Is democracy dying in Africa? Senegal’s slide into chaos bodes ill in a year of key elections

Supporters of opposition presidential candidates set tyres and tables on fire in Dakar following the indefinite postponement of Senegal's presidential election, which was due to be held on 25 February. Photograph: Cem Özdel/Getty

Djbril Camara remembers thinking it was the wildest demonstration yet, the thunderclap of teargas almost constant. Then a shocking new sound: the crack of a live bullet. Djbril scrambled to the roof of his apartment block.

Below, the protest had descended into pandemonium. People shrieking as they ran. Plumes of teargas billowed across the Niary Tally district of Dakar, Senegal’s capital.