Senegal has been in the grip of serious unrest for several days after the arrest of the opponent Ousmane Sonko.

But tension had been simmering for several months in the country, with the economy weakened by the coronavirus crisis.

And we find at the forefront of the protest a particularly precarious youth. 

DECRYPTION

It is one of the worst crises in many years that Senegal has been going through.

The country is affected by serious clashes, with clashes between young people and the police which left five dead, after the arrest of the opponent Ousmane Sonko, implicated in a case of alleged rape.

On Monday, the latter was indicted by a judge and then released under judicial supervision.

But if this case was the spark that ignited the powder, it is the economic and health crisis that has weakened the country for several months. 

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The "informal" sector severely affected

Armored vehicles deployed in the streets of Dakar, it is unheard of, just like the cutting of access to social networks or the suspension of television broadcasts.

For the country considered to be the model of democracy in French-speaking West Africa, these are quite unusual measures and revealing of the high level of tension that has existed in Senegal for several months now.

Because the arrest of Ousmane Sonko, main opponent of President Macky Sall, was only the small spark that caused the explosion. 

The first underlying reason for this outbreak of violence is the Covid-19 effect.

The economic consequences of the health crisis are indeed terrible, because the majority of the population depends for its survival on the so-called "informal" sector, namely all the odd jobs which go from the sale of cigarettes to the unit. manufacture of handcrafted parts for old automobiles.

This sector represents 97% of job creation and 45% of wealth creation in the country. 

Vulnerable young people sensitive to Sonko's speech

The curfew measures have therefore had devastating effects on the income levels of the most precarious young people, in a society where half of the population is under 20 years old.

However, it is these excluded young people who are most sensitive to the speeches of Ousmane Sonko when he denounces a recolonization of the Senegalese economy by France with the complicity of local elites. 

The accusation of rape against Ousmane Sonko is brought by the employee of a massage parlor where he had his habits.

But at this stage, the accuser's words are completely inaudible by the demonstrators, who see behind this indictment a stunt by the authorities.

Ousmane Sonko is the third serious opponent of President Macky Sall to find himself embroiled in court cases that could put an end to his political ambitions. 

Before him, two potential presidential candidates had been convicted of corruption, then pardoned, but after being declared ineligible by the Constitutional Council.

This same Council had also dismissed four former ministers with promising profiles who could have been considered as potential dolphins of the head of state.