Merchant capital and the roots of state power in... Statues and spectacle: Senegal's petit-dictator is the West's man. Kingston, Canada - While governments in Western nations are beginning to disassociate from Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, the unacknowledged fact is that he has served them dutifully.
Wade certainly knows this, which is why he feels capable of playing his hand so confidently in his determination to stay in power and suppress opposition, which left six dead in the first week of recent demonstrations. The changes Wade has made to the constitution, enabling his personalisation of the state, were ushered in alongside a number of other changes that served to further open the country to foreign investment.
The fact that this is not discussed by opposition members leading demonstrations under the banner of the "M23 movement" is an indication of the limits of its ability to remove him from power - or to offer the kinds of changes desired by the population. The statue and Senegal’s FDI 'renaissance'
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Senegal in danger: The view from the ground. Dakar, Senegal - On February 1, mass protests swept Senegal in opposition to the perceived attempts of President Wade to engineer a constitutional coup that would allow him a third term in office.
The Wade administration has responded by cracking down against protesters across the country. Police have allegedly fired on Senegalese citizens with live ammunition. The number of dead is unknown. In Dakar, a university student and a police officer were killed, and at least ten protesters were seriously injured. In Podor, a violent protest on Saturday left two dead - a high-schooler and a 60-year-old grandmother.