[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 208 (Monday, December 18, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S6023]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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     SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. Risch) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 511

       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;


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  On page S6023, December 18, 2023, in the first column, the 
following appears: Whereas Senegal is as 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;
  
  The online Record has been corrected to read: 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;


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 


       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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