May 26. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Government of Senegal has stressed that it will work to maintain public order “whatever the cost”, after the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko indicated that he will travel to the capital, Dakar, for “the last fight” in the framework of the trial against him for alleged rape and death threats.
“Whatever the cost, public order will be maintained,” said the spokesman for the Executive, Abdou Karim Fofana, according to the ActuSen news portal. “We will not let anyone cause public order problems or disturb the tranquility of the Senegalese,” he stressed.
Sonko said on Wednesday that he will travel to Dakar after boycotting the trial sessions against him, in which the Prosecutor’s Office has claimed ten years in prison against him. “Neither the prosecution nor the Prosecutor’s Office have presented any evidence, because they don’t have it,” he said, before asking his followers to “mobilise.” “If Sall achieves his goals against Sonko, nothing will stop him in this country. It will be a dictatorship,” he warned.
The case against Sonko for alleged rape was opened in March 2021, when the arrest of the opponent led to protests by his followers that resulted in 15 deaths and significant material damage. Demonstrations last week by supporters who gathered at his home to prevent his arrest left another three dead, including an officer killed in an accident by a police vehicle.
The opposition has denounced on several occasions that the president of Senegal has plans to run for a third term. The Senegalese Constitution limits the total number of terms to two and an attempt to extend his stay in power could lead to instability, although the president has defended that it would be legal for him to run for office, a point that he has not yet confirmed.
