– Chaos –
His announcement followed a plea by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to African leaders gathered for an annual summit in January to not cling to power and to respect the wishes of their people.
Chaos erupted in Burkina Faso in October last year as lawmakers prepared to vote to allow 63-year-old Blaise Compaore – who took power in a 1987 coup – to contest elections in November 2015. He was forced out of power.
African nations where laws have been changed to the benefit of their incumbent leaders include Algeria, Angola, Chad, Djibouti and Uganda.
As many as 42 people were killed in protests that erupted in the Democratic Republic of Congo in January against a bill seen as an attempt to extend President Joseph Kabila’s hold on power in the nation he has led for 14 years.
Sall told foreign correspondents at the Dakar news conference he intended to appeal personally to Kabila for the release of Senegalese activists arrested on Sunday.
Three members of Senegalese pro-democracy campaign group “Y’en a marre” (“Fed Up”) were detained in Kinshasa with activists from DR Congo and Burkina Faso.
An American diplomat and journalists held alongside the campaigners have been released but the African activists remain in custody on suspicion of planning to destabilise the country.
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