Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar has been ordered to close its student housing and dining facilities indefinitely following the death of a medical student during violent protests on Monday, February 9, 2026.
The deceased, identified as Abdoulaye Ba, was a second-year dental medicine student and the son of a widowed mother who described him as her sole hope. His death occurred as long-standing tensions over scholarship arrears and deteriorating living conditions boiled over into chaotic clashes between the student body and security forces.
Witnesses and social media footage depicted the university campus as a battlefield, with security forces firing tear gas into dormitories while students retaliated with stones. While the government officially attributed Ba’s death to “serious events” and promised a full investigation to “shed light” on the tragedy, the UCAD Faculty of Medicine students’ association has made grave allegations of police brutality, claiming Ba was assaulted within his own room. In the immediate aftermath, the Center for University Services announced the mandatory evacuation of all student residences by noon on Tuesday, February 10, a move that has left thousands of students from outside the capital stranded.
The unrest at UCAD is not an isolated incident but part of a wider wave of dissatisfaction across Senegal’s public higher education system. Students in Saint-Louis, Thiès, and Ziguinchor have also launched demonstrations to protest against scholarship reforms and the closure of campus canteens. Government spokeswoman Marie-Rose Khady Fatou Faye expressed the state’s deepest condolences to the Ba family and urged for restraint, yet the academic community remains on edge as student unions demand immediate accountability and the release of all outstanding stipend payments.
AC/fss/abj/APA