Senegalese authorities deployed armed forces in Dakar on Friday (June 2nd), in the wake of an outburst of violence that left nine dead after the conviction of opponent Ousmane Sonko, candidate for the presidential election of 2024 more than ever threatened with ineligibility.
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While calling for calm and serenity of our fellow citizens, the State of Senegal has taken all measures to guarantee the safety of people and property, "said in the night the Minister of the Interior Antoine Diome at the end of one of the deadliest days of political protest in years in the country.
Restricting access to social networks
Men carrying fatigues and war rifles were positioned at different points in Dakar, the usually teeming capital with streets now deserted and activity almost paralyzed, AFP journalists found, who could not identify at first their body of belonging. In fear of looting, shops remained closed along entire streets still bearing the traces of the previous day's violence. The university in particular has been the scene of prolonged clashes and extensive destruction.
Students reported being instructed to leave campus and struggling to gather their belongings before finding transportation to take them elsewhere. Many Dakarers have decided not to travel for fear for their safety or because they cannot find a means of transport. The government has acknowledged that it has restricted access to social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp or Twitter to stop "the dissemination of hateful and subversive messages".
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Several districts of Dakar, Casamance (south) and different cities were plagued Thursday by a new outbreak caused by the situation of the opponent Ousmane Sonko, the fiercest opponent of President Macky Sall, engaged for two years in a fierce showdown with the power for his judicial and political survival. Before Thursday's events, about 2021 civilians had been killed since <> in unrest largely related to the situation of Ousmane Sonko. The government and the camp of Ousmane Sonko blame each other.
Against the "state mafia"
Senegal on Thursday saw clashes between young people and security forces, ransacking of shops and public facilities and an invasion of the highway between Dakar and the international airport. Interior Minister Antoine Diome reported nine deaths on national television. Ousmane Sonko, third in the 2019 presidential election, was sentenced Thursday by a criminal chamber to two years in prison for pushing to "debauchery" a young woman under 21 years old. The court acquitted him of the charges of rape and death threats against this employee of a beauty salon where he was going to be massaged between 2020 and 2021, charges for which he was tried. The decision seems, in view of the Electoral Code, to lead to the ineligibility of Ousmane Sonko.
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The latter has continued to deny the accusations by shouting at the machination of power to remove him from the presidential election. The government refutes and the Minister of the Interior repeated overnight that the case was a "dispute" of a private nature. Ousmane Sonko was absent at the delivery of the judgment. He is presumed blocked by the security forces at his home in the capital, "sequestered" according to him. But after two years of a confrontation with the authorities that kept the country in suspense, he can now be arrested "at any time," Justice Minister Ismaila Madior Fall told reporters. Such an arrest is likely to inflame people's minds.
The relatively young age of Ousmane Sonko, his sovereignist and pan-Africanist discourse, his defense of religious values and traditions, his diatribes against the "state mafia", multinationals and the economic and political influence exercised according to him by the former French colonial power earned him a strong support among young people in search of prospects and hope in a difficult economic and social environment. The under-20s make up half of the population. Another factor of tension is the vagueness maintained by President Sall on his intention to run or not for a third term in 2024.