July 3 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has called on Senegalese to come out “massively” in the coming days to protest the announcement by the country’s president, Macky Sall, that he will announce this Monday if he presents his candidacy for a third presidential term in 2024.
“We must go out and confront the Macky Sall regime and say that it is not up to him to choose the candidates who will have to compete in the next presidential elections,” declared the opposition leader, according to the DakarActu news portal.
The leader of the Senegalese African Patriots for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF) party has pointed out that the Senegalese people are “a barrier against the abuse of Macky Sall”. However, Sonko has begun his intervention by recalling the deaths since the protests began in 2021.
“50 deaths recorded between March 2021 and June 2023. The number is enormous since a single life is equivalent to all of humanity,” he denounced, while criticizing that the president “has no consideration for the Senegalese people.” , since “he has not deigned to talk about the dead but prefers to make an appointment to talk about a purely political issue.”
At the same time, Sonko has considered that the president has a “visceral hatred” against him: “he thinks that his method against the other political actors in the opposition was going to work for him. But the people rose up against him and his men to prevent him from executing your project,” he said.
He has also taken the opportunity to invite the Army to avoid accepting “being led into the internal political game.” “The Army is our last bastion, it is our guarantee of security and stability,” she has indicated.
“We have to win this last battle. Now is not the time to shudder. Do not be afraid of anything because this regime has reached its limits of repression,” said the Pastef party president.
Sall announced this weekend that this Monday he will announce whether or not to run as a candidate for the presidential elections, a decision widely criticized by the opposition, since the Senegalese Constitution prohibits leaders from running for a third term.
This situation adds to the rise in protests over the recent two-year prison sentence against Sonko for “youth corruption”, whose protests have left more than 15 dead in recent weeks.
