tension rises in Senegal before the trial of opponent Ousmane Sonko

Clashes opposed the Senegalese security forces and supporters of Ousmane Sonko Monday, May 15 in Ziguinchor (south) on the eve of the scheduled appearance of the opponent in court for rape, a plot of power for the rule out the presidential election according to him.

The Sonko affair, a soap opera on the borders of politics and mores that has held Senegal in suspense for more than two years, has once again raised tension and raised fears of an outburst of violence. Ousmane Sonko faces arrest if he sticks to his refusal to appear before judges, according to him accomplices in a set up to prevent him from competing in the presidential election of 2024. Total uncertainty reigned over his intentions on Monday midday.

Young people mobilized on Monday in Ziguinchor, the city of which he has been mayor since 2022 and where he retired a few days ago, several hundred kilometers from Dakar in Casamance. Groups threw stones at the police, who responded with tear gas, an AFP correspondent noted.

Supporters of Mr. Sonko set up roadblocks in various streets using stone blocks and logs, and burned tires. Many supporters of all ages gathered around his home in Ziguinchor on Sunday evening to form a human shield against an attempted arrest, media reported.

Sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence

President “Macky Sall will have to go through us if he wants to catch Sonko”said Cheikh Tidiane Dieye, one of the opposition figures who traveled to Ziguinchor to support him.

Mr. Sonko, president of the Pastef party and third in the presidential election in 2019, is supposed to appear on Tuesday May 16 before a criminal chamber in Dakar for rape and death threats against an employee of a beauty salon in the capital.

Mr. Sonko has always refuted the charges and cried out. He announced that he would no longer respond to summonses from justice, instrumentalized according to him, after being sentenced in May to six months in prison suspended for defamation against a minister. This sentence alone could deprive him of his eligibility.

The texts stipulate that Mr. Sonko should appear at the court registry no later than the day before his trial. Failing this, the court can have him brought by force or try him in absentia. It can also decide to place him in detention for his trial if he appears at the registry. Neither the lawyers nor the spokesperson for his party, contacted by AFP, said whether he persisted in his refusal to appear. Mr. Sonko himself has not spoken for several days.

Strong support among those under 20

His appointments with the law have regularly given rise to incidents or paralyzed Dakar. His opponents accuse him of taking to the streets to escape justice or of being an agitator fomenting a project “insurgent”. His arrest in 2021 helped trigger several days of riots that left at least twelve dead.

Mr. Sonko’s personality is divisive. His sovereignist, pan-Africanist and social discourse, his diatribes against the elites, corruption and the economic and political influence exercised according to him by the former colonial power France earned him strong support among those under 20 who represent half of the population.

His case has monopolized public debate for two years, with the intentions of President Macky Sall. The latter, elected in 2012, re-elected in 2019, maintains the vagueness on a new candidacy in 2024. A third term on his part has many opponents who say it is unconstitutional.