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Senegal’s government hit the country with two shocks on Monday.

First, they shut down mobile internet services in much of the country. Then, they announced the dissolution of a key opposition party, Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l'éthique et la fraternité (Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics, and Fraternity, or PASTEF).

These events are especially alarming in the context of increasing instability in West Africa, with multiple military coups in the region recently. Senegal has also been, in many eyes, “long considered a bastion of democracy and a regional leader in diplomacy.”

The government’s moves against the opposition party did not come out of the blue. It’s been building for some time.

On June 1, a court sentenced PASTEF leader Ousman Sonko to two years in jail for “corrupting youth.” This undermined his chances to run in next year’s presidential election, where he could have been expected to do well, given his third-place showing in 2019 and his mobilization of younger voters.

Obviously, PASTEF supporters saw the legal actions as politically motivated. Protests broke out in the capital Dakar, and violence led to at least 16 deaths, including two members of the security forces. Scores of others were wounded. Some 500 people across Senegal were arrested.

Then, last week, Sonko, who hadn’t begun serving his first sentence yet, was arrested on numerous new charges. These included fomenting insurrection, undermining state security, creating serious political unrest, and criminal association.

On Sunday, Sonko announced on social media that he had begun a hunger strike in custody and called on Senegalese citizens “to resist.”

Hundreds of people heeded that call in Dakar and in the southern city of Ziguinchor, on Monday, to protest Sonko’s arrest and detention. Senegal’s interior minister announced that two people died during protests in Ziguinchor but did not provide any details.

And that’s when the government dissolved PASTEF and restricted internet access.

PASTEF has condemned its dissolution as “anti-democratic,” and that’s a fair conclusion to draw here. Senegalese authorities should immediately reinstate the party.  

They should also restore internet services, recognizing people’s right to freedom of information and to express their views.

In the words of the prominent Senegalese human rights activist, Alioune Tine, the government of Senegal must respect its human rights obligations and “prioritize dialogue with the opposition over the use of indiscriminate repression that leads to violence and instability.”

Where is Nizomiddin Nasriddinov?

Belarus authorities extradited the Tajik political activist to Tajikistan on July 24, and no one has heard from him since.

Of course, Belarus should not have sent him there in the first place. They knew he would likely be tortured in Tajikistan. Nasriddinov is an outspoken opposition figure in Group 24, a Tajik political movement that promotes democratic reforms.

But the regime in Belarus despises talk of democratic reform as much as the regime in Tajikistan does and also tortures its critics and opponents, so they weren’t likely to be on Nasriddinov’s side.

And rather than laugh at Tajikistan putting him on an international wanted list for his public criticism of Tajikistan’s president and government, Minsk took it seriously. In a kind of authoritarian kinship, you might say.

Belarus authorities, with their typical disdain for the law, didn’t even wait for Nasriddinov’s appeal hearing on his asylum request. They just sent him to Dushanbe.

There has been no information on Nasriddinov’s whereabouts since his extradition to Tajikistan. He was transferred from one human rights black hole to another.

On Monday, in a special edition of this newsletter, we highlighted ongoing mass atrocity crimes in Darfur, Sudan, and promised updates from our researchers interviewing survivors in neighboring Chad. Yesterday, we presented a shocking account of a 16-year-old girl who barely escaped the slaughter in El Geneina, the regional capital of West Darfur.

Today, my colleagues, Belkis Wille and Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, have sent the following account from another witness to the horrors of what’s happening in Darfur at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militias:

May 14 was a strange day. The number of people killed on that day was very high. Twelve people were receiving first aid at a private clinic in El Geneina when the RSF attacked the clinic. They killed 12 people, including some of those who were already injured and medical staff.

A 30-year-old human rights monitor was among those initially injured and later killed inside that clinic. He called me and told me, “I’ve been injured. While I was helping other injured people, I was shot...” He asked me to come to assist and rescue him... 

I was nearby so went to the site. When I got close to the clinic, I saw many RSF vehicles moving around the area. 

[After the RSF left] I was the first person to enter the clinic. I found someone who was dead right in front of the gate … a medical worker.

The witness continued, highlighting how the attackers had pursued people throughout the clinic, showing complete disregard for this health facility and the medical workers and injured people they were treating:

Three dead bodies were near the main gate inside the compound, all men. One had been hit on the chest and the other on the head, with bullet wounds. Inside the compound, I found a medical assistant. He had been shot in his head.

I [also] found three injured people in one room, [including] the owner of the clinic [who was] shot in the leg. There was an old woman lying under the table. She was injured on her mouth and arm. 

There is one room with a pharmacy. When I went inside, I found dead bodies. [The assailants] had thrown medicine on them, all of them. They threw medicine on the dead bodies.

One of the clinic doctors was well known. They shot many bullets into his body and destroyed his body completely, so it was so difficult for us to carry.

The witness concluded, speaking to a broader trend of attacks on prominent members of the El Geneina community:

The doctors, the activists, and the intellectuals have been targeted. That’s why I think he’d been targeted.

My contact who had called me [the rights monitor], he was lying in the corner and was already dead. He had been shot in the back and on the shoulder.

This harrowing story is one of many we heard that points to the urgent need to act to investigate these heinous crimes and ensure safe access to medical care for all.

(compiled by Lisa Maier)

• Cambodia: Access to independent media blocked (HRW) 
• The country that bombs its own people (NY Times) 
• Brazil: Descendants of Africans who escaped slavery gain census recognition (The Guardian) 
• Gaza: People with disabilities languish after Israeli Airstrikes (HRW) 

This daily newsletter is produced by a small team in Europe, and as you probably know, it is our tradition here in this part of the world to treat summer vacations seriously. We’re thus going to go on holiday from August 7 to September 4.

Our colleagues in the US may send along an update here and there over those four weeks, but regular service won’t return till September.

I want to thank all of our readers for your continued support, and I hope you all can take a break in the coming weeks, too.

- Andrew