Political Violence in Senegal

A bastion of democracy no longer?

Photo by Victor Rutka on Unsplash

A few weeks ago I was interviewing an expert in wildlife crimes for a forthcoming episode about transnational criminal networks that traffic in African Pangolins. We had been trying to coordinate our schedules so that I could drop my kids off at school in Denver and he could pick up his kids up from school in Dakar. But when it came time to do the interview, he told me school was cancelled for the day — on account of the worsening political riots.

Violent political riots? In Senegal?

This did not compute.

Senegal has a well-earned reputation as a bastion of stability in the region. It is one of the few countries in West Africa to regularly hold free and fair multi-party elections and has had several peaceful transfers of power since independence in 1960. To be sure, Senegal faces a number of serious social and development challenges. But political violence has been exceedingly rare.

Alas, that is changing.

President Macky Sall has taken an illiberal …