A street vendor sells dates next to a construction site in Dakar on January 13, 2025. (Photo by SEYLLOU / AFP)
Dakar: Senegal will give $15,800 to the family of each person killed during political strife between 2021 and 2024 that left about 80 dead and compensate people detained during the troubles, a minister said Saturday.
Three years of unrest from February 2021 was sparked by a dispute between then President Macky Sall and opposition leader Bassirou Diomaye Faye, now Senegal's president.
The clashes threatened the West African country's reputation for democratic stability in a region beset by military coups.
"It was decided to grant a sum of 10 million CFA francs ($15,800) to each family of a person who died" during the violence, said Maimouna Dieye, Senegal's family and solidarity minister, in a video published by the Senegalese Press Agency (APS).
Dieye said 79 people died during the clashes.
Families of victims will also get assistance for children under 18, health coverage and other social and health assistance, the minister said.
Hundreds of people were arrested during the unrest and more than 2,000 former inmates will receive a lump sum of 500,000 CFA francs($790) each.
The government announced in December that it had allocated about $8 million to compensate victims, without specifying the breakdown, criteria, total number or profile of the beneficiaries.
It also vowed to repeal a law passed during the Sall administration granting amnesty for deadly political violence.
Sall was first elected in 2012, reelected in 2019 and considered running for a third term, raising the ire of opponents who said it breached the constitution.
