On the 5th of February, I returned to the neighbourhood where I stayed after visiting the city centre. Unrest had broken out in parts of the city, as well as other parts of Senegal, the prior night due to Macky Sall’s decision to postpone the upcoming elections, which were supposed to be on the 24th of February. In return, the government shut off the mobile data network starting from Sunday, 22:00. Around the same time, short power cuts lasting between 15 minutes to an hour started to occur throughout the day as well.

On my way back, I stopped by Limane and Landing’s store to ask how they were dealing with the recent power cuts. Limane was busy arranging a WiFi router while Landing was looking after the store. Landing invited me on the chair next to him in front of the store and said that business had been slow due to the cuts since the last night. Throughout the day, they experienced eight power cuts, although most of them were relatively short. The disruption of mobile data, which only made the internet accessible through WiFi, caused issues with money transfer apps such as Orange Money and Wave. Payment with these types of money transfer apps is a common alternative to physical currency in Senegal and other African countries. Without an internet connection, these apps become severely limited in their use. This was a big issue for Landing and his fellow shopkeepers along the street as people were limited to paying with cash. I asked him about the events of the past days and his thoughts on the topic. Landing heavily criticised the acts of the government, especially noting the opposition being escorted out of the national assembly and shutting off mobile data. 

I asked about the delay of the elections to the 25th of December and what he thought would happen between then and the new proposed date. Landing thought that if the elections were to be delayed, they would be fraudulent because he suspected that Macky Sall would create a new excuse to postpone or find a way to let a successor win. He theorised that Sall could stretch his mandate to 18 additional months in this way. Throughout our talk, nobody had walked past the shop. I asked Landing how long he would stay at the store if it had been a calm day. Landing said that he would close an hour earlier than usual to avoid any unrest that might start later during the evening, such as protests and roadblocks. He would take the bus to get closer to the city centre and then head back home on foot, avoiding the main roads.

“What [the government] did these past few days has been a criminal act. How are people going to manage without data and communication?”,

“Ce que [le gouvernement] a fait ces derniers jours est un acte criminel. Comment les gens vont faire sans données et communication?”

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