Death Of Teenager Takes Senegal Protest Toll To Three

Dakar, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Feb, 2024) A 16-year-old died following clashes in southern Senegal, a hospital source and a local politician said Sunday, the third fatality in unrest after President Macky Sall postponed this month's presidential election.

Sall's decision to push back the February 25 presidential vote has plunged Senegal into one of its worst crises since independence from France in 1960.

Protests pitting youths against the security forces have turned increasingly violent in a country long seen as a haven of stability and democracy in West Africa, a region roiled by coups and unrest.

Landing Camara, who was known as Diedhiou, died Saturday evening in hospital after being wounded in the town of Ziguinchor in the Casamance region. His identity papers showed he was 16, after the hospital source said he was 19.

The southern city is a stronghold of jailed opposition figurehead Ousmane Sonko.

Youths and security forces clashed there throughout the day, the protesters setting up road blocks and throwing stones.

The teenager "took a projectile to the head and died of his injuries in intensive care", the hospital source in Ziguinchor told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"There were several seriously wounded people during the protests and one died. He was hit in the head by a bullet," said Abdou Sane, coordinator of the opposition party Pastef in Ziguinchor.

Two other youths have died following protests in the capital Dakar and northern city of Saint-Louis since Friday.

In Dakar, a 23-year-old, was shot "in the stomach with a live round", his brother who was with him told AFP.

The circumstances around the death of a 22-year-old at a university campus in Saint-Louis remain unclear.