Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko, declared candidate for the 2024 presidential election and threatened with ineligibility, launched Wednesday (May 24th) a new risky challenge to power by announcing his upcoming return to Dakar at the head of a popular convoy across the country.
"I give you an appointment in Dakar, either (President) Macky Sall retreats, or we will face him to finish," Ousmane Sonko told hundreds of exalted supporters rushed to his house in Ziguinchor (south), at the announcement of a speech on his part the day after his trial for rape, held in his absence. "Where will the final fight happen? It will happen in Dakar," he proclaimed. "If you are 2,000, let 1,500 join Dakar to continue the fight," he said.
Ousmane Sonko affirmed his intention to return by road and transform these 500 kilometers of journey into a "caravan of freedom". Then he paraded surrounded by the Senegalese flag in the middle of his supporters singing and chanting his name. He later said on social media that he planned to get underway on Thursday, and called on Senegalese to converge on Dakar.
Divisive personality
This is a new act of defiance against the authorities on the part of the president of the Pastef-les Patriotes party, third in the presidential election in 2019, a divisive but popular personality among the under 20s who represent half of the population.
On Tuesday, Ousmane Sonko was conspicuous by his absence at his trial for rape, saying he feared for his safety and questioned the impartiality of justice. He has always refuted the accusations and shouted at the plot of the power to remove him from the presidential election. The stakes go beyond morality. Ousmane Sonko risks his eligibility, already compromised by a six-month suspended sentence for defamation against a minister.
The "caravan of freedom" promises to be a random exercise, tangent to the date of the verdict to be pronounced on June 1.
Several days before his trial, Ousmane Sonko entrenched himself in Ziguinchor, the city of which he is the mayor. His supporters have mounted a tight and threatening guard around his home to ward off a possible arrest attempt. The authorities and the judiciary have chosen not to try to arrest him. The mobilization of his supporters, especially during his meetings with the justice system, has regularly given rise to incidents and disturbances, including fatal ones.
In 2021, the arrest of Ousmane Sonko during his motorcade to the court where he was summoned, while the case of alleged rapes had just broken out, helped trigger several days of riots that left at least a dozen dead. Tension is expected to be high again around June 1.
"Remobilising the troops"
Withdrawing to Ziguinchor has made it possible to "gain time" and "remobilize troops everywhere," Ousmane Sonko said Wednesday.
The politico-judicial tug-of-war delivered by Ousmane Sonko has been in the news since 2021. The soap opera reached a new peak on Tuesday with a trial conducted at a snail's pace, an opportunity for an unpacking breaking with the modesty of rigor in Senegal and shared in real time with the general public by journalists present thanks to the internet.
Prosecutor Abdou Karim Diop requested that Ousmane Sonko be sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for rape, or at least five years' imprisonment for "corruption of youth", as well as one year in prison for the death threats he allegedly made against the complainant.
Ousmane Sonko is the subject of the complaint of Adji Sarr, 23, an employee of the Sweet Beauté salon. The young woman, who became a celebrity and placed under police protection, maintained at the trial that Ousmane Sonko had abused her - "five times" - between 2020 and early 2021 and had threatened her with death if she spoke.
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Sarah Sakho, correspondent of France 24 in Senegal © France24
Ousmane Sonko described her Wednesday night as a "manipulated girl, who was promised diplomatic passport and exile abroad, (in) more (of) large sums of money", a "poor lady who is not so innocent since she could have retracted long ago". "Sooner or later she will pay a high price for her package," he said. Adji Sarr has always persisted in demanding justice. The government denies any instrumentalization of justice and alleges a private matter.
With AFP
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