May 17. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Prime Minister of Senegal, Ousmane Sonko, denounced this Thursday 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, the African Patriots of Senegal for Labour, Ethics and Fraternity, then in the opposition.
“The truth is that many European governments, especially the French ones, have difficulty facing our sovereignist political discourse and intend to hinder it. This is what certainly explains the approving silence in the face of the bloody persecution of President Macky Sall’s regime against our party political”, he denounced during a speech with the French politician Jean Luc Mélenchon and before students in Dakar.
In this sense, Sonko has criticized that they have “never” heard the French Government, or the European Union, denounce what was happening in Senegal “during the entire period of extremely violent persecution against an entire political movement in Senegal that caused the death of more than sixty people and resulted in thousands of injuries and more than a thousand political detainees.
“And, even worse, it was the worst of these persecutions that Macron welcomed. He congratulated Sall for doing what was necessary to save his country. That is an incitement to repression, to the persecution and execution of Senegalese who had no more crime than having a political project that was mainly for the Senegalese,” he expressed, recalling that his candidate, Diomaye Faye, won the presidential elections in the first round with more than 54 percent of the votes.
Although he has denounced the “neocolonial positions” and the will of the “French ruling elite” to hinder his “sovereignty discourse”, Sonko, who has said that his statements are as leader of PASTEF and not as head of Government, has assured that he wants “collaborate with all States, including France.”
After the speech, he held a press conference with Mélenchon, whom he thanked for “his unwavering and constant support throughout the duration of the persecution” against PASTEF, against its militants and against himself. “France Insoumise was very present and everyone could see to what extent its support was constant, without thinking twice, in the name of the defense of freedom, of the values we share, of democracy, but also simply of justice” , has held.
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. He appointed Faye as his replacement, who defeated 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.”
Add Comment