s your choice’, ‘We are sick of your lies’ and ‘Where are the jobs you promised us, Mr. President’. One cheeky placard held by a young Cafe Touba (local coffee) seller reads, ‘Coffee for all except Goorgui (Wade’s local name)’. 

Senegalese youth on the streets for change

RNW - “I never thought Senegal would get to a stage when the police would beat us and shoot at us just because we are asking the president to leave power. I never thought that some would die in a brutal way for merely exercising their democratic right to protest,” says a 24-year-old Senegalese named Lemzo. He is a former street trader responding to reports that a student had just been run over by a police truck.

Lemzo is one of the thousands of young Senegalese who are gathering at the popular Place De l’Obelisque to call on President Abdoulaye Wade not to run for a third term. Wearing a black t-shirt emblazoned with a message to Wade to not use force to his bid to stay in power, Lemzo sits on a tiny wooden box and looks on as his colleagues set car tires on fire.

Nigerian Women scared to bring up birth control

pic courtesy of onislam.net

RNW/Lovematters.info - Christian women in Nigeria talk about birth control more than Muslim women do, a new study found.

Women are often nervous of bringing up family planning with their husbands, especially in the mainly Muslim north where polygamy is quite common. God is the provider and women have no right to stop giving birth, people say.

Thirty percent of Muslim women say they’ve talked about family planning with their husband compared to 54 percent of Christian women, Love Matters heard at the International Family Planning Conference in Dakar, Senegal. The figures come from a study by the US-based Bloomberg School of Public Health working with Nigerian family planning organisation NURHI.

President Youssou Ndoure? Hell no… not 2012

Youssou Ndoure the musician is bigger than Senegal. To describe him as a mere music super star is an understatement. He is bigger than that… much bigger. He is an icon. His charm rocks the world. His influence and presence boost Africa’s image from afar. And above all, his artistic journey is the perfect riposte to anyone who doubts Africa’s contribution to the rest of the world.

The New York Times described Youssou Ndoure’s voice as an “arresting tenor, a supple weapon deployed with prophetic authority”.  Rolling Stone described him as "perhaps the most famous singer alive" in Senegal and much of Africa.

Mbalax revolution
In the 1970s, the then little known and young Youssou began a music career in his home city of Dakar. Within two decades, he rose to international fame thanks to his brand new genre: a mixture of less fancied Senegalese mbalax (mainly the param parum param sound of drums) with Cuban samba, American hip hop, jazz, rock and soul. This is Youssou’s creation! Today, millions of people from all over the world form his fan base.

Senegal: Pressure, fear and uncertainty ahead of polls

Wade insists he can run again

Until six months ago, the chance of instability, major violence (or call it civil unrest) in Senegal was as slim as the Iranian leader, Ahmedinejad finally accepting that the Holocaust did happen.

But with less than two months before the Senegalese voters head to the polls, that chance is now as big as average British Premiership club, Tottenham finishing this season without any trophy.

For once, the vulnerability of this great nation is quickly emerging.

Latest events have shown that Senegal is no longer different from any other country on the continent. Continuous peace is possible. But something else other than peace is also possible.

First, it was the wild June 27 street riots that ended with the burning and looting of houses of government ministers and other senior officials. This followed the torching of several official vehicles four days earlier by anti-government supporters over planned constitutional amendment.

Worldwide Focus on Family Planning Begins at West African Forum

DAKAR, Senegal – The second International Conference on Family Planning Tuesday opened in the capital here, aiming to draw on renewed political support and funding for family planning, as well as highlighting new contraception research.

By Sheriff Bojang Jnr - for UNFPA

Two years after the first conference in Kampala, Uganda, more than 2,000 experts, first ladies, ministers, decision-makers, donors, researchers, practitioners and advocates are gathering through Dec. 2 to share success stories and ideas and identify key accomplishments and shortcomings. They will also advocate for broad family planning access and support around the world.

The conference is organized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Senegalese government in collaboration with, among others, the UN Population Fund, UNFPA.