Senegal opposition vows to stop Wade bid

Senegal's opposition vowed Saturday to force President Abdoulaye Wade out of office as the capital reeled from violent riots that erupted after the top court said the octogenarian could run for a third term. Riot police cordoned off streets around the presidency after the opposition threatened to march on the palace after a night of what local newspapers dubbed "fire and blood" in which rioters killed one policeman. The streets in flashpoint suburbs were littered with still-smouldering debris after rioters engaged in running battles with police, overturning and torching cars, setting alight tyres and shops along the city's main arteries. In the working class suburb Colobane where a mass opposition gathering turned violent, Chinese immigrants surveyed the remnants of several of their shops torched in the riots. The violence erupted late Friday after the west African nation's Constitutional Council gave Wade, 85, the green light to run in February 26 polls, sparking anger among opponents who accuse him of fiddling with the constitution. "Wade rejoices, the country burns," read the headline of the Walfadjiri newspaper while le Quotidien declared: "Wade burns Senegal." Amid the resulting unrest, Wade told his opponents to stop throwing "temper tantrums". The June 23 Movement of opposition against Wade's candidacy, which called Friday's rally, appealed to Senegalese to march on the presidential palace in downtown Dakar. Spokesman Abdoul Aziz Diop said the M23 "calls on the Senegalese people to mobilise and march on the Presidential Palace and remove Wade who is squatting there." He reiterated his call Saturday, saying leaders of the movement "deliberated all night on the best way to organise a response" such as more protests. "If Wade's candidacy is maintained there will not be an election," he warned, adding no M23 candidate would participate in a poll whose results would be "prefabricated from the first round." Abdoulaye Wilane, a leader of the opposition Socialist Party told AFP there would be a "legal and political battle" to ensure Wade leaves power. "The fight will continue to the end." Presidential spokesman Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye said on French International radio (RFI) that Wade's camp would also challenge several opposition candidacies. "Of 12 million inhabitants there were 200, 300 even 1,000, 2,000 people protesting the Constitutional Council decision, really that is not a concern." The five-judge council unveiled a list of 14 contenders but rejected the candidacy of music icon Youssou Ndour, who warned of rising tension in the country and vowed to challenge his disqualification. Ndour, who shocked the music world when he announced this month he was quitting singing for politics, was left off the list with the council saying many signatures he provided could not be verified. A minimum of 10,000 were needed. The ruling seals months of speculation over the interpretation of the constitution on presidential mandates. When Wade was elected in 2000 for a seven-year mandate there was no term-limit in the constitution. In 2001 he revised the laws instituting the two-term limit and reducing the mandate to five years. He was re-elected on this basis in 2007. Then he again revised the text in 2008, reverting to a seven-year mandate, renewable once. Wade argues that the law does not apply retroactively and that he is thus due two seven-year terms from 2012. The Constitutional Council also approved three ex-prime ministers, Idrissa Seck, Macky Sall and Moustapha Niasse, and main opposition leader Ousmane Tanor Dieng. Amnesty International has warned the "potential for destabilisation is huge" in the run up to the polls, with France and the United States calling for calm. On Friday, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) appealed for calm and restraint in a statement expressing "serious concern for the rising tensions among political parties and citizens." Senegal has long been seen as a good example of democracy in Africa, with previous leaders Leopold Sedar Senghor and Abdou Diouf peacefully handing over power. Unlike many countries in the region, Senegal has never experienced a military coup.