Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko has again denounced an assassination attempt against him, AFP learned Monday, March 20, from local, administrative and party sources. On the same day, one person died in Casamance, southern Senegal, during clashes between security forces and supporters of Macky Sall's opponent.

Ousmane Sonko has been in a private clinic in Dakar since 16 March, where he is receiving treatment, after claiming to have felt unwell because of the tear gas sent by the security forces during his forcible transfer to the Dakar court where his defamation trial against a minister was held. two officials of his party El Hadji Malick Ndiaye and Ousseynou Ly told AFP.

>> To see - Senegal: what do we blame Ousmane Sonko, opposition leader, and what does he risk?

"We shipped France the product that was sprayed on me to find what it is," the opponent said on his hospital bed. "This is an assassination attempt," he said. He said he would leave the clinic on Tuesday to continue his recovery at home.

"Since the SDF [Defense and Security Forces] dropped me off at my home [in Dakar], I am prone to terrible dizziness, I suffer from pain in my lower abdomen and I have breathing difficulties," he wrote Thursday night on his Facebook page. The Senegalese president "Macky Sall is openly engaged in yet another assassination attempt on my person," he added, accusations taken up by his party which speaks of "poisoning". The authorities did not react.

No constitutional obstacle to a third term, says Macky Sall

Macky Sall kept open, Monday, the question of his candidacy for a third term in 2024, in an interview with the French magazine L'Express.

The Senegalese president argued that only political, not constitutional, factors would prevent him from running, no matter what his opponents say. The opposition claims that the Constitution prohibits Macky Sall, elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2019, from running again for the head of state in 2024.

The Constitution, after the 2016 revision, provides that the duration of the presidential term is five years, and no longer seven, and that "no one may serve more than two consecutive terms". However, Macky Sall argues in the interview with the French magazine that, when the Constitutional Council was consulted before the revision, the latter had considered that his first term was "out of reach" of the reform.

"Legally, the debate has been settled for a long time," he said. "Now, should I run for a third term or not? It's a political debate, I admit," he added. "I haven't answered yet. I have an agenda, a job to do. When the time comes, I will make my position known, first to my supporters, then to the Senegalese people," he said.

Ousmane Sonko risks being removed from the electoral rolls

The uncertainty maintained by the head of state is combined with that on the political fate of his most prominent opponent, Ousmane Sonko, to fuel tensions.

Since 16 March, the day Sonko's trial began on charges of defamation by Tourism Minister Mame Mbaye Niang, there have been clashes between groups of young people and security forces in several cities across the country. The hearing was adjourned to March 30.

In the city of Bignona, a stronghold of Ousmane Sonko about thirty kilometers from Ziguinchor, the main city of Casamance, "a kid was shot" Monday by the police, told AFP Yankhoba Diémé, the president of the eponymous departmental council, a local institution. Clashes broke out with the police when "young people spontaneously went out to demonstrate in the street" against the government, said Diémé, a member of Sonko's party. The information was confirmed to AFP by an administrative official.

>> To see - Senegal: unrest in Dakar during the trial of opponent Ousmane Sonko

Since March 16, security forces have arrested more than 400 people across the country during anti-government protests, Ndiaye, head of communications for Sonko's party, told AFP on Monday. Contacted by AFP, the police and gendarmerie did not react.

Minister Niang is suing Mr. Sonko for defamation, insult and forgery. He accuses him of having stated that he had been singled out in the report of an audit institution for his management of a fund for youth employment in agriculture.

The issue goes far beyond the minister's reputation. The texts in force provide for removal from the electoral rolls, and therefore ineligibility, in certain cases of conviction. The opponent therefore risks being declared ineligible for the 2024 presidential election.

With AFP

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