African envoy Obasanjo in Senegal to defuse tension

Africa's top envoy arrived in Senegal amid fresh clashes on Tuesday, with the opposition hoping he can talk 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade out of seeking a controversial third term in weekend polls.

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo's arrival coincided with yet another day of violence in Dakar, where police fired tear gas to disperse protesters trying to gather near the presidential palace.

As the clashes played out in the seaside capital, Obasanjo said that while his main mission was observing the elections he would not discount stepping in to "prevent what is desirable and unwanted" in the west African nation.

Mr Wade's camp said Obasanjo was welcome to observe the Sunday election but made it clear there was nothing to mediate, as the European Union observer mission called for a stop to violence.

The opposition June 23 Movement (M23) called for protests all week despite a ban, warning it would not go to the polls if Wade remained a candidate.

The Nigerian statesman, who last year mediated in Ivory Coast's election crisis, is the head of a joint mission between the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

An ECOWAS statement said Mr Obasanjo's mission was "to engage all the political stakeholders in Senegal with a view to promoting dialogue and ensuring peaceful, fair and transparent elections."

President Wade's critics have recalled that he was among the African leaders who pressured Mr Obasanjo not to seek a third term in 2007 elections when he attempted to change the constitution to do so. His plan was thwarted in Parliament.

Protesters

Mr Obasanjo, who appeared not to recall Wade's urging him not to seek a third term, said that if it was true "maybe he can best advise himself."

Wade has often been on the advising end, attempting to get involved in conflicts from Darfur to Zimbabwe and between the Israelis and the Palestinians which US diplomatic cables said were a bid to secure a Nobel Peace Prize.

He urged fallen Libyan leader and former ally Muamar Gaddafi to leave office last year as well as Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo.

Despite having served two terms in office, a limit he himself introduced, Wade says later changes to the constitution allow him to serve two more mandates.

Asked what message he had for the country's leaders from the African Union, Mr Obasanjo said: "This country is a very beautiful country, and nothing should be done to destroy it."

Presidential spokesman Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye said Mr Obasanjo, also a former military ruler, would be welcomed with open arms but "as of now no mediation is expected."

"If he takes advantage to talk to someone or the other we are open to that, but we remain firm on certain principles" such as the election taking place on Sunday, he said.

Senegal's 13 opposition candidates have failed to effectively unite and create a mass protest movement to force Wade out of office but small groups gathered Tuesday for yet another march.

The protesters, chanting in Wolof, "Gorgui, na dem!" (Get out, old man), converged on Independence Square near the presidential palace, but were met by riot police firing tear gas.

Police used the same method to break up a group of stone-throwing protesters gathered a few hundred yards away around Youssou Ndour, the music legend whose candidacy was rejected by the constitutional court last month.

Voters

Election-related violence has already claimed six lives and threatened the west African country's image as a beacon of stability in the region.

"No election will take place with the participation of Abdoulaye Wade," one of M23's leaders, Dialo Diop, told journalists, without elaborating.

Few people turned out on Monday amid an ongoing ban on demonstrations.

Interior minister Ousmane Ngom said protesters could gather in alternative areas outside of the administrative district.

Wade's spokesman called for calm and said nearly 3,000 observers from 101 organisations were accredited. The AU is sending a team of 90 people and ECOWAS 150.

The European Union observer mission called for "an end to violence ... to allow Senegalese voters to exercise their right to vote peacefully on February 26."

Mr Wade has brushed off opposition concerns as "temper tantrums" and derided criticism from France and the United States, which have both urged him to retire.

-AFP-