A student was killed during protests over delayed financial aid at Senegal’s leading university in the capital, the government said late on Monday, as weeks of unrest escalated into clashes between students and security forces.
Reuters-verified video footage showed flames and thick smoke engulfing the upper floor of a four-storey campus building, with students climbing out of windows to escape the fire. Some were seen jumping to the ground below.
The government said the circumstances surrounding the death of Abdoulaye Ba, a second-year dental surgery student at Cheikh Anta Diop University, were under investigation.
The unrest comes amid mounting pressure from Senegal’s worsening public finances. The administration that took office in April 2024 is struggling with a $13 billion budget shortfall, one of the most severe hidden debt crises identified in Africa, and growing public frustration as state payments, including student stipends, are delayed.
Protests that began on campus in early December have increasingly devolved into confrontations between stone-throwing students and riot police. “We pledge to conduct a thorough inquiry to determine any legal responsibility,” the government said in a statement.
Ba died from head injuries and severe blood loss, according to Cheikh Atab Sagna, president of the Student Association of the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry. He said Ba was not taking part in the protests but was assaulted after police entered student residences and later took him to a nearby student welfare office.
Another student leader, Serigne Saliou Fall, confirmed Ba’s injuries. Police in Dakar did not respond to requests for comment.
The government described the death as resulting from injuries sustained during “serious events” on campus but provided no further details.
Rights groups criticise police response
Human rights organisations, including the Senegalese League for Human Rights and Amnesty International Senegal, condemned what they called the “disproportionate use of force by police” in a joint statement.
The university, one of West Africa’s largest with nearly 90,000 students as of 2024, announced it would close at midday on Tuesday “until further notice”.
Student Madawass Diagne, who has been helping raise funds for students unable to afford travel home, said he had voted for President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and now felt deeply disappointed.
“We are not in favour of the same injustices we were fighting against,” he said. “It feels like a whole country has been betrayed.”
An audit released last year by the government revealed that debt and budget deficits under the previous administration were significantly larger than previously reported. Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a new financing programme have progressed slowly, as public discontent grows and Senegal’s fiscal outlook deteriorates.