In Senegal, stadiums become a field of expression for Ousmane Sonko supporters

Sitting on a plastic chair planted on the edge of the lawn of the Amadou-Barry stadium in Guédiawaye, in the suburbs of Dakar, Samba Thiam watches the players compete around the round ball on this third day of the group stage of the navetanes, a Very popular amateur football championship which takes place during the rainy season. Behind him, the supporters shout songs of support to the rhythm of the sabars (Senegalese percussion).

“On August 26 in these same stands, supporters also sang for Ousmane Sonko. Unfortunately, it escalated with the police throwing tear gas”, relates the president of zone 2 of the navetanes of Guédiawaye. Videos of excited supporters, dressed in green and white, singing “Sonko namenala” (“We miss you Sonko”, in Wolof), have made the rounds on social networks. Since then, this phenomenon of “sonkorisation” of matches has spread across the country.

Imprisoned since the end of July, the opponent Ousmane Sonko risks not being able to run in the presidential election scheduled for February 2024 since his removal from the electoral lists following his sentence to two years in prison for “corruption of youth”. 1^er June. With opposition demonstrations systematically banned for several months, its supporters have found other ways to show their support. Particularly in football stadiums, where politics enters the stands.

Federation “shenanigans”?

The most visible sequence was the friendly match between Senegal and Algeria on September 12, when supporters chanted pro-Sonko songs in the Abdoulaye-Wade stadium in Diamniadio before the kick-off. sending. “We bypassed the authorities to make ourselves heard. We were happy to finally be able to express ourselves”testifies Falla, 35 years old, present on the day of the match.

The songs could even have sounded louder. Many supporters who failed to obtain their tickets denounced “shenanigans” of the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF), which is largely made up of people affiliated with President Macky Sall’s party, such as Abdoulaye Sow, minister of urban planning and vice-president of the body. “We have the impression that the FSF was trying to prevent the Diamniadio stadium from being used as a place where pro-Sonko slogans were heard too much, but this was a failure”estimates Mansour Ndao, the spokesperson for Ultras 221, a group of supporters which claims around 10,000 members.

According to him, many fans of the Lions of Teranga were unable to buy tickets at the most affordable prices, while street sellers massively resold tickets two to four times the price, thus slowing down access to the stadium to a possible crowd of pro-Sonko supporters. “It would seem that to obtain such quantities of tickets, you must benefit from complicity within the federation,” suggests Mansour Ndao. When contacted, FSF officials did not wish to speak or did not respond to our requests.

Since then, other videos of the “sonkorisation” of stadiums, such as in Medina Sabak (center), have been circulating on social networks. In Vélingara (south), the regional body responsible for organizing the navetanes even threatened, on September 5, to suspend teams and impose a fine of up to 150,000 CFA francs (229 euros) if political chants were chanted in the stands. “I am against the association of sport and politics. Young people get confused and let themselves be carried away by the atmosphere, but these are two diametrically opposed things”judge El Hadj Abdoulaziz Diop, vice-president of the ASC Jaxaay club in Guédiawaye.

A “sonkorisation” of concerts

The phenomenon is starting to spread outside the stadiums. Pro-Sonko chants were heard during the concert of musician Youssou Ndour at the end of September in Paris, then during that of Baaba Maal in London, or even during weddings in Senegal.

“Many young people were arrested, we developed a new form of peaceful demonstration instead of going towards confrontation”explains El Malick Ndiaye, the communications manager of the African Patriots of Senegal for work, ethics and fraternity (Pastef), Ousmane Sonko’s political party, dissolved on July 31.

Even if Pastef encourages this phenomenon of “sonkorisation”, it did not come from its leaders, observes Jean-Charles Biagui, teacher-researcher in political science at the Cheikh-Anta-Diop University of Dakar (UCAD) : “This politicization of sport was imposed by the political context, marked by an increasingly authoritarian regime and a reduction in the means of expression for Sonko’s supporters. » The navetanes stands, courted by politicians, seem to be the most favorable place “to reach out to people and display your popularity, especially on the eve of the elections”says Abdoulaye Diaw, sports journalist for private radio RFM.

Jean-Charles Biagui continues: “The government’s response is limited, as it is difficult to get people to stop chanting Sonko’s name in a non-political public protest. It has become one of the rare modes of action and political participation that cannot be contested by those in power. » The latter can therefore expect to see the next matches of the Lions of Teranga against Cameroon, on October 16 in Lens, or against South Sudan, in November in Diamniadio, also “sonkorized”.