Another day of tension in Dakar.
The capital of Senegal woke up on Monday, March 8, with armored vehicles in the streets, at the dawn of a day of high-risk protest.
The government has deployed a strong security system in the capital, in anticipation of announced demonstrations and the presentation to a judge of the main opponent of power, Ousmane Sonko.
Armored reinforcements
The arrest of Mr. Sonko, on March 3, caused three days of clashes between young people and the police, looting and looting in this country of 16 million inhabitants usually considered as a island of political stability.
A schoolboy was killed on Saturday in Diaobé, in southern Senegal, according to security sources, bringing the death toll to five.
>> To read: At least five people have died, the press advancing figures higher but difficult to verify.
Mr. Sonko was already at the courthouse on Monday at 5.30 a.m. (local and GMT), awaiting his presentation to the judge scheduled for 11 a.m., one of his lawyers, Me Cheikh Khouraissy, said on the radio. Ba.
The surroundings of the court were cordoned off and armored vehicles positioned nearby, noted an AFP journalist.
Other armored vehicles, from the army, equipped with machine guns, were placed at the entrance to a popular district, the scene of clashes last week.
#Senegal |
A rrest of the Deputy @SonkoOfficiel
⚠️The Army on duty at the plateau.
#FreeSenegal pic.twitter.com/EFeVOvE5w1
- Alioune Badara (@albadaradi) March 8, 2021
A column of ten similar armored vehicles was seen passing on Independence Square, the center of the nerve center of the Plateau, seat of major institutions, including the presidency.
The latter was itself placed under high protection and its accesses barred.
The expected president
The presentation of Mr. Sonko promises to be fraught with issues other than judicial, depending on whether the judge decides to imprison him or to release him.
There is complete uncertainty as to the decision, but the pressure is considerable, both on the magistrate and on President Macky Sall, at the end of a weekend which has seen a precarious lull.
Mr. Sonko, third in the 2019 presidential election and expected to be one of the main competitors of the 2024 one, was officially arrested for disturbing public order, while he was going in procession to the court where he was summoned to answer rape charges brought against him by an employee of a beauty salon where he was going to get a massage to, he said, relieve his back pain.
A personality with an anti-system profile, the deputy shouts at the plot hatched by the president himself to remove him from the next presidential election.
Mr. Sall denied Mr. Sonko's accusations at the end of February.
Faced with delicate choices between proclaimed independence of the judiciary, pressure from the streets, and the political consequences of Mr. Sonko's fate, he has since remained silent in public on the case.
The custody of Mr. Sonko was lifted Sunday in the case of disturbing public order, told AFP one of his advisers, Me Étienne Ndione.
But he remained in the hands of the authorities under the arrest warrant issued against him in the alleged rape case.
The collective Movement for the Defense of Democracy (M2D), comprising the party of the opponent, opposition formations and protest organizations of civil society, called "to take to the streets massively" from Monday and during three days.
Intervention of religious leaders
The tension raises fears of a new escalation and activity was considerably slowed down at dawn in the capital, visibly worried.
Authorities suspended school for a week to "protect" children and teachers.
Mr. Sonko's arrest not only angered his supporters.
It has also, say many Senegalese, brought to its height the exasperation accumulated by the degradation, at least since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, of living conditions in an already poor country.
The different parties, starting with the president, are in a hurry from all sides to find ways of de-escalation.
The Senegalese "want to hear from you, why the devil won't you talk to them?" Said a senior figure on Sunday, the mediator of the Republic Alioune Badara Cissé.
"Do it before it's too late".
The embassies of the European Union and its member states, but also of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea have called for "a peaceful restoration of calm and dialogue ".
West African states urged "calm and restraint".
More than these international incentives, it is those of religious leaders, Christians and especially Muslims, which are likely to weigh.
Their emissaries, in particular those of the caliphs with considerable influence on power and society, met the head of state, dignitary Serigne Mansour Sy reported on Sunday.
Mr Sall "has listened to us and we are awaiting his decisions," he said.
With AFP
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR