Shock on Senegalese campus after student dies during police clashes

University students have been protesting against the thorny issue of stipend arrears for several years. Economic difficulties in the heavily indebted west African country weigh particularly heavy on the young.

Those protests came to a head on Monday on the campus of Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), a prestigious west African university with a student body in the tens of thousands.

Videos posted to social media showed scenes of chaos, with security forces entering university grounds and firing tear gas into buildings while students retaliated by throwing stones.

A government spokeswoman said "serious events" had resulted in the death of second-year medical student Abdoulaye Ba, without providing further detail or mentioning the campus violence.

She added that the government would ensure an investigation.

However a medical, pharmacy and dentistry student association described Ba's death as the result of "police torture", a claim that could not be independently verified by AFP.

On Tuesday, Senegalese authorities closed UCAD's student residences and dining halls "until further notice", leaving a number of students from other cities in the lurch. Classes, meanwhile, remain in session.

AFP journalists saw dozens of students gathered in front of the university's main gate, their luggage piled on the ground.

Many said they wanted to return home but lacked the means to pay for transportation.

"I haven't eaten for days. I'm hungry and I have no money... How am I going to get home?" Modou Fall, a third-year arts student from Tambacounda in eastern Senegal, told AFP.

As of midday on Tuesday, security forces were still present around the university, with armoured vehicles deployed on certain roads.
Youth anger
The student medical association said Ba had not gone out to demonstrate and had remained in his room.

The association said law enforcement officers "tortured" him there before "releasing him with serious injuries".

The government spokeswoman called on all parties to exercise restraint and act responsibly.

A press conference was scheduled for later in the day at the prime minister's office, with the ministers of justice and interior plus the armed forces expected to attend.

The student movement at UCAD accuses the government of aiming to permanently halt scholarship arrears payments.

Several human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, expressed deep concern over Senegalese campus violence in recent months.

They called in a joint statement for "an independent and impartial investigation" and the release of detained students.

For several years now, Senegal's academic university calendar has been disrupted due to student and faculty strikes, causing overlaps between different academic years.

As a result, students can go months without receiving their stipends, which range from 20,000 to 60,000 CFA francs (between $36 and $109) per month.

In Senegal, approximately 75 percent of the population is under the age of 35.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye's election in 2024 fanned hopes of change among the country's many disadvantaged young people.

He and his prime minister Ousmane Sonko promised a break with the past that was widely popular with the young.

"What happened is deplorable. We fought for this regime and this is how they repay us", said Fall, the student from Tambacounda.