[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 511 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 511
Reinforcing the United States-Senegal relationship and urging the
Government of Senegal to conduct free, fair, transparent, and inclusive
elections on February 25, 2024.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 18, 2023
Mr. Cardin (for himself and Mr. Risch) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Reinforcing the United States-Senegal relationship and urging the
Government of Senegal to conduct free, fair, transparent, and inclusive
elections on February 25, 2024.
Whereas Senegal has been one of the most stable democracies in Africa, having
peaceful, democratic transfers of power in 2000 and 2012, and never
suffering a military coup d'etat;
Whereas Senegal is a regional leader and advocate for democracy in West Africa,
having made important contributions to a democratic transition in The
Gambia and pressing military juntas in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and
Niger to restore democracy and yield power to civilian elected
authorities;
Whereas Senegal is one of the United States closest partners in Africa;
Whereas the United States allocated $144,000,000 in bilateral assistance to
Senegal in fiscal year 2022 focused primarily on health, agriculture,
basic education, and good governance;
Whereas Senegal completed a $540,000,000 United States Millennium Challenge
Corporation (MCC) compact in 2015 focused on increasing agricultural
productivity and is now implementing a second, five-year $550,000,000
MCC compact focused on increasing access to electricity and has pledged
$50,000,000 of its own resources toward this project;
Whereas Senegalese security forces have long benefitted from United States
security assistance and cooperation designed to increase
professionalism, support United Nations peacekeeping deployments, and
enhance Senegal's ability to conduct maritime security, counter violent
extremism, and combat narcotics trafficking;
Whereas President Macky Sall was elected to a second and final term in office in
2019 in elections that were generally regarded as free and fair, despite
the disqualification of two prominent opposition party leaders due to
prior corruption convictions;
Whereas, in July 2023, President Sall announced that he would retire in 2024,
after insinuating that he would pursue a third term, in accordance with
the Senegalese constitution which limits presidents to two terms in
office, thereby becoming the first president in Senegalese history to
respect constitutionally mandated term limits and setting in important
precedent for future presidents of Senegal;
Whereas the February 2024 election will be the first presidential election in
Senegalese history without an incumbent president on the ballot;
Whereas, according to Afrobarometer public opinion polling, the Senegalese
people prefer democracy to any alternative (84 percent), believe the
president should be limited to two terms in office (79 percent), and
reject the concept of military rule (71 percent);
Whereas, according to the same polling, the Senegalese people say their country
is either not a democracy or a democracy with major problems (53
percent, an 8 percent increase since 2021), and are not satisfied with
the way democracy is working in Senegal (51 percent);
Whereas Freedom House lowered Senegal's rating from ``Free'' to ``Partly Free''
in 2020 due to the ``politically motivated prosecutions of opposition
leaders'' and electoral law changes that ``reduced the competitiveness
of the opposition'';
Whereas Reporters Without Borders warned of an increasingly threatening press
environment in advance of the 2022 legislative elections and the
government arrested and jailed journalists under a new 2021 law for
allegedly disseminating ``fake news'' to ``discredit public
institutions'' or ``prejudice public decency'';
Whereas state security forces in Senegal responded with excessive force and took
steps to restrict freedom of assembly in 2021, 2022, and 2023 in
response to public protests;
Whereas three people were killed and as many as 200 arrested, including
opposition party leaders, during protests in advance of the 2022
legislative elections after the government disqualified several
opposition party candidates;
Whereas the Government of Senegal blocked access to several social media
networks for two days and mobile internet for four days in June 2023
seemingly in an effort to disrupt opposition party protests;
Whereas, as many as 16 people were killed and hundreds arrested following
opposition party protests in 2023; and
Whereas the Government of Senegal continues to impose restrictions on public
protests and the exercise of freedom of assembly that are inconsistent
with democratic norms: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) reiterates the commitment of the United States to
democracy and democratic governance in Senegal and the conduct
of free, fair, inclusive, and peaceful elections, and calls
on--
(A) the Secretary of State to make clear that those
who perpetrate or incite violence or otherwise
undermine the democratic process and the 2024 elections
in Senegal will face consequences, including visa
restrictions and other accountability measures; and
(B) the Administrator of the United States Agency
for International Development to continue to support
domestic election observation, electoral dispute
resolution mechanisms, participation of women and youth
in the electoral process, respect for freedom of
assembly, expression, and association, government
transparency, conflict resolution, and civil society
organizations focused on good governance, anti-
corruption, and accountability for government
institutions;
(2) applauds the work of Senegalese civil society
organizations dedicated to electoral reform, voter education,
election observation, accountability for security force abuses,
and respect for freedom of assembly, expression, and
association;
(3) encourages all people of Senegal to exercise their
right to vote and to refrain from acts of violence, voter
malfeasance, inflammatory speech and disinformation, or any
other actions that violate democratic norms or otherwise
undermine the electoral process in Senegal;
(4) calls on the Government of Senegal to--
(A) release all those arbitrarily arrested or
detained for exercising their right to freedom of
assembly or freedom of expression;
(B) respect the non-partisan nature of the
Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA) and its
efforts to ensure a transparent and accessible
electoral process;
(C) lift restrictions on the right to peaceful
protest and commit to respect the freedom of
expression, including for the press, and freedom of
assembly;
(D) ensure that Senegalese citizens can vote freely
and safely in elections without fear of intimidation or
use of excessive force by government security forces;
and
(E) refrain from using restrictions on access to
the internet or social media as a method for disrupting
citizens' ability to assemble, exercise their freedom
of expression, communicate freely, or obtain
information; and
(5) urges political parties and political leaders in
Senegal to--
(A) publicly commit to abide by electoral norms and
reject violence;
(B) refrain from any statements, inflammatory
rhetoric, or actions that incite violence or otherwise
undermine the electoral process; and
(C) commit to channel any and all electoral related
disputes through appropriate legal channels.
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