How an EU-funded safety pressure helped Senegal crush anti-democracy protests | Analysis

International Courant

Dakar, Senegal/Madrid, Spain – The Senegalese authorities has deployed, established, outfitted and educated a particular counter-terrorism unit with European Union funding to violently suppress the current pro-democracy protests, a joint investigation by Al Jazeera and the porCausa Basis.

Since 2021, the trial of standard and controversial opposition chief Ousmane Sonko has sparked demonstrations throughout the West African nation, leaving dozens useless. Al Jazeera and porCausa obtained visible proof, Spanish authorities contracts, a confidential evaluation report and testimony from a number of sources exhibiting that the EU-funded Fast Motion Surveillance and Intervention Group, also referred to as GAR-SI, was used to violently suppress these protests to beat.

In a single video, safety personnel in the identical kind of armored autos bought by the EU for GAR-SI Senegal are seen firing tear gasoline at a protest caravan organized by Sonko final Might. Al Jazeera confirmed that the incident passed off within the southern Senegalese village of Mampatim, about 50 km from Kolda, within the Casamance area.

The EU-funded elite models have been deliberate to be based mostly in Senegal’s border areas with Mali to battle cross-border crime.

A supporter of Senegalese opposition chief Ousmane Sonko reacts throughout a protest to demand the discharge of alleged political prisoners in Dakar, Senegal, March 14, 2023 (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

Elite unit

GAR-SI Sahel was a regional venture that ran from 2016 to 2023 and was funded with 75 million euros ($81.3 million) from the EU Emergency Belief Fund for Africa (EUTF for Africa), a pot of growth financing supposed to sort out the foundation causes of sort out migration in Africa.

This system was applied by the Worldwide and Ibero-American Basis for Governance and Public Coverage (FIIAPP), a growth company of the Spanish Ministry of Overseas Affairs. GAR-SI models have been established throughout the area, in international locations resembling Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal, “as a precondition for his or her sustainable socio-economic growth”.

The 300-man Senegalese unit, created in 2017, value greater than 7 million euros ($7.6 million on the present change fee) and aimed to create a particular intervention unit within the city of Kidira, on the border with Mali, to to guard Senegal. towards attainable incursions by armed teams and cross-border crimes, together with migrant smuggling.

Modeled after Spanish models that fought towards the separatist motion Basque Homeland and Liberty, additionally recognized by its Spanish initials ETA, GAR-SI Senegal has obtained technical coaching and steering from the Spanish Civil Guard in addition to French, Italian and Portuguese safety forces.

Following the completion of the venture, the EU Delegation in Senegal, on the request of all stakeholders, proceeded with a second section utilizing a distinct financing mechanism, stated a Spanish and a Senegalese police supply acquainted with the matter. About 4.5 million euros ($4.9 million) was earmarked for a second 250-strong GAR-SI Senegal unit close to the city of Saraya, near the borders with Guinea and Mali.

A second unit was additionally arrange in Mali, however for different international locations, particularly Chad, the venture was thought of a “failure”, in line with the previous Senegalese police official, who stated the EU was dropping cash by paying for tools that was not appropriate to be used.

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Two blind males from the gendarmerie picked up the convoy of the President Ousmane SONKO and the grenades with the intention of arresting the convoy for the escort.#caravanedelaliberté pic.twitter.com/2QKlkUJjIh

— sister Bakhdad2⃣.0⃣ (@BakhdadO) Might 27, 2023

‘A severe accusation’

An evaluation of the autos captured within the Mampatim video reveals that they match the URO SUV Vamtac ST5, a Spanish mannequin made by Galicia-based heavy-duty producer Urovesa. The identical automobile mannequin was delivered within the presence of the EU Ambassador to Senegal in April 2019 as a part of an help bundle to boost GAR-SI Senegal’s capabilities to fight cross-border crime. The unit additionally obtained drones, sixteen 4×4 Toyota pick-ups, an ambulance, twelve bikes and 4 vehicles, however it’s unclear whether or not these have been additionally used through the protests.

Inner FIIAPP contracts seen by Al Jazeera and porCausa additionally point out Vamtac armored autos donated to the Senegalese Gendarmerie as a part of the GAR-SI venture in 2022.

The sources, initially offered to the crime unit, have been de facto built-in into the territorial instructions and utilized by the Senegalese safety forces, in line with a Spanish police supply working in Senegal.

A former senior Senegalese police officer additionally confirmed the deployment of the GAR-SI unit throughout pro-democracy protests in Senegal. When the proof was proven, human rights teams have been alarmed.

“These models seem for use to suppress human rights moderately than combating terrorism or securing the border,” stated Ousmane Diallo, researcher at Amnesty Worldwide’s West and Central Africa bureau. “It’s a severe accusation because the Senegalese gendarmerie has been concerned in suppressing human rights and the fitting to protest since 2021.”

