III 

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’e ́tat; 

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; 

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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 setVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Dec 19, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR511.IS SR511
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ting 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; 

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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 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) reiterates the commitment of the United 

3 States to democracy and democratic governance in 

4 Senegal and the conduct of free, fair, inclusive, and 

5 peaceful elections, and calls on— 

6 (A) the Secretary of State to make clear 

7 that those who perpetrate or incite violence or 

8 otherwise undermine the democratic process 

9 and the 2024 elections in Senegal will face con10 sequences, including visa restrictions and other 

11 accountability measures; and 

12 (B) the Administrator of the United States 

13 Agency for International Development to con14 tinue to support domestic election observation, 

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1 electoral dispute resolution mechanisms, partici2 pation of women and youth in the electoral 

3 process, respect for freedom of assembly, ex4 pression, and association, government trans5 parency, conflict resolution, and civil society or6 ganizations focused on good governance, anti7 corruption, and accountability for government 

8 institutions; 

9 (2) applauds the work of Senegalese civil soci10 ety organizations dedicated to electoral reform, voter 

11 education, election observation, accountability for se12 curity force abuses, and respect for freedom of as13 sembly, expression, and association; 

14 (3) encourages all people of Senegal to exercise 

15 their right to vote and to refrain from acts of vio16 lence, voter malfeasance, inflammatory speech and 

17 disinformation, or any other actions that violate 

18 democratic norms or otherwise undermine the elec19 toral process in Senegal; 

20 (4) calls on the Government of Senegal to— 

21 (A) release all those arbitrarily arrested or 

22 detained for exercising their right to freedom of 

23 assembly or freedom of expression; 

24 (B) respect the non-partisan nature of the 

25 Autonomous National Electoral Commission 

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1 (CENA) and its efforts to ensure a transparent 

2 and accessible electoral process; 

3 (C) lift restrictions on the right to peaceful 

4 protest and commit to respect the freedom of 

5 expression, including for the press, and freedom 

6 of assembly; 

7 (D) ensure that Senegalese citizens can 

8 vote freely and safely in elections without fear 

9 of intimidation or use of excessive force by gov10 ernment security forces; and 

11 (E) refrain from using restrictions on ac12 cess to the internet or social media as a method 

13 for disrupting citizens’ ability to assemble, exer14 cise their freedom of expression, communicate 

15 freely, or obtain information; and 

16 (5) urges political parties and political leaders 

17 in Senegal to— 

18 (A) publicly commit to abide by electoral 

19 norms and reject violence; 

20 (B) refrain from any statements, inflam21 matory rhetoric, or actions that incite violence 

22 or otherwise undermine the electoral process; 

23 and 

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1 (C) commit to channel any and all electoral 

2 related disputes through appropriate legal chan3 nels. 

Æ