In Khar Yalla, the popular district of Dakar, the tension is at its height. Twenty-two families living on a property plate of 7,322 m² (TF 1902/NGA ex 3645/DG) are found today under the threat of expulsion and demolition. These inhabitants, installed for more than 53 years, claim to have legally acquired their plots from the late Babacar Mbaye, who had fragmented the land and sold each lot with a number and a name of the right. But the story takes a dramatic turn: the seller had never raised the mortgage in the field, contracted with a European couple who left for Europe. Result: an unfinished sale which today plunges a whole district into uncertainty.
In 2022, the heirs of Babacar Mbaye reappeared and claimed the field, arguing that their father had not finalized the initial transaction. First welcomed by the inhabitants, they then turn against them, assigning them by expulsion and demolition. The shock was brutal: the day before the Gamou, a bailiff, escorted, told a resident – central commissioner Mamoudou Tendeng – that he had to leave his house immediately. A provocation that almost ignited the neighborhood. But the justice of the summary proceedings declared itself incompetent and referred the case to the tribunal for a perfection of sale, confirming that the expulsion was currently blocked.
On the ground, the situation is explosive. The inhabitants, some of whom are over 90 years old, swear that they will never leave their houses: “We bought our shroud, we will pass on our bodies to take our homes”, they hammer. Young people, many to work or left in Ndiassane, leave a weakened population in the face of a threat that hovers every day. The climate is so tense that even the bailiffs fear entering the neighborhood, forced to be escorted by the president of the collective, Mory Tamsi Touré, to avoid overflows.
Beyond the dispute, the inhabitants also denounce a danger of death: the slabs of the houses, 53 years old, gradually collapsed, jeopardizing families and even the district church, which is now disused. Despite the alerts launched to town planning, the prefect, the mayor and the Descos, the authorities block any repair by invoking the land dispute. The collective of the inhabitants points to an overwhelming responsibility of the State: “If an accident occurs, it will be on their conscience. We only ask for one thing: perfect the sale, read the law, and let us live in peace in a neighborhood that has been suffering for too long. »»
