Leading Senegal opposition figure charged with murder
Barthelemy Dias, a leading member of Senegal's socialist opposition involved in clashes last week in which a man was killed, was detained and charged with murder Wednesday, his lawyers told AFP.
Dias, who supporters say, was defending himself from an attack by backers of President Abdoulaye Wade, was also charged with assault and illegal possession of a firearm over the incident in Dakar on December 22.
Dias' bodyguard has also been detained and charged with complicity in the killing, said Boussa Bocar Thiam, one of the two men's lawyers.
The socialist party said the clashes happened after five vehicles packed with supporters of Wade converged on a local council building in Dakar.
Earlier Wednesday, police were also holding two people suspected of having organised the attack on the building, one police source told AFP. But it was not clear if they too had been charged.
One person died and three people were wounded in the clashes, said police.
But the socialist party has filed a complaint alleging that the attack was an attempt on Dias' life. Dias himself has told journalists that he fired in self-defence.
According to the police account of the violence, two rival groups confronted each other outside the town hall and the situation ended in shots being fired.
Dias is a senior figure in the country's opposition socialist party: as well as his position as mayor, he also heads up the party's youth wing.
Last week's clashes came against a background of growing tension between supporters of Wade and the opposition over the president's announcement that he will run for a third term in the presidential election in February.
Wade, first elected president in 2000, wants to run again despite strong domestic opposition and concerns from some Western countries that his candidacy could threaten the country's stability.
Wade's first term lasted seven years, and he was reelected in 2007 for five years after a constitutional reform shortened presidential terms.
The seven-year stint was reintroduced in another constitutional amendment in 2008, prompting the opposition to argue that Wade's fresh bid was illegal and that he had exhausted the two-term limit.
Opponents also claim that Wade is at least five years older than his stated age of 85. His birthday is officially recorded as May 29, 1926.
Earlier Wednesday, presidential spokesman and minister Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye appealed for calm in the run-up to the election, telling reporters that the recent violence should give Senegalese pause for thought.
But last week, Senegalese media printed a letter from four members of the US Congress to Wade asking him not to seek reelection because of the risk of more unrest.
According to Voice of America, which first got hold of the letter, they included Chris Coons a member of the Senate foreign relations committee and chairman of its African affairs sub-committee.
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