Senegalese President Macky Sall promised, Wednesday (May 31st), the firmness of the State in the face of tensions that are growing in the run-up to a verdict against opponent Ousmane Sonko, with the presidential election of February 2024 in the background.
"I would like to reassure (as to the fact) that the State is and will remain standing to protect the Nation, the Republic and the institutions," he said in Dakar by opening a "national dialogue" supposed to ease these tensions and associating the presidential camp, part of the opposition, representatives of economic circles, civil society and religions.
This dialogue, boycotted by part of the opposition, opens the day before the expected verdict against Ousmane Sonko, presidential candidate engaged for months in a fierce showdown with the government.
Ousmane Sonko is accused of rape by an employee of a beauty salon where he was going to be massaged. He cries out at the plot of the power to remove him from the presidential election. He risks losing his eligibility.
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Political tensions in Senegal: opening of a "national dialogue" © France24
Twenty civilians have been killed since 2021 in unrest largely related to his situation. The government and the camp of Ousmane Sonko blame each other.
Ousmane Sonko called on Senegalese to demonstrate "massively" after being arrested Sunday in the center of the country and forcibly brought home to Dakar, where he is blocked by security forces.
Macky Sall exalted the values of social cohesion. "Adhering to these values means banning physical and verbal violence as well as hate speech and stigma," he said. "Every physical violence, every verbal violence, every word of hatred, every private or public property ransacked and, above all, every Senegalese killed is a deep wound to our country," the Senegalese president added.
At no time did he explicitly mention Ousmane Sonko. But, he said, "no one should imagine themselves greater or stronger than this nation that shelters us all."
Macky Sall appeared to respond to the opposition and rights organizations that accuse the government of repressing freedoms. "All freedom has as a counterpart the responsibility that limits its abuses," he said.
Apart from the fate of Ousmane Sonko, a factor in the current tensions is the uncertainty maintained by Macky Sall on his candidacy or not for a third term. Such a candidacy faces strong opposition and the accusation of violating the Constitution.
Macky Sall was strongly criticized on this theme and on an inclusive participation in the presidential competition by the former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall, himself unable to run currently.
"There is no taboo," said Macky Sall, elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2019, "we can include the question of the third term in the dialogue."
With AFP
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