In Senegal, it is still calm after the violence that erupted last week in the wake of the sentencing of opponent Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison. Neither President Macky Sall nor Ousmane Sonko spoke about these clashes. In the opposition, officials call for calm and challenge the head of state.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
” We have seen death. It’s not good for our people. It’s not good for Senegal’s global reach says Idrissa Seck on RFI in English. And for the former Prime Minister, who left the ruling coalition last April, ” the situation will only get worse if President Macky Sall announces a candidacy for a third term “. He calls on the Head of State to settle the debate.
Khalifa Sall, also declared candidate for the election scheduled for February 2024, but for the time being ineligible, deplores for his part ” disastrous events », « the result of a breach of trust between political actors and frustrations accumulated since the selection of the protagonists (policies) in electoral contests has become a rule “. For the former mayor of Dakar, the Head of State must ” take height “. ” The right order is to organize free, transparent and inclusive elections, where only the people will have the last word he says.
Call to the responsibility of Karim Wade
As for Karim Wade, still in exile in Qatar, he called this Monday, June 7 in a message to the ” responsibility ” of ” all the political class and “restraint”. Without mentioning the debate on the third term, the PDS candidate emphasizes having been “ the first politician to suffer from 2012 the consequences of the will of the current regime to eliminate all forms of opposition », end of quote. But ” power is not taken by stepping on corpses he writes.
The troubles having followed the condemnation of opponent Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison officially caused 16 deaths, more than 350 injuries, and material damage is considerable in Senegal. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has temporarily closed several consulates abroad, attacked in recent days, such as in Paris, New York or Milan. Mobile internet was restored last night, but access to social networks remains restricted.
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