In southern Casamance clashes between the army and an armed group increased during
the first half of the year; civilians were abducted and killed. Torture was regularly
used by the police and condoned by the judiciary and led to the death of at least
one detainee. Despite renewed promises by the government, the trial of former Chadian
President Hissène Habré did not begin.
The conflict between the army and the Democratic Forces of Casamance Movement (Mouvement
des forces démocratiques de Casamance, MFDC) intensified. In March, the army shelled
MFDC positions in villages around Ziguinchor (the main city of Casamance) after continuous
sporadic attacks by MFDC members against military and civilian targets. Despite the
consequent rise in tension, which further undermined the 2004 peace agreement, both
parties continued to declare officially that they were ready to engage in talks. These
had not started by the end of 2010.
In July and August, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Dakar, the capital,
to protest against recurrent power cuts.
The army briefly detained several MFDC leaders and reportedly ill-treated some of
them.
In March, two leaders of the armed branch of the MFDC, Bourama Sambou and Boubacar
Coly, were arrested in the village of Belaye. They were held for four days without
charge and reportedly ill-treated at the gendarmerie of Ziguinchor.
In May, four MFDC leaders, Mamadou Teuw Sambou, Pape Tamsir Badji, Joseph Diatta and
Ansoumana Diédhiou, were detained in Dakar after being returned from Gambia where
they had spent four years in prison. They were released two weeks later without charge.
Several civilians, including young girls, were abducted; some were reportedly sexually
abused by members of the MFDC. Soldiers were also arbitrarily killed by alleged members
of the MFDC.
In January, Didier Coly, a former army corporal, was shot dead in the village of Bourafaye
Bainouk by alleged members of the MFDC who reportedly suspected him of being an army
informer.
In September, MFDC fighters abducted four young girls in the village of Waniak. The
girls were released some days later and were reportedly sexually abused.
In July, Abdoulaye Wade Yinghou, aged 29, was arrested as he walked past a demonstration
in a Dakar suburb. Witnesses saw police beat him with rifle butts during his arrest
and at the police station. The following day, his family were told by police officers
that he had died following a seizure or illness. An autopsy revealed facial injuries
and broken ribs. An inquiry was opened but its findings had not been made public by
the end of the year.
Despite official promises, most of the officials responsible for acts of torture and
other crimes under international law continued to enjoy impunity. Torture was condoned
by the judiciary, with prosecutors refusing to open inquiries into allegations of
torture and judges sentencing people on the basis of information extracted under torture.
Impunity was facilitated by the fact that judicial proceedings against members of
the security forces could only take place with the authorization of the Minister of
the Interior (police officers) or the Ministry of Defence (gendarmes and military
personnel).
Moreover, despite a law passed in 2009 that created a National Inspector of Places
of Deprivation of Liberty, a key measure to prevent torture in detention, by the end
of 2010 nobody had been appointed to this position.
Ten years after some victims of Chad’s former President Hissène Habré lodged a complaint
against him in Senegal, no criminal proceeding had been opened by the Senegalese judiciary.
The authorities continued to claim that the only obstacle was financial and that the
international community should find a solution.
In July 2010, following a joint AU-EU mission, a round table was announced to finalize
the financial terms of Hissène Habré’s trial. The round table was held in November,
and European and African donors agreed to contribute to financing the trial. However,
despite a promise to an Amnesty International delegation in Dakar in October that
criminal proceedings would start very soon, there was no progress by the end of the
year.
Hissène Habré and his lawyers continued to challenge Senegal’s jurisdiction. In May,
the Community Court of Justice of ECOWAS declared Hissène Habré’s 2009 complaint against
Senegal admissible. The complaint claimed that the prosecution violated the prohibition
of retroactive criminal law in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, even
though the crimes alleged were all violations of international law when they were
committed. In November, the ECOWAS Court ruled that Senegal could only try Hissène
Habré if ad hoc or special jurisdictions were put in place.
