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In Senegal, a strike in the transport sector began on Wednesday. Several unions are mobilized to denounce the measures taken on January 9 to fight against road insecurity. A plan announced in the wake of the deadly accident in the department of Kaffrine. But some carriers protest against the lack of consultation, and the impossibility of applying certain provisions.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
An unusual calm reigns at the Beaux Maraîchers bus station in Pikine, the starting point for leaving the capital towards the interior of the country. Ousmane Cissé is a bus driver, he is on strike. What worries him the most is the ban on luggage racks, even though the government has given a year to dismantle them. The luggage rack interested him because it allowed other luggage to be transported from people who were not in the car, he explains. He thus increased his income to be able to pay for gasoline.
Sitting under a tree, this taxi driver parked his yellow vehicle. He says he suffers the consequences of the ban on driving at night for intercity public transport vehicles
« From 11 p.m., intercity transport brings customers here. We no longer have night work. »
But the movement is not unanimous. The Malian Chaka Dramé provides the Dakar-Bamako link. He says he fears reprisals from strikers if he starts his bus:
« I am pissed. One day, two days without work, it doesn’t suit us. Good in relation to road safety, indeed, luggage racks are not good, the Versailles [strapontins, NDLR]. The health of human beings is the most important thing in life and the government is doing its job. »
The government promised to stay closed “, while saying to himself ” open to dialogue » with carriers.
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