The erection of a gendarmerie brigade in the village of Ngor was the cause of clashes in this traditional commune of Dakar last week, between demonstrators and the law Forces. Hordes of young people came out to oppose the construction of a gendarmerie brigade, creating tension during the Korité holidays in Ngor and the Almadies. It is only in Senegal, where a security network plan for the whole territory is led by the National Gendarmerie with all the necessary prerogatives, that populations, under the influence of manipulation and instrumentalization by irresponsible politicians, want to obstruct such a sovereign mission.
The situation that occurred in Ngor is unprecedented insofar as distrust of everything that is the State, and what our community life should be based on, has reached disproportionate propensities. It makes you wonder if the gendarmerie, in its right with all the legality of the act it is taking by building a brigade, would have lent its side, we would have seen one fine day, populations from other parts of Senegal oppose the erection of hospitals, fire stations or even administrative buildings.
First of all, the installation of a gendarmerie brigade in Ngor is part of a logic undertaken by the security services to provide support in all the districts of the major regions of the country. Thus, in recent years, the erection of brigades in Fongolimbi, Khossanto or Mako in the region of Kédougou, in Lagbar, Ndiagne and Darou Marnane in the region of Louga have been noted. This security dynamic also motivated the setting up of an Auxiliary Gendarmerie Training Center in Kébémer, the construction of a brigade in Ndande and the opening of a research section in Thiès, whereas only Dakar and Saint-Louis regions previously benefited from it. The importance of security issues in our country pushes the gendarmerie, in its security mission, to increase its presence throughout the territory and strengthen its projection capacities.
It goes without saying that a municipality like Ngor, whose population of 15,000 people in 2013 which has more than doubled a decade later, with an increase in insecurity throughout the district of Ngor-Almadies, must have its gendarmerie brigade. This, especially since the administrative unit, responsible for covering the gendarmerie services for Ngor, is housed in Ouakam (by the gendarmerie section of this other commune). Worse, they share a building.
Such a situation arises from the fact that the gendarmerie brigade which was in Ngor was installed in a private rented house, which was not functional for its missions. With the floods of the last rains, this house ended up being impracticable, forcing the gendarmerie to look elsewhere. What could be more normal for the National Gendarmerie than to be allocated land held by the State of Senegal to erect a building there in order to carry out its missions?
Which mayor can prevent the Gendarmerie of Senegal from building on land of 6387 m2, registered in the land register of Ngor-Almadies under the number 13.334 / NGA and held by the State of Senegal, a brigade of public utility? Blackmail can work when they are private, but faced with a sovereign body that takes all its actions legally, in addition to being public force, the game is very different!
The populations of Ngor, under the leadership of their mayor, opposed the installation of the gendarmerie at the level of the site concerned, the need to keep vital areas and the land reserve intended for the construction of a school. It was a very noble argument and certainly justified the ardor that young people showed in the streets to cross swords with law enforcement, despite being informed on a fallacious basis. The days that followed the clashes in Ngor lifted the veil on a project to allocate, with the anointing of the municipal team, the site in question to promoters for the construction of a commercial space. What can we think of a municipal team that puts above the safety of the populations of a municipality, the attraction of revenue to be collected on a commercial space? If the town halls, supposed to be fully-fledged entities of the state machine to best serve the populations at the base, carry out dark agendas in which masses of young people are blindly enrolled to act as cannon fodder, we must be very desperate.
Faced with the spontaneous outcry and the noisy indignation of the people of the networks, the National Gendarmerie knew how to stay straight in its boots, preventing the Republic from getting the hell out of Ngor. It has annihilated by its posture, any future will, everywhere in Senegal, to oppose security projects on fallacious and malicious bases. General Moussa Fall, High Commander of the National Gendarmerie, said, after his installation in July 2021, he wanted to « build a gendarmerie anchored in republican values ». The Republic will be grateful to all the men and women under its command, who stand firm when chaos, deception and lies have finished wanting to eat away at all the columns of our life as a national community.
By Serigne Saliou DIAGNE / saliou.diagne@lequotidien.sn
- Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH
