VZCZCXRO0874
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #1450/01 3541405
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 191405Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1601
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 001450 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS KDEM ENRG ECON SG
SUBJECT: Senegal: Imams Call for Civil Disobedience 
 
DAKAR 00001450  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: On December 6, a group of imams (Muslim religious 
leaders) led a protest in the streets of the Guediawaye suburb of 
Dakar, to demand a reduction in the cost of electricity.  They are 
threatening to refuse to pay their bills and to spread the protest 
by calling for the support of other imams across the country.  The 
imams also called on their followers to avoid using electricity. 
End Summary 
 
High Prices and Bad Service 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Senegalese National Electricity Company (Senelec) is a 
parastatal, which like the government itself is in bad financial 
shape.  Its obsolete plants and cash flow problems are the cause of 
endemic power cuts.  As part of the government's IMF-monitored 
program to return to fiscal balance, in July the government ended 
massive, long-standing subsidies to the company.  This resulted in 
electricity price increases of 17 percent on average, with large 
consumers paying up to 40 percent more.   This move led to the 
doubling of the bills of many households.  Most Senegalese use 
incandescent bulbs rather than energy efficient ones and old and 
inefficient discarded appliances (freezers and refrigerators) 
collected in Europe and sold on the local market. 
 
New Religious Leadership 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) A protest led by imams is unprecedented in Senegal, where 
they are viewed as social regulators who prevent or settle conflicts 
rather than initiate them.  The National Assembly Deputy who 
represents the Guediawaye district, Khalidou Niasse, told Embassy 
that these are new types of imams, "The two imams who led the 
protest, Imam Sarr and Imam Diop are respectively a retired police 
officer and a retired financial officer who used to work for the 
government.  They are not the traditional Sufi Imams from local 
Koranic schools who do not grasp the sophistication of modern 
society."  According to reports, the imams went to meet government 
leaders with a computer expert who had prepared simulations that 
showed huge discrepancies between the increases announced and the 
bills distributed.  The rise of this new kind leadership is the 
result of a deep transformation of the suburbs of Dakar which are no 
longer just huge slums for the urban poor.  Middle class civil 
servants have moved to these suburbs, attracted by new and more 
affordable housing development projects.  This has changed the 
sociology of these suburbs with new citizens who are more demanding 
and likely to exert pressure on government authorities. 
 
Mitigated response 
------------------ 
¶4. (SBU) President Abdoulaye Wade responded promptly by firing the 
CEO of Senelec.  The government accuses the ousted CEO of failing to 
properly communicate the price increases.  The Prime Minister's 
Office, following a meeting with protesters, issued a press release 
indicating that out of the 721,350 subscribers of Senelec, 45 
percent saw their bills decrease by three to ten percent to include 
the poorest Senegalese (without noting that the poorest of Senegal's 
population do not have access to electricity and less than one-third 
of Senegal's families have accounts with the utility.)  The Prime 
Minister's statement claims that 54 percent of customers saw their 
bills increase between two and 30 percent.  The GOS further 
indicated that in 2009 they will seek to spread the use of low 
energy bulbs through cooperation with Iran.  They also promised 
reparations to people who have lost appliances because of frequent 
power surges. 
 
Imams maintain a radical line 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The imams also met with Energy Minister Samuel Sarr.  They 
rejected the government's  measures as stalling tactics, saying that 
they still wanted the cancellation of the official 17 percent 
increase and the implementation of a scaled pricing system that 
makes the largest consumers pay higher prices for each kilowatt they 
use.  The imams also argued, given that the price of electricity was 
linked directly to the high price of oil, now that the cost of a 
barrel is significantly lower than a few months ago, the cost of 
electricity should also decrease.  The meeting with the Energy 
Minister did not bring a resolution and the situation remains 
deadlocked. 
 
Government Threatening to Take a Hard-Line 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (SBU) An advisor to the President told Embassy that the GOS will 
suspend the electricity supply of those imams who refuse to pay 
their bills.  HQadded that these imams "received financial help 
from the President as well as support for their mosques from the 
 
DAKAR 00001450  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
President's son Karim."  He indicated that 90 percent of them belong 
to the Tidjane Muslim brotherhood and the GOS will seek mediation 
from the highest authorities of this brotherhood to calm tensions. 
(Note: President Wade is a member of the Mourides brotherhood.  End 
note.)  In the interim, the leader of the hard-line Islamic group 
Ibadu Rahmane has expressed support for his protesting colleagues 
and is calling for more widespread protests. 
 
Imams Filling Political Leadership Vacuum 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: This confrontation with the government by imams is 
a result of the leadership vacuum left by weak trade unions, 
ineffective civil society participation in economic policy, and an 
enfeebled political opposition.  These imams are becoming 
representatives for poor and working class Senegalese who have lost 
faith in political and civil society leaders.  By engaging in Qd 
encouraging this civil disobedience, the imams are becoming a 
conduit of the anger of Dakar's increasingly frustrated young, and 
unemployed urban masses.  Meanwhile, the firing of the CEO of 
Senelec is widely viewed as a political stunt that will do nothing 
to solve the company's deep-rooted problems.  In the short term, 
tensions look likely to increase.  End comment. 
BERNICAT