Senegalese President Macky Sall called on the government on Wednesday (March 22) for measures to "preserve public order", after unrest related to a trial of opponent Ousmane Sonko that left at least one person dead.
Mr. Sall “asked the government to take all appropriate measures to ensure the absolute security of property and people,” according to an official statement. He spoke of "the imperative to preserve democratic gains and public order in Senegal", a country which has the reputation of being a rare island of stability in a troubled region. A young man was killed Tuesday in Casamance (south) in clashes between supporters of Mr. Sonko and the police, according to a local elected official and an administrative official.
Since March 16, the day the trial of Mr. Sonko, sued for defamation by the Minister of Tourism Mame Mbaye Niang, began, incidents have broken out in several cities. The hearing was adjourned to March 30.
Mr. Sonko left the private clinic in Dakar on Tuesday where he had been hospitalized for five days, we learned from his party on Wednesday. He said on Monday that he received treatment there after becoming unwell due to a "toxic product" which he says he was sprayed with during his forced transfer by the police to the Dakar court for his trial.
The question of Macky Sall's third term
In addition, the police placed in custody on Wednesday evening the head of communication for Mr. Sonko's party, El Malick Ndiaye, for "disseminating false news likely to discredit institutions", announced to the court. AFP a responsible for political training, Ousseynou Ly. Mr. Ndiaye is blamed for a Facebook posting about an "unknown substance" allegedly being "sprayed" on Mr. Sonko, Mr. Ly said.
Minister Niang is suing Mr. Sonko for defamation, insults and forgery. He accuses him of having declared that he had been singled out by a report from a control institution for his management of a fund for the employment of young people in agriculture.
The issue goes far beyond the reputation of the minister. The texts in force provide for removal from the electoral lists, and therefore ineligibility, in certain cases of conviction. Mr. Sonko therefore risks being declared ineligible for the 2024 presidential election.
Macky Sall kept open the question of his candidacy for a third term in 2024, in an interview with the French magazine L'Express on Monday. Mr. Sonko and his supporters denounce the instrumentalization of justice by power to eliminate it politically.
In March 2021, Mr. Sonko's involvement in another alleged rape case and his arrest helped trigger the most serious riots in years in Senegal, which left at least a dozen people dead. The trial has not yet taken place.
