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Senegalese leader to people: I will go if you want

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:00 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Wade says in "perpetual state of grace"

* US mission confirms some election aid on hold

By Diadie Ba

DAKAR, April 22 (Reuters) - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has vowed to quit power if confronted by mass popular protests but insisted he was not too old for run for a third term in an election due early next year.

Wade, 84, has been dogged by opposition allegations that he is manipulating preparations for the vote in February to ensure an easy victory for himself.

His government is facing rising anger of poor living conditions and chronic power shortages in the West African state, but Wade has rejected all comparisons with Arab leaders forced out by popular protests.

"The difference between us and Tunisia and Egypt is that I actually want people to demonstrate," Wade told French L'Expansion magazine in an interview published on Friday.

"If the Senegalese come out en masse to ask me to quit, I will go. There won't be a revolution, or a coup d'etat."

The Senegalese are proud of their country's reputation for stability and are known across Africa as slow to protest.

Wade said a March 19 anti-government march in the capital Dakar rallied several thousand people, tiny in scale compared to the waves of protest that have shaken the Arab world. Other estimates were as high as 20,000, still modest in comparison.

"I am the only president in a perpetual state of grace. It's a special phenomenon linked to my personality -- probably because I am a man of action rather than just talk," he said.

Asked whether, given his age, he should resist seeking a new term, Wade replied: "Western media say I am too old -- that is something which shocks us here in Africa. The only thing I am interested in is serving my country."

A spokesman for the opposition Socialists (PS) said Wade's challenge to the street was aimed at "creating chaos and delaying the election".

"We have less than a year to the poll. The Senegalese will wait until then and he will be beaten," PS spokesman Abdoulaye Vilane said by telephone.

Wade's upbeat tone contrasts with the drubbing his ruling centre-right PDS party got in 2009 municipal elections, when his son Karim Wade -- a French-educated financier who speaks little of the local wolof language -- failed to win control of Dakar.

Karim is now in charge of an all-powerful "super-ministry" and there is persistent speculation that his father will hand over to him mid-term if he wins in 2012.

Critics say Wade has been tinkering with electoral lists to make sure they are weighted heavily in his favour, notably by preventing around 1.3-1.6 million first-time voters from registering. Wade has vehemently denied such charges.

Separately, the official organising the February 2012 election told national television the government had declined a U.S. offer of help to prepare them. Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom said the process was complete and no help was needed.

The U.S. mission in Senegal said it had signed an accord with Senegal to provide election support in areas such as an audit of the voter registry but that the Interior Ministry had requested some of those activities be put on hold. It gave no reason for the suspension. (Writing and additional reporting by Mark John)