Riots in Senegal: five minutes to understand why France is targeted

Since the arrest on Wednesday of Ousmane Sonko, third in the 2019 presidential election and expected to be one of the main competitors of that of 2024, Senegal has been facing one of the worst crises of its last years.

In parallel with these demonstrations, where four people lost their lives according to the authorities, French companies were also targeted.

The French schools also had to close their doors on Friday.

In this country considered an example of stability in West Africa, a former French colony, the demonstrators are mainly young people who demand more transparency.

This Monday, they have planned a day of massive and peaceful demonstration, they hope.

At the same time, Ousmane Sonko, must be presented to a judge.

The magistrate's decision to release him or to imprison him promises to be fraught with consequences.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France sounded the alarm on Friday among French expatriates, recommending on its site "to remain very vigilant, to avoid travel and to keep informed of developments in the situation".

But why are France and its symbols in the sights of the demonstrators?

What is the origin of these riots?

The country caught fire on Wednesday.

The deputy Ousmane Sonko, president of the Patriots party of Senegal for work, ethics and fraternity (PASTEF) is that day summoned by the court to answer charges of rape on an employee of a beauty salon in which he was going to have a massage.

The elected anti-system considers that this convocation is a plot led by President Macky Sall to remove him from the next presidential election.

As he went, in an impressive procession of support, to the court, he was arrested for disturbing public order.

A filmed arrest that fueled the desire for revolt of his supporters and many young Senegalese.

He is not currently charged with the alleged rapes.

The film of the arrest of Ousmane Sonko pic.twitter.com/SwBYOcxjzZ

- 𝐋𝐄𝐔𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄🇸🇳🖤 (@ Leumiine2) March 3, 2021

The three days that followed saw the country plagued by violent demonstrations between opponents of power and the police.

The UN, through its secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has called for an escalation to be avoided.

"The demonstrations must remain peaceful and the security and police forces must (...) allow these demonstrators to express their opinion and will".

The specialist Netblocks observatory has confirmed restrictions on social networks and messaging applications, affecting the sharing of photos and videos.

Thursday evening, the authorities suspended the signal of two TV channels guilty according to them of broadcasting "loop" images of violence.

Numerous looting and looting have been recorded, in particular against French companies established in Senegal.

Which French companies are concerned?

Auchan counted 14 attacks on Friday against 32 of its stores across the country.

“Several supermarkets of the French brand are now monitored and protected by police and military.

Some stores have even erected walls to face it, ”according to Adama, 24, a communications student in Saint-Louis, the country's second city and who works for a French company.

At 11 a.m. on Friday, for her safety, she was sent home.

The looting continues in #Senegal ... #demonstrators or #looters?

pic.twitter.com/gXsFOdoXxp

- 🇬🇦 Radwan CHARAFEDDINE 🇬🇦 (@charafe) March 5, 2021

“On Wednesday, malicious individuals ransacked and looted seven of our stores,” said Papa Samba Diouf, the communications manager of Auchan Senegal, in a statement.

A security guard "partially lost two fingers", he revealed on social networks.

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Auchan is not the only French company to have been attacked: Total or Eiffage have also seen their premises degraded.

French schools closed on Friday, as did Air France and Orange.

What do the protesters blame France for?

The revolted Senegalese consider that President Sall "gives too many opportunities to France".

“We have the impression of being under guardianship.

Suez has just won the production and distribution while the local offer was better according to observers ”, deplores Khadim Fall, journalist followed by 7,000 subscribers on Twitter, graduate of CESTI, the first school of journalism in French-speaking Africa, that we contacted.

Eager to promote local and national businesses, the demonstrators are also targeting France to symbolize their desire for autonomy.

It is the fruit of several years of frustration, which was brewing, which would be expressed thus violently.

“The French media present here do not reveal everything that is happening there.

French companies win all public contracts… ”, regrets Adama.

“For the demonstrators, Auchan is killing local commerce,” explains the young communications officer, followed by 5,000 subscribers on Twitter.

She also recalls that Sonko is against French establishment in the country of 15.8 million inhabitants.

For Thomas Fouquet, CNRS researcher, at the Institute of African Worlds, “to my knowledge, however, there is no study on the attribution of contracts or a feeling against the former colonist, a phenomenon observed throughout Africa ”.

"It is not that we do not like France, nationals in Senegal are also not in danger", wants to reassure Yaram, management consultant, from the capital.

But "the people do not really see the arrival of the 200 million announced by Emmanuel Macron when he came in 2018. We do not know where this money goes, for lack of transparency".

Is France the only target?

According to several observers on the spot, this looting is also the consequence of the economic crisis affecting the country due to the coronavirus epidemic.

“Inequalities have widened, the economy is shrinking and the Senegalese are frustrated,” observes Adama.

But for Yaram, management consultant in Dakar, 26, “other stores, even Senegalese brands, have been targeted.

There are also, as in other demonstrations, people who want to take advantage of it and mingle with the crowd ”.

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According to Thomas Fouquet, who lives in Dakar, the situation is ultimately “ambivalent”: there is both a strong attachment to France and a heavy colonial past.

Most of the major roadwork and infrastructure work carried out in Dakar today is carried out by the Chinese.

If Auchan, which is a virtual monopoly for supermarkets, and Total are attacked, Casino, which is also French and present, is spared.

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