Portrait
Senegal: Ousmane Sonko, from the radical opposition to the prime minister
Ousmane Sonko, co-founder of the African Patriots of Senegal party for work, ethics and fraternity (Pastef), was appointed Prime Minister on the same day of the inauguration of new President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who had been for a long time his discreet right arm.
Ousmane Sonko speaking after being named prime minister by Senegal's newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, in Dakar, Senegal, April 2, 2024. REUTERS - Abdou Karim Ndoye
By: Théa Ollivier Follow
Advertisement
Read more
President
Bassirou Diomaye Faye
will not have wasted time. A few hours after being sworn in on April 2, 2024,
he named his Prime Minister
: Ousmane Sonko, his mentor and president of the African Patriots of Senegal party for work, ethics and fraternity (Pastef ). A Sonko who could not be a candidate for the
presidential election
on March 24, 2024 for legal reasons.
If the political leader, fierce rival of outgoing President Macky Sall, worked ardently on the election of his replacement candidate with the slogan “
Sonko mooy Diomaye, Diomaye mooy Sonko
” (“
Sonko is Diomaye, Diomaye is Sonko
", in Wolof), there is no question for him of letting the new president take on "
this heavy task
" alone, as he explained in a first speech on the evening of his appointment. Three days later, on the evening of April 5, he presented his new government of "
disruption
", "
unity
", "
proximity, innovation and efficiency
", composed of only 25 ministers and five secretaries. 'State. A government which embodies “
the project
” carried out for years by Ousmane Sonko, who promises a “
systemic transformation
” of the country.
Originally from Casamance, a region in the south of
Senegal
, the 49-year-old politician studied at Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis before passing the competitive examination for the National School of Administration. He joined the general directorate of taxes and domains where he created the first public administration union in 2005. There, he met the young tax inspector Bassirou Diomaye Faye with whom he co-founded the Pastef party in 2014.
Very quickly, he positioned himself as an anti-system opponent
Very quickly, Ousmane Sonko positioned himself as an anti-system and honest opponent. Until then very little known to the general public, he gained popularity when he was removed from the civil service in 2016 for breach
of “the obligation of professional discretion
” after having accused several political figures of having benefited from illegal tax advantages. , including Aliou Sall, Macky Sall's brother. A year later, he was elected to the National Assembly. In 2018, he denounced embezzlement in the management of the country's natural resources in the book
Oil and Gas
in Senegal
: Chronicle of
a
dispossession
, while the first barrels of oil and cubic meters of gas should be exploited in 2024.
In 2019, he continued his rise and came third in the presidential election with nearly 16% of the vote. Economic sovereignty, exit from the CFA franc, anti-neocolonialism and anti-homosexuality… His program appeals to a young and urban electorate, as well as the Senegalese diaspora. He manages to impose an image of an incorruptible and orthodox politician, with a speech breaking with the regime of the time. He claims the heritage of former Prime Minister Mamadou Dia and Burkinabè Thomas Sankara. But his detractors accuse him of demagogy and populism. “
There is a hardening of his speech in the face of a power that is closed to its proposals. Ousmane Sonko is in a pan-Africanist and nationalist logic on the economic level. While Senegal has always been a moderate country vis-à-vis the West, it wants to review the agreements and contracts with France
,” explains Ogo Seck, professor of political science at Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis. .
“It is time for France to lift its knee from our necks. Seven centuries of misery made up of human trafficking, colonization and neocolonization are enough. It’s time for France to leave us alone
,
”
Ousmane Sonko said in July 2021, during a press conference in Dakar. Comments which have since been softened, in particular on the CFA franc or on relations with France, in order to attract a wider electorate, in a logic of conquest of power.
Read alsoSenegal: Ousmane Sonko calls to “consolidate democracy”
But this political rise of the man who is sometimes nicknamed “the comet” was disrupted in February 2021, when he was accused by Adji Sarr, a young employee of a massage parlor, of repeated rapes and death threats. A legal case which will cost him his parliamentary immunity. He denounces an “
attempt at political liquidation
” carried out by the camp in power to prevent him from running in the presidential election of February 2024. The two opponents Karim Wade and Khalifa Sall had already been excluded from the 2019 presidential election with legal cases where they were sentenced to prison for illicit enrichment and embezzlement of public funds.
While he was accompanied by several thousand young activists and supporters, Ousmane Sonko was arrested for “
disturbing public order
” on March 3, 2021 on the way to the court where he was summoned by the investigating judge. Five days of violent riots followed which left 14 dead according to Amnesty International and 590 injured according to the Red Cross. Clashes where demonstrators attacked stores, gas stations and public buildings. “
We were in the middle of the post-Covid-19 economic crisis with the high cost of living, young people felt abandoned by those in power
,” puts Professor Ogo Seck into context.
Young people then find refuge in Sonko's speech, thinking that he will solve employment problems
. The political leader was finally released and placed under judicial supervision after negotiations led by religious authorities.
Despite this affair hanging like a sword of Damocles above his head, the opponent resumes his political path. In September 2021, he created the Yewwi Askan Wi (Free the People) coalition, with the Party of Unity and Rally (PUR) of the influential religious leader Serigne Moustapha Sy and the Taxawu Senegal party of the former mayor of Dakar. Khalifa Sall – with whom the break is now complete. An electoral coalition which allowed him to win the town hall of Ziguinchor, capital of his stronghold in Casamance.
Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko in Dakar in March 2021. AP - Sylvain Cherkaoui
The political alliance holds until the legislative elections of July 2022 and makes it possible to win 56 seats in the National Assembly, thanks to an inter-coalition with the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) of former president Abdoulaye Wade, who has since imploded.
But the end of 2022 is marked by a return of Ousmane Sonko's legal setbacks with an accusation of defamation by the Minister of Tourism Mame Mbaye Niang. On May 8, 2023, he was sentenced on appeal to six months in prison, which caused him to lose his eligibility. A week later, he was summoned for the trial between him and the masseuse Adji Sarr who accused him of rape. After a long hearing in his absence, he was sentenced on June 1 to two years in prison for “
corruption of youth
”. A conviction which provoked two days of riots in the country which left 23 dead and 350 injured. The demonstrators suspect Macky Sall of wanting to run for a third term in February 2024.
Read alsoChronology - Senegal: Ousmane Sonko, a political-judicial saga in eight dates
If the head of state at the time gives up in July 2023, the pressure will not fall on the man who was his main adversary. He was arrested in connection with a third legal case where he was accused of calling for insurrection and endangering state security. In the process, his party was dissolved by the authorities who justified themselves by Pastef's frequent calls
for “insurrectional movements
”. While he held a hunger strike for several weeks, Ousmane Sonko was ousted from the electoral register. His candidacy for the presidential election is therefore ruled out by the Constitutional Council. In November 2023, he therefore chose his discreet right-hand man, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, as a replacement candidate while the latter was also in prison for contempt of court.
After weeks of uncertainty following the postponement of the presidential election decided by Macky Sall on February 3, Ousmane Sonko and Bassirou Diomaye Faye were both released on March 14 thanks to a general amnesty law. proposed by the outgoing president. Together, the two leaders campaigned in a single week before winning the presidential election in the first round on March 24 with more than 54% of the votes, like a duo who will have to find their balance at the head of state. .
Read alsoSenegal: who is Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who went from prison to the presidency in a flash?
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your inbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Share :
Continue reading on the same themes:
Senegal
Ousmane Sonko
Portrait
Bassirou Diomaye Faye
Macky Sall