Senegal protesters demand Wade renounce third term bid

DAKAR (AFP) - Thousands of protesters gathered in a Dakar square late Tuesday to demand that octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade scrap plans to seek a third term in office that have already led to deadly riots.

Iconic singer Youssou Ndour, whose presidential hopes were dashed when the country's constitutional council rejected his candidacy, was among the swelling crowd of agitated protesters after earlier urging a peaceful protest.

Tensions were high as about 50 youths lobbed rocks at riot police, who remained calm in the face of the angry crowd brandishing banners reading "Wade, Get Lost!"

There was no podium or music, just a show of force by an opposition determined that the 85-year-old leader will not take part in elections.

"This is not a party, it's combat," one protester said.

The west African nation's opposition, united under the June 23 Movement (M23), has denounced a decision last Friday by the country's top judges allowing Wade to seek a third term in office as a "constitutional coup".

While they are rivals in the February presidential race, candidates are united in calling for popular resistance to Wade's participation.

One of Africa's most stable nations, Senegal has been rocked by riots in the wake of the court ruling, prompting international calls for calm.

Amnesty International urged authorities "to refrain from using live bullets against peaceful protesters" after two people were shot dead and several others suffered gunshot wounds during a protest Monday in the northern city of Podor.

Salvatore Sagues, the global rights body's west Africa researcher, said Monday's bloodshed was a "dramatic escalation" of violence in the country normally seen as a beacon of democracy among often troubled neighbours.

On Friday night after the court gave Wade the green light to run in the election, a policeman was killed during running battles with youths who torched cars and shops, erected barricades and burned tyres.

The European Union condemned the violence and called on "all parties to show restraint and opt for dialogue in the interest of peaceful, free and fair elections, which need to reflect the will of the Senegalese people."

Washington meanwhile urged Wade, who has been in office since 2000, to allow power to pass "to the next generation."

"While we respect the process ... our message to him remains the same: that the statesmanly-like thing to do would be to cede to the next generation," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told journalists.

But El Hadj Amadou Salla, minister of state and a senior Wade campaign official, said it was "too late" and that the president's candidacy has already been validated.

The opposition argues that the constitution allows a president to serve only two consecutive terms.

However term lengths were amended in 2008 and Wade says the law does not apply retroactively, which theoretically allows him to serve two seven-year terms from 2012.

"I ask the majority to go out and protest, peacefully, to put an end to this coup d'etat," the Grammy-winning Ndour said of the council's decision.

He said the judges, who ruled that thousands of signatures handed in by Ndour were invalid, "are afraid of me." He added: "I hold the majority in Senegal. I am the recourse."

Aside from Wade, the council approved 13 other candidates to run in the election including three former prime ministers and main opposition leader Ousmane Tanor Dieng.

Wade said in an interview with a local news website last Thursday that he needs three more years to complete his projects, fueling speculation that he wants to line up a successor.

He has long been accused of trying to position his 44-year-old son Karim Wade -- already a super-minister in his cabinet -- to fill his shoes.

When Wade was voted into office in 2000 after 25 years in opposition and the defeated incumbent bowed out gracefully, Senegal was hailed as a model for the strife-torn continent.

But a US diplomatic dispatch published by WikiLeaks in 2010 warned that Senegal was "a weakening democracy," saying Wade was looking to "open a path to a dynastic presidential succession."