26 held in Senegal after riots

2008-12-27 18:05

Dakar - Senegalese police said on Saturday they had arrested 26 people in the southeast of the country, days after youths staged violent protests over poor living conditions that led to at least two deaths.

"Twenty six people were arrested and placed in police custody. They will appear in court no later than Monday," police spokesperson Commander Daouda Diop told AFP.

He added that they will be taken to court in Tambacounda, 460 kilometres east of Dakar, because the court in Kedougou where they are currently being held was burnt down during the riots.

A number of public buildings were torched on Tuesday, including the police station and a health and a military camp, as demonstrators protested against their living conditions and the lack of mining jobs in the mineral-rich region of Kedougou, 700 kilometres from Dakar.

According to an official toll, two people died and a further 35 were injured in the protests, during which youths also tried to release prisoners but were held back by riot police, the government said.

But Dakar-based rights group the African Assembly for the Defence of Human Rights (Raddho) said "three people died and six were seriously injured".

Diop said security forces were looking for the eight remaining missing guns that protestors took from police.

On Friday Senegal's opposition Socialist Party condemned the violence but urged the government to spread the wealth generated from the area's gold, iron and marble supplies.

The government should "take responsibility for Kedougou inhabitants' aspirations and well-being and their right to benefit from the exploitation of the region's mineral resources and gold stocks", it said in a statement.

Also on Friday, Interior Minister Cheikh Tidiane Sy and Defence Minister Becaye Diop visited the region on the border with Mali and Guinea to assess the situation, APS news agency said.

"Those who were involved (in the rioting) will answer for their actions. It was not a spontaneous act. What happened was carefully thought through," APS quoted Tidiane Sy as saying.

- AFP