Many people were on the streets in Gao, where many roads were blocked, according to local sources reached by Sahelien.com. The demonstrators ask a priori for the “departure of the governor” accused of bad governance and to having “no respect for the communities”.
“We are in front of the governorate. It is closed. We also blocked the roads until we got the governor’s departure”, says a protester contacted this morning. In the city, residents accuse Governor Seydou Traoré of “having no respect or consideration for the communities”.
The governor was absent at the recent Songhoi Culture Community Forum held in Gao. “The forum coincided with the arrival of the President of the Republic. When a president comes to welcome his counterpart from another country, a governor has other things to do than to take care of internal activities. Especially that this activity, although considerable, is a private activity”, explains Seydou Traoré reached on the telephone in Bamako.
Other reproaches made to the governor, “his insensitivity to the recurrent water problem in the city”, mismanagement of the security situation and his “inactivity in the face of the embargo that Gao is undergoing” since the prohibition of certain big carriers to enter by the Gao-Niamey road. “There is no security. This road is the only one that remains to us, but at the moment the city is empty. We do not have fuel and the products are becoming more expensive”, says a civil society official, a member of the initiators of the demonstration.
A situation originated, according to Traore, from the internal measures taken by the Nigerien authorities. “I have just returned from a mission in Tilabery. I went with a delegation of 22 people, including representatives from the Chamber of Commerce. Because on the eve of the month of Ramadan, I was informed that if I do not pay attention, there could have a stock shortage in Gao, says Seydou Traore to Sahelien.com
And to continue: “I sought to understand why. So it turned out that it was internal measure taken by the Nigerien government to prevent the vehicles destined for Gao in transit through Niger to pass through Labbezanga. It was discovered that the Nigeriens who make this journey charter the tanks in Niamey duty-free, but they do not arrive in Gao. If they charter for example 20 tanks, there are only three that arrive in Gao. The rest returns to the Nigerien market. So the minister said to stop. In favor of the month of Ramadan, we went there and reported to the minister that we even met together. And today, the situation is normalized. “Details that did not calm the protesters. “Our decision is made. We are waiting for the government”, they insist.
It is not the first time that the inhabitants of the city have asked for Mr. Traoré’s departure. In 2016, he was accused by the young people of having ordered the repression of a demonstration against the establishment of the interim authorities where three young people were shot to death.
Aboubacar Dicko