Dakar, Senegal — A second-year medical student died Monday during a security operation at Cheik Anta Diop University, prompting a mass exodus of students and renewed protests over unpaid scholarship stipends, according to local reports. Several witnesses told campus media that Abdoulaye Ba sustained head injuries while inside a dormitory and died later at Aristide Le Dantec Hospital.
The president of the Faculty of Medicine student association said Ba had not taken part in demonstrations, but official statements indicate circumstances remain under investigation.
The government confirmed in a brief communiqué that “serious events” led to the student’s death and pledged an inquiry. It did not release details of the incident or name the officers involved. By Wednesday morning, packed buses were leaving the main gate as administrators closed residence halls indefinitely.
Geography student Boubacar, 23, said he and about 30 classmates from the northern Matam region were heading home. “I saw law enforcement officers beating students,” he told reporters, asking that his surname be withheld. Grant payments dating back several academic years.
Intermittent demonstrations have periodically blocked the campus since 2022, with sporadic clashes between stone-throwing protesters and police equipped with tear gas. Monday’s fatality has intensified resentment toward the administration of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, whose Pastef party drew heavy student support during elections held two years ago. “We expected something different,” student representative Demba Naguel Diallo said in an interview published Tuesday.
Rights groups have urged authorities to limit force during crowd — control operations, while university officials continue to urge calm. “Further details are expected once the promised inquiry concludes,” one campus security officer noted.
