Aïchatou Ndiaye Diallo Bodian, the prefect of Kaffrine, announced the start of the operation to clear the public highway in the commune of Kaffrine. "This is a clearing operation whose process began 15 days ago, following instructions received from the Minister of the Interior and Public Security by circular letter asking the governors to instruct us to identify all anarchic occupations on the public highway," she explained.

According to her, "it is on the basis of this census that we worked with municipalities and territorial authorities. We began a consultation with stakeholders such as merchant associations and all those involved in this process."

Before any intervention, the authorities prioritized raising awareness among the occupants. "We chose to first raise awareness among the occupants of the public highway through summons, to give them time to voluntarily vacate the public highway. To do this, we communicated through the media," said Aïchatou Ndiaye Diallo Bodian.

She welcomed the public's support, while highlighting some difficulties. "What we can say is that people support these operations because they were informed in advance. But what we regret relatively is that, despite the warnings, practically, for more than 50, even 70% of the occupations on public roads, the canteen owners have not taken steps to remove these occupations. This risks causing us to lose a lot of time."

The prefect nevertheless gave a positive assessment of the first phase of the operation. "We are satisfied and we hope that at the end of these operations, the population will follow the authorities by not returning to the places already vacated," she concluded.