FW: RE : RE: Revised letter. Arbitrary detention of Mr. Wade

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From: abuulabass [mailto Sent: Wednesday, Mardi 02, 2016 12:31 PM To: Vinoda Basnayake; elisabeth feliho Cc: Bob Crowe; Mohamed Seydou Diagne; El Hadji Amadou Sall Subject: RE : RE: Revised letter. Arbitrary detention of Mr. Wade

Congratulations Vinoda ! The French version of the paper was published today in the Senegalese major newspapers. You can see it also in Seneweb.com .

Many thanks for the good work with my best regards.

Tidiane

Envoye depuis mon appareil Samsung

Message d'origine
De Vinoda Basnayake
Date: 02/03/2016 16:20 (GMT+00:00)
À: elisabeth feliho
Cc Bob Crowe < Cheikh Tidiane Sy >, Mohamed
Seydou Diagne ◄ El Hadji Amadou Sall<
Objet: RE: Revised letter. Arbitrary detention of Mr. Wade

We have had some positive feedback from the article. Now the issue certainly has more visibility in Washington. Bob is in the process of setting up the meeting with Tom at the State Dept regarding the Human Rights Report for 2016. Will send more as we get more details.

Vinoda

Nelson Mullins
Vinoda Basnayake
Of Counsel and Chair of DC Government Relations
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

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From: elisabeth feliho mailto:

Sent: Monday, February 29, 2016 6:29 AM

To: Vinoda Basnayake

Cc: Bob Crowe; Cheikh Tidiane Sy; Mohamed Seydou Diagne; El Hadji Amadou Sall

Subject: Re: Revised letter. Arbitrary detention of Mr. Wade

Congratulations!!! Can we share this with the press here?

Best regards.

EF

2016-02-26 13:04 GMT+00:00 Vinoda Basnayake >: Great news, the piece was published in The Hill this morning-

We can share this w Congress and State.

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 26, 2016, at 6:06 AM, elisabeth feliho wrote:

Excellent!!!

2016-02-24 20:13 GMT+00:00 Vinoda Basnayake • >: We are working on getting the following article placed in the Hill or the Politico within the next week. As of now it looks like former Chairman of Armed Services, Congressman Ron Dellums, will be the author. Please keep highly confidential. Will keep you posted on if, when and where it gets published. Once it is published we can all circulate it highly. We believe that this article sets the tone for the advocacy we will be doing and having someone very prominent like Congressman Dellums will also be a great way to launch this campaign.

Congressman RonaldDellums is a thirteen term Member ofthe U.S. House of Representatives (D-CA) who served from 1971-1998. He also served as the 48th Mayor ofOakland fivm 2007-2011. Dellums servedas the Chairman ofthe House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on the District ofColumbia. He also served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Post Office and Civil Service Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus.

Senegal's Democratic Backslide

2015 was a banner year for democracy in Africa. Nigeria, the largest country on the continent, had a democratic election, and even more impressively, had its first ever peaceful transition of power when sitting President Goodluck Jonathan transferred power to Muhammadu Buhari. Former President Jonathan conceded and famously declared, "Nobody's ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian." My last piece for The Hill was titled, 'Will Guinea's experiment in democracy succeed?" It is with great joy that I can report that it did! Guinea's first democratically elected President, Alpha Conde, won his reelection campaign in a peaceful election that was internationally monitored in which the Guinean electorate reaffirmed its commitment to a democracy.

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Despite these victories for democracy in a continent in which I dedicated a great deal of my life's work, I am deeply troubled by developments over the last few weeks. Earlier this week Uganda President Yoweri Museveni extended his thirty year rule and "won" his fifth consecutive election which international observers said was marred with intimidation and impropriety. Shortly after the election Museveni, who scrapped constitutional term limits a decade ago, had his political rival, Kizza Besigye arrested and detained for protesting the election results. Of course we have come to expect these actions from Museveni in Uganda. What I am even most troubled by is what is taking place in Senegal, which was once the pillar of democracy in Africa.

When Abdoulaye Wade was democratically elected as President of Senegal in 2000, it was a huge step forward for democracy in Africa. President Wade adopted a new constitution and instituted term limits for the first time in Senegalese history. In 2012 President Wade was defeated in a democratic election by his Prime Minister Macky Sall. The United States and the larger international community praised Wade for his quick concession and praised peaceful transition of power. President Macky Sall affirmed his commitment to democracy announcing that he would shorten term limits from 7 to 5 years. President Obama visited Senegal in June of 2013 and praised President Sall for his commitment to democracy in shortening the presidential mandate and praised the country's rule of law.

Unfortunately in the past few years much has changed and we are witnessing a backslide in what was once Africa's brightest democratic success story. When the opposition party, the Senegalese Democratic Party, designated former President Abdoulaye Wade' son, former Minister Karim Wade, as their candidate for the next presidential election; President Sall had Karim Wade arrested and detained. President Macky Sall then reestablished a special court by presidential decree that had been abolished by Senegalese law and not heard a case in thirty years. This newly established special court sentenced Mr. Wade to six years in prison. He remains in prison today, sentenced without appeal. In April 2015, the United Nations Working Group of Arbitrary Detention determined that Mr. Wade was arbitrarily arrested and that his detention was in violation of international law. Last month the UN Working Group reaffirmed its finding and called on President Sall's regime to release Karim Wade and comply with international law. Sall has ignored the UN Working Groups request.

Last week the backslide continued even further as President Macky Sall reneged on his commitment to shorten term limits. Instead of holding elections next year, after five years per his commitment, he announced that he would serve until 2019. He claims that this decision was based on the opinion - just an opinion - of the Constitutional Council that he had himself sought.

In light of the trend toward democracy in Africa as exemplified by Nigeria and Guinea, it is very concerning that one of the United States' closest allies and Africa's strongest democracies appears to be retrogressing. The destabilization of democracy in Senegal could have significant consequences in the entire region. The United States must get in front of this negative trend before spreads across Africa and it is too late. The U.S. should call for President Sall to honor the request of the UN Working Group and release his political rival Mr. Wade and also keep his pledge of a 5 year presidential mandate. President Obama has said that Africa is more important than ever to security and prosperity in the U.S. We have worked very hard in implementing and prioritizing democracy and democratic succession in Africa. The Obama administration must not let our hard work be compromised in Senegal, we have worked too hard and come too far.

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Vinoda Basnayake
Of Counsel and Chair of DC Government Relations
vinoda.basnayake@nelsonmullins.com

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20001
Tel:
Fax:

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From: elisabeth feliho [mailto Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 5:20 AM To: Vinoda Basnayake; Bob Crowe Cc: Cheikh Tidiane Sy; Mohamed Seydou Diagne; El Hadji Amadou Sall Subject: Revised letter. Arbitrary detention of Mr. Wade

Dear Vinoda and Bob,

Please see attached the last version of the revised draft letter. We have made some modifications and amendments we submit to your proposal. You can finalize the letter as it suits you. We strongly recommend to wait Wednesday or Tuesday this week before sending the letter as Amnesty International will issue on Wednesday 24th February its worldwide report on human right situation. It is highly probable that major statement will be made on Mr. Wade case in the report on Senegal, which will give us more input for the letter.

Many thanks and best regards.

EF

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