Sonko emphasizes that national sovereignty “is incompatible with the presence of foreign military bases”
May 17. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Prime Minister of Senegal, Ousmane Sonko, has put on the table the possibility of closing France’s military bases and has argued that the national sovereignty of the African country “is incompatible with the presence of foreign military bases”, less than a month take office after the last presidential elections.
“I reiterate Senegal’s willingness to take care of itself, which is incompatible with the presence of foreign military bases (on its territory),” he said, before maintaining that these facilities “raise legitimate questions, more than 60 years after the independence”.
“We must ask ourselves about the reasons why the French Army, for example, benefits from multiple military bases in our country and about the impact of this presence on our national independence and our sovereignty,” he argued.
Thus, he has stated that, however, this should not lead to doubting the agreements at the defense level signed by Dakar and “many countries”, among which he has cited the United States and the United Kingdom, as stated in the Senegalese state news agency, APS.
“We can have defense agreements without this justifying that a third of the Dakar region is currently occupied by foreign bases,” stressed Sonko, a former opposition leader, without the authorities of France – which has about 350 soldiers deployed in Senegal – have so far commented on these statements.
On the other hand, the Senegalese prime minister denounced during a speech with the French leftist politician Jean Luc Mélenchon the passivity of France and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the face of the repression carried out during Macky Sall’s government against his party, Patriots. Africans of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF), then in opposition.
Sonko, who was imprisoned for several months, did not run in this year’s presidential elections having been disqualified following his conviction in 2023 for “corruption of youth” after being accused of rape, charges that were ultimately dismissed. Finally, he was released in an amnesty granted to several prisoners ahead of the elections.
The opposition, then mayor of Ziguinchor (south), appointed Diomaye Faye as his replacement, who won the presidential election with the support of PASTEF – then dissolved – over the official candidate, the then prime minister, Amadou Ba. The now president has promised to implement reforms at the political and economic level in order to restore national “sovereignty.”
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