June 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Senegal, Macky Sall, has promised this weekend that he will address the nation “very soon” to clarify whether or not he will finally run for a third term in the upcoming presidential elections amid a panorama of extreme violence. politics in the African country.
The Senegalese opposition accuses the president of orchestrating a harsh repression against dissidents and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, whose lawyer, Juan Branco, accused the president himself and his Interior Minister, Antoine Félix Diome, of launching over the past two years ” a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population”.
Tension in the country peaked at the beginning of the month, with the death of more than 15 people after Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison for “corruption of youth” in the framework of a process for alleged rape and threats of death, charges that were ultimately dismissed.
Sall has never openly stated that he will run for a new term, but he has indicated that this decision, if it occurs, would be legal, no matter how much the country’s Constitution limits government terms to two.
“Let people be calm”, the president declared this past Saturday, “because I am going to answer this question very soon, since the time has come, and I will give a speech to the nation in which I will make my answer known”, picks up the Senego news portal.
Sall has not given a specific date on this speech but has indicated that his appearance would take place, at the earliest, immediately after the Tabaski festival — the Senegalese translation of the Muslim festival of Eid al Adha, the celebration of sacrifice – – which will take place, in principle, on June 29.