Irene Mingasson, Ambassador for the EU in Senegal, with Sidiki Kaba, Senegalese Minister of Armed Forces, at a GAR-SI barracks in Kidira, Senegal in October 2019 (courtesy: EU in Senegal/X)

‘There is no such thing as a proof’

Al Jazeera and porCausa have obtained the 67-page ultimate analysis report of the 2022 GAR-SI venture, which makes clear in a number of components that GAR-SI features otherwise in Senegal than in different international locations the place the unit is current.

The report states that the unit is typically deployed on joint missions along with different police models, such because the Surveillance and Intervention Squadron, or ESI in its French initials, of the Senegalese Gendarmerie, to hold out a collection of missions for “ inside safety”. .

The confidential doc emphasizes that the venture lacks human rights ensures and that there is no such thing as a hint of any written technique growth or communication throughout the police hierarchy, with instructions for operations outdoors the border areas being given informally and verbally.

Al Jazeera and porCausa contacted Senegalese Ministry of the Inside and Public Safety however didn’t obtain a response earlier than publication. In its response, the European Fee stated it had no details about the models deployed by the Senegalese authorities within the demonstrations.

“The EU has persistently referred to as on the Senegalese authorities to analyze any disproportionate use of pressure towards peaceable demonstrations and expects applicable follow-up,” the report stated. The EU spokesperson additionally stated that GAR-SI’s framework was “very particular and clearly outlined by way of scope and interventions”, including that tools or funding for it “ought to be utilized in cross-border areas to battle organized crime and to extend safety of the inhabitants. locals”.

Spain’s overseas and inside ministries denied the elite unit’s involvement within the protests in a joint assertion. “The Ministry of the Inside and the Guardia Civil affirm that there is no such thing as a proof of the use by the Senegalese authorities of models shaped below the GAR-SI venture within the above-mentioned actions.”

The assertion added that the GAR-SI has not offered safety coaching “within the context of large public demonstrations or protests” and that the venture settlement prohibits Senegal “from making any use of supplies and tools in a way that deviates from the target of the (GAR-SI) venture”.

Gendarmes deployed to calm protests after opposition chief Ousmane Sonko was arrested, in Dakar, Senegal, July 31, 2023 (Ngouda Dione/Reuters)

A supply of controversy

With a number of lawsuits pending towards Sonko, together with allegations of corruption of a minor and defamation, the politician mobilized his supporters, who alleged that the lawsuits are a plot by incumbent Macky Sall to crush the opposition within the run-up to the presidential elections.

This led to riots and authorities crackdowns in March 2021 and in Might and June 2023. Protests returned in February 2024 when Sall introduced he would postpone the elections, which have been because of happen on February 25. The courts declared the transfer unconstitutional. , leaving the nation unsure about when the elections will happen.

Based on an Amnesty Worldwide estimate, not less than 60 individuals have been killed for the reason that first protests in 2021 on account of stay ammunition fired by Senegalese safety forces or by agitators, referred to as “nervis” in Senegal, who have been paid by the federal government to return to protests. Thus far, nobody has been prosecuted.

Amid ongoing social unrest, irregular migration additionally continued. As of August 2023, one in three irregular arrivals to Spain’s Canary Islands was Senegalese.

Diallo, the researcher at Amnesty Worldwide, stated all companions of EU-funded tasks have a accountability to make sure that the packages they fund don’t contribute to human rights violations, resembling lethal repression of peaceable protests.

But when the European authorities have been conscious of rights violations in Senegal, they didn’t present it. In late 2023, Spanish Inside Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska visited Senegal to strengthen cooperation towards irregular migration, whereas the EU and Senegal signed their newest settlement on growth help that will assist Senegalese authorities intercept departures from the nation.

This occurred regardless of the venture changing into a supply of controversy in Europe.

Final yr, an analysis report commissioned by the European Fee revealed main mismanagement by the top of the group implementing the GAR-SI Sahel regional venture: Francisco Espinosa Navas, the Spanish vigilante normal.

The report recognized unjustified expenditure totaling not less than 12 million euros ($13 million) and errors within the alternative of protecting tools, resulting in additional expenditure. The report additionally famous that neither FIIAPP nor the European Fee raised these irregularities with the European Anti-Fraud Workplace (OLAF).

The fraud case was a part of a wider scandal in Spain that uncovered a widespread corruption scheme often called the ‘Mediador’ case, allegedly involving Normal Espinosa Navas in extortion, preferential remedy in public procurement and different unlawful actions.

The corruption system is alleged to have given preferential remedy to businessmen and entrepreneurs in change for successful authorities contracts and to have extorted them for favorable inspections and entry to European help funds. The interior analysis report states that an excessive amount of tools has been bought in Senegal.

“The design and implementation of this venture didn’t goal individuals, however suppliers and corporations to learn from it,” an exterior advisor acquainted with the venture informed Al Jazeera and porCausa anonymously.

This story is a joint investigation by Al Jazeera and PorCausa Basis.

How an EU-funded safety pressure helped Senegal crush anti-democracy protests | Analysis

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