The Senegalese began to slowly return to their activities on Monday, under the economic shock of recent violence and in fear of a new conflagration still possible in an uncertain political context.
Many of the workers in the informal economy, the unregulated economy that supports the vast majority of Senegalese on a daily basis, have resumed their work in Dakar, calculating their losses and aware that certain factors of the unrest that killed 16 people last week remain dangerously present.
Magaye Gaye, 19, a seller of toiletries in the Sandaga market in the center of the capital, closed his stall on Wednesday, the day before the verdict against opponent Ousmane Sonko who set fire to the powder. “I have spent all my savings since to live.” On Sunday, he “saw that things had calmed down a bit and (a) decided to return to work” on Monday but is “still not reassured”.
The sentencing of Mr. Sonko to two years in prison in a sex scandal sparked the most violent clashes the country has seen in years. This verdict makes the opponent in the current state, popular among those under twenty who represent half of the population and in modest backgrounds, ineligible for the presidential election of 2024.
Young men clashed with security forces, ransacked public facilities and set fire to businesses and gas stations. The unrest caused unquantified but considerable damage, and paralyzed activities until the weekend.
Commissioner Ibrahima Diop, director of public security, assured Sunday that “the situation is under control, the situation has returned to calm”.
The streets of the capital have again gradually filled up. But many bank branches remained closed. A huge queue stretched from the first hours in front of the headquarters of a large bank to be able to debit checks or withdraw money.
It’s the beginning of the month, the time when you come to collect your salary. Most payments are made in cash. Others can normally be done via mobile platforms. But the government on Sunday suspended mobile internet after blocking access to social networks like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.
” To reassure “
“Banks have been closed since Wednesday. You can’t get your salary or your pension. The day laborers are not paid. People can’t get treatment”, for lack of liquid, indignant in the line Ady Thiam, 45-year-old revenue controller.
“With the little that people have, that’s what brings the revolt,” he said, urging President Macky Sall to dialogue.
The director of public security reported 500 arrests, “mainly armed and dangerous individuals”. After the Minister of the Interior, he described the unrest as acts of subversion committed by partly foreign elements and aimed at “establishing a climate of terror”.
Mr. Sonko’s party denounces him, a “murderous repression” and speaks of 19 dead. Images whose authenticity is difficult to establish have proliferated on social networks showing abuse by the police. Rights defenders have also strongly criticized the flood of arrests and restrictions on internet access.
After his conviction, Mr. Sonko is still presumed to be at his home in Dakar, blocked by the security forces and exposed to a possible arrest, which threatens to inflame tempers again.
Another vector of tension is the vagueness maintained by President Sall on his intention to run for a third term or not. Such a hypothesis meets with strong opposition backed by the terms of the Constitution.
At the Sandaga market, Modou Gueye, 46, a thrift store seller, notes that “customers do not come because they are afraid”. But “we live from day to day. Work eat, no work no eat. There, we have nothing in our pockets”. The concern is all the more acute as Tabaski, the local name for the Muslim Adha festival, is approaching and it is necessary to be able to buy the mutton.
Mansour Sambé, consultant economist, notes that the damage suffered is already considerable, with “billions of CFA francs lost in two days”. “The biggest danger for investors is political risk. We have forecast growth of 9 to 10% (in 2023), we are halfway there”. But with the uncertainties between now and the 2024 presidential election, “it’s the whole second half that risks being lost”.
The president must speak, “he must reassure”, he says.