Story“Le Monde” met the young woman at the origin of the affair which set Senegal ablaze in March 2021. Since she accused opposition leader Ousmane Sonko of having raped her, she has lived as a recluse and under police protection.
Senegal’s most hated woman tiptoed to an undisclosed location in Dakar. The drawn features, dressed in a long black djellaba and a light purple scarf, her sober entry into the room contrasts with the din caused by the mere mention of her name. Pronounce it, “Adji Sarr”, and, in Senegal, the face of your interlocutor will oscillate between mockery, rage, rarely indifference or compassion. For some of her compatriots, she is the woman to kill since she accused Ousmane Sonko, one of the most virulent opponents of the regime, of repeated rapes.
At just 22 years old, Adji Sarr lives like a prisoner in her own country. Witness these three police officers who follow her like her shadow to protect her. Or his frequent changes of address (five in one year) and telephone number. This life on probation began in February 2021. Social tensions, exacerbated by the health and economic crisis, were then high in Senegal and the country caught fire after the arrest of Ousmane Sonko in the weeks following the accusations. In five days of violence, thirteen people lost their lives. The manager cries conspiracy, the private affair turns into a state affair.
The young woman, The world was able to meet in mid-February 2022, says: “A whole country accuses me of being responsible for these deaths. It’s very heavy. But I don’t want to stay silent anymore, I have to give my version of the facts. » In the summer of 2020, after many years working as a handyman for a shopkeeper, she was recruited by a massage parlour, the Sweet Beauty Spa, located in a residential area of Dakar. Adji Sarr claims to have practiced only classic massages there – without sexual services – until her meeting with Ousmane Sonko, who allegedly raped her, according to her, five times between June 2020 and February 2021.
“The first time, when undressing for the massage, he put his two weapons on a table. It intimidated me. After the performance, he demanded a “plus”. I refused. He insisted and raped me. He kept telling me that he would be the future president of Senegal and that I had no interest in talking, that no one would believe me. »
Portrayed as an “upstart”
Why did you stay working in this salon, ask many Senegalese? “After the first rape, in shock, I fled to my village. But without my salary of 60,000 CFA francs (92 euros), I could no longer pay the health costs of my sick aunt, who raised me. And the salon manager promised me it wouldn’t happen again.”, she justifies herself. Corn ” the guy “, as she calls it, would have returned on December 21, 2020. “I had the fear of my life when I opened the door. » According to his account, he rapes her twice in a hot tub after a classic massage. Because of her condition – the young woman claims to have been unable to sit down for a week – her colleagues would have encouraged her to file a complaint, which she will eventually do on February 2, 2021.
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