Editor TLN
March 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The leader of the Senegalese opposition party Patriots Africans of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF), Ousmane Sonko, would have been the target of an assassination attempt, brutally assaulted last Thursday when he was on his way to testify after receiving a court summons .
Sonko is hospitalized and his condition is “extremely worrying”, as denounced by the opposition party in a press conference collected by the RFI station.
“Every time President Ousmane Sonko is summoned, they have a pretext to physically attack him. On March 16 there was an attempted assassination by poisoning,” the party said in a statement.
On Thursday’s journey in Dakar Sonko was interrupted by tear gas. “These despicable and barbaric acts against President Ousmane Sonko and even against his lawyers are going to be denounced by the PASTEF party for attempted murder and bodily harm,” he added.
They also ask for the return of Sonko’s seized passport so that he can travel for tests like one of his lawyers who also inhaled tear gas and is already in France receiving health care.
The ruling coalition, for its part, has rejected these accusations. “They are small manipulations and, above all, a clear desire to obstruct justice (…). It is obviously a montage so as not to present the evidence of these accusations against the minister Mame Mbaye Niang,” said a spokeswoman for the coalition opponent, Pape Mahawa Diouf.
Sonko’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 30.
Tensions rose in 2021 after the arrest of Sonko, accused of rape and death threats. His arrest led to anti-government protests that resulted in at least thirteen deaths and hundreds of injuries and a decline in the popularity of President Macky Sall, who will not be able to run for re-election in 2024 after exhausting two terms.
Senegal held municipal elections in January that were billed as a referendum on the popularity of President Macky Sall. The vote resulted in a victory for the government party, which however suffered a severe setback in the capital, Dakar, and in the city of Ziguinchor.
