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AFP
The African Union's top envoy on Saturday proposed Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade retire in two years if he is re-elected, in an attempt to ease tensions on the eve of the nation's most contentious polls yet.

Nigeria's ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo said his proposal was a way to bridge the gap between government and the opposition, which fears Wade is lining up his son Karim to fill his shoes.

And he warned that a lack of trust between the two could have dangerous consequences.

"We believe even though it was getting to the 11th hour, we believe that this country must be prevented from chaos, from tragedy, from disaster," Obasanjo told journalists in Dakar.

Reacting to the proposal, the opposition said that any negotiations should involve fresh elections without 85-year-old Wade, who is seeking a disputed third term in Sunday's ballot.

Wade's candidacy, which came after he circumvented term limits that he had previously introduced, sparked weeks of protests that have left six people dead in a country long known as a haven of stability on the continent.

African Union president Thomas Boni Yayi on Saturday called for calm, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "concerned" by the violence and urged "peaceful and transparent" elections.

Wade had earlier said he needed three more years in office to finish his projects, infuriating the opposition.

Obasanjo said "we suggested in our proposal two years." Neither side has agreed to the proposal.

Obasanjo is in the country on a high-level peace mission as well as heading the African Union observer team.

"It is important for all of us that tomorrow turns out to be a peaceful and orderly election day... if the integrity of this country is undermined it will have implications not only for the people of this country but for all of us in west Africa," he said.

He arrived after days of riots over Wade's candidacy that turned parts of Dakar into no-go zones as police fired teargas at rock-throwing protesters who had set up flaming barricades.

The opposition June 23 Movement (M23) has said it is open to negotiations but its first priority was "that Abdoulaye Wade loses the election" on Sunday.

In a statement M23 called for "a presidential election in which Wade will not take part, within six to nine months."

With polls set to open, the rapper-led youth movement "Fed Up" urged voters against boycotting the election, encouraging them to get their voter cards and vote against the incumbent.

"The struggle must continue and will continue at the ballot box. We have been sharpening our weapons, your voters cards. The time has come to use them," the movement said in a statement late Friday.

Wade has already served two terms in office, but argues that changes to the constitution in 2008 extending term lengths to seven years allow him to serve two more mandates.

The country's top legal body validated his candidacy on January 27, sparking riots around the country and clashes in downtown Dakar.

Observers say Wade needs to secure a first-round victory because he would fare badly in a second round when the field contracts to two candidates.

Thirteen opposition candidates are on the first round ballot, including three former prime ministers, but among them no clear front-runner has emerged.

Foreign partners have voiced concern over the unsettled campaign period -- uncharacteristic for Senegal, which boasts an unbroken series of elections since independence in 1960 and has never suffered a coup.

Roughly 5.3 million people are registered to vote.

Paul Melly, an analyst with London-based think-tank Chatham House, told AFP that a Wade first-round win "could produce a further upsurge in protest and anger on the streets."

Wade was first elected in 2000 to great euphoria after unseating the Socialist Party that had been in power for 40 years.

His supporters praise him for an infrastructure boom, but his detractors say he has focused on prestige projects while the average Senegalese battles rising food prices and crippling power cuts.