ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Senegal. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Senegal. The Senegalese have the right to choose their leaders freely, Voting regulations blatantly favored the former ruling party for the first three decades after independence. The party used state patronage and state media to protect its position. A Senegalese lower court decision that Habre could face trial in Senegal was overturned by the country's highest appeals court, which said that Senegal had no jurisdiction to try Habre because his alleged crimes were committed outside Senegalese territory. Religious freedom in Senegal, which is 90 percent Muslim, is respected.
