By Portia Crowe
DAKAR, Feb 24 – Amadou Bilo Diallo was hiding in his student dormitory with five roommates and a handful of friends when Senegalese police stormed in and began beating them with batons and shields.
The 23-year-old journalism student said he was lucky to walk away with wounds to his head and feet. Others say they were hospitalised after being beaten or jumping from the upper floors of Diallo’s building to escape a fire that broke out amid the violence. Abdoulaye Ba, a second-year dental surgery student who lived in the building, died of his injuries that day.
“There was nothing we could do,” Diallo said. “They were men in uniform – we couldn’t resist, we couldn’t fight back.”
The dramatic scenes this month at Senegal’s top university followed demonstrations over what students described as unpaid financial aid, reflecting a growing rift between the country’s populist leaders and young people who helped bring them to power through street protests less than two years ago.
The violence comes as the government grapples with a debt crisis after uncovering an estimated $13 billion in borrowing that had been misreported by the previous administration.
PAIN WIDENS AS SENEGAL STRUGGLES TO PAY DEBTS
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s 2024 election victory followed years of youth-led protests against his predecessor, Macky Sall. Faye’s rise was driven in part by the support of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, whom he later appointed prime minister.
For many young Senegalese, the promises the two men — both in their 40s at the time — made have deepened the disappointment they feel today.
“It’s a shame – we weren’t expecting this, especially coming from this regime,” said Pathe Baila Barry, a classmate of Diallo, who said he was beaten in the raid on his dormitory.
But the gaping hole in the budget left by the previous government – one of the largest cases of hidden debt ever recorded in Africa – has forced Senegal’s leaders to make tough decisions.
After the new figures were disclosed in September 2024, Senegal’s debt burden ballooned to 132% of gross domestic product, up from 78% in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund. The IMF froze its $1.8 billion lending programme after the discovery of the misreported liabilities.
Sonko has publicly ruled out a debt restructuring and the government has prioritised repaying international investors.
“Managing a state is like managing your own bank account,” Aminata Toure, a senior adviser to Faye, said in an interview with Reuters. “Sometimes you have to focus on priorities; that doesn’t mean that you are not interested in the rest.”
Student associations say first-year students have received less than half of what they are owed: 75,000 CFA francs ($135) for the past few months instead of 155,000 CFA francs.
The government insists it is not in arrears and has simply altered the payment schedule.
Documents from the higher education ministry seen by Reuters show that financial aid to students stood at over 78.8 billion CFA francs ($142 million) in the 2026 budget – about 11% less than in 2024.
Anger over bursaries is only one symptom of broader economic strain. A 1% tax was rolled out last year on cash transactions in grocery stores and a 0.5% tax on bank transactions. Teachers’ unions have held nationwide strikes over staff shortages, salary equity and taxes.
The number of workers in the formal sector decreased by 5.2% between October 2024 and October 2025, according to a January economy ministry report. The construction industry has slumped since the government paused a number of projects in order to audit them shortly after taking office. The status of most of the reviews is unknown.
“We are at more than 17,000 direct job losses in the formal sector,” said Oumar Gueye, a delegate at the National Union of Construction Workers (SNTC/BTP).
STUDENTS FAULT GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
Police said more than 100 students were arrested during the raid on dormitories this month, and the university remains closed more than two weeks later.
Video footage verified by Reuters shows three police officers outside one of the student residences beating a person with batons while at least five other officers look on.
Interior Minister Mouhamadou Bamba Cisse said the use of force was necessary to protect public property and that some students had planned to ransack a campus restaurant.
The student association representing the faculty of medicine, pharmacy and dentistry, where Ba had been studying, has challenged the state’s account of his death.
The public prosecutor, Ibrahima Ndoye, has said an investigation will be completed soon but that the evidence does not support the hypothesis that Ba was beaten to death. He said Ba died after jumping from a fourth-floor window.
For many students, the government’s response has shaken their trust.
“This government is here today thanks to us,” said economics student Assane Dia. “We couldn’t imagine that after only two years in office, Sonko could do this to students.”
(Reporting by Portia Crowe; Additional reporting by Ngouda Dione, Eleanor Whalley and Yassin Kombi; Editing by Jessica Donati, Robbie Corey-Boulet and Ros Russell)
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