Thousands of Senegalese protest in capital against power cuts, other woes

DAKAR, Senegal – DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Thousands of Senegalese demonstrators have taken to the streets of the capital to protest power cuts and other woes.

Ousmane Tanor Dieng, an opposition party leader, said Saturday's demonstration was organized to call attention to the outages as well as a lack of long-term solutions to flooding in the area.

The West African nation has faced a serious deficit of electricity since July. The capital of Dakar has been particularly affected, raising concerns about potential social unrest.

In some parts, people are boycotting their electricity bill payments.

The situation has embarrassed Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and the government has promised to end the outages by Sunday. Many, though, doubt the blackouts will stop.