DAKAR – Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko led a peaceful protest after authorities blocked a rally to publicly confirm he would run in next year’s presidential elections. Sonko, dressed in red in a sign of anger, appeared outside his home Saturday evening to kick off the protest, “symbolically” banging pots for several minutes.
The 49-year-old had on Thursday been “unanimously voted in as the PASTEF-Patriots’ candidate for the February 25, 2024 presidential elections,” a party statement said. Sonko has been confined by security forces at his home in Dakar since May 28 and his nomination comes despite lingering questions over his eligibility due to criminal convictions and prison sentences.
Plenty of people joined the noisy protest in several districts of the capital Dakar and major towns such as Ziguinchor in the south and Mbacke in the centre, local media reported. In Dakar’s Parcelles Assainies area, Sonko supporter Malick Diedhiou took part “to send a message of peace… to show unhappiness at what the state is doing against Sonko because it’s illegal,” he said.
The governor of Dakar had banned the party’s nomination rally, which was set for Saturday afternoon, due to the “risk of disturbing public order”. Sonko told supporters “another date” would be chosen. He called for the “concert of saucepans, horns and firecrackers” on Saturday from 8:30 to 9:00 pm to peacefully express disapproval and call for President Macky Sall “to leave office in peace”.
“Macky Sall is trying to eradicate PASTEF and prevent me from being a presidential candidate,” Sonko said on Friday night, urging his supporters to wear red in protest. The firebrand figurehead has generated a passionate following among Senegal’s disaffected youth, mounting a fiery campaign against Sall, who he paints as a corrupt, would-be dictator.
Sonko has warned of “indescribable chaos” if he is prevented from running for the top office. His convictions in May and June sparked deadly clashes between supporters and security forces, spawning the worst unrest Senegal has seen in years.
On May 8, an appeals court gave Sonko a six-month suspended term for slander, although it is unclear whether this sentence, which can also be appealed to the Supreme Court, makes him ineligible. On June 1, Sonko was also handed a two-year term following a trial on charges of sexual abuse of a beauty salon worker.
Legal analysts and Sonko’s own lawyers say this conviction rules him out from being a candidate. But Sonko insisted on Friday that despite the legal proceedings he remains eligible for the election.
– Nampa/AFP