USA Africa Dialogue Series - raddho, tine, diallo, and senegal

dear all
while i was congratulating senegal on this list for having met the challenge to democratic succession by demonstrations and the national assembly vote, i failed to note the severe beatings of senegal's most noted human rights activist, alioune tine, who represents the leadership of RADDHO (which functions throughout africa).  it is with sadness that i report that he and his colleague oumar diallo were severely beaten after thugs from wade's ruling pds party attacked them during a demonstration.
tine is a brilliant professor at the universite cheikh anta diop, and above all a very courageous critique of abuses in government.
i am hoping that others on this list will recognize the name of alioune tine, and join me not only in wishing him and diallo a rapid and full recovery from the beating (they've been hospitalized), but that the prime minister ndiaye, and his boss president wade, receive the public censor they deserve. ndiaye had attacked tine publically the day before his beating. the thugs who cast themselves as the party youth should be prosecuted for this disgusting attempt to suppress the right of the senegalese people to demonstrate.
ken

ALL-AFRICA.COM  June 24, 2011
Press release

The Senegalese government should promptly investigate the violent assaults on the human rights activists Alioune Tine and Oumar Diallo during a June 23, 2011 demonstration, and prosecute those responsible, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the government to allow peaceful demonstrations and to end threats against Tine and other activists.

Tine is the secretary-general of the African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights (Rencontre africaine pour la défense des droits de l'homme, or RADDHO), a prominent Senegalese human rights organization. During a demonstration before the Senegalese National Assembly against a controversial constitutional amendment regarding presidential elections, youth from President Abdoulaye Wade's Parti Démocratique Sénégalais (PDS) identified Tine and brutally beat him and Diallo, Tine's RADDHO colleague, before other demonstrators pulled them away to safety. Both men were hospitalized.

"It's deeply disturbing that one of Senegal's leading voices on human rights would face this kind of brutality," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Senegalese authorities should not only find the attackers, but also investigate whether state authorities encouraged or ordered the attack."

On June 22, Prime Minister Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye publicly disparaged Tine in an interview that appeared on Senegalese radio and in print.

Earlier on the morning of June 23, security forces using teargas, clubs, and water cannons had dispersed demonstrators, including Tine and Gadio. Security forces should not use unnecessary or excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, Human Rights Watch said.

Prime Minister Ndiaye's public remarks about Tine the day before the attack heighten concerns of possible government involvement, Human Rights Watch said. He told the media: "Here is someone who has been in charge of an NGO [nongovernmental organization] for 20 years, yet no one knows how it operates.... He comes and goes depending on the interests he pretends to defend. Right now, he sports the opposition's colors and sometimes even our colors."

Ndiaye also referred to human rights activists more generally as "hypocrites who are afraid to assert themselves." In a June 22 article in Senegal's L'Observateur, the director general of taxes, Amadou Bâ, threatened to withdraw the tax-exempt status of nongovernmental organizations that "failed their mission," and Foreign Affairs Minister Madické Niang was reported to have considered suspending some organizations' registration or host-state agreements.

--  kenneth w. harrow distinguished professor of english michigan state university department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu