2023-05-24 22:57:50
Threatened with ineligibility, the opponent and presidential candidate Ousmane Sonko on Wednesday called on the Senegalese to converge with him towards Dakar to challenge the power. The verdict in his rape trial is due out on June 1.
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Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko, declared presidential candidate for 2024 and threatened with ineligibility, launched a new risky challenge to power on Wednesday May 24 by announcing his imminent return to Dakar at the head of a popular convoy through the country.
“I give you an appointment in Dakar, either (the president) Macky Sall backs down, or we will face him to end it”, launched Ousmane Sonko to hundreds of excited supporters who rushed in front of his house in Ziguinchor (south), in the announcement of a speech on his part the day after his trial for rape, held in his absence. “The final fight, where will it take place? It will take place in Dakar”, he proclaimed. “If you are 2,000, let 1,500 rally Dakar to continue the fight,” he said.
Ousmane Sonko affirmed his intention to return by road and to transform these 500 kilometers of journey into a “caravan of freedom”. Then he paraded wearing the Senegalese flag in the midst of his supporters singing and chanting his name. He later clarified on social media that he intended to get going on Thursday, and called on the Senegalese to converge on Dakar.
Dividing personality
It is a new act of defiance against the authorities on the part of the president of the Pastef-les Patriotes party, third in the presidential election in 2019, a divisive personality but popular among those under 20 who represent half of the population. .
On Tuesday, Ousmane Sonko was conspicuous by his absence from his rape trial, saying he feared for his safety and questioned the impartiality of justice. He has always refuted the accusations and shouted at the conspiracy of power to remove him from the presidential election. The issue goes beyond morals. Ousmane Sonko risks his eligibility, already compromised by a six-month suspended sentence for defamation against a minister.
The “caravan of freedom” promises to be a random exercise, tangent to the date of the verdict which must be pronounced on June 1.
Several days before his trial, Ousmane Sonko took refuge in Ziguinchor, a city of which he is the mayor. His supporters have mounted a close and menacing guard around his home to ward off a possible arrest attempt. The authorities and the justice system have chosen not to seek to arrest him. The mobilization of his supporters, during his appointments with the justice system in particular, has regularly given rise to incidents and disturbances, including fatal ones.
In 2021, the arrest of Ousmane Sonko during his procession to the court where he was summoned, when the case of alleged rapes had just broken out, contributed to triggering several days of riots which made the less than a dozen dead. The tension is expected to be strong again around June 1st.
“Remobilize the Troops”
Withdrawing to Ziguinchor allowed “to save time” and “to remobilize the troops everywhere”, assured Ousmane Sonko on Wednesday.
The politico-judicial standoff delivered by Ousmane Sonko has been making headlines since 2021. The soap opera reached a new peak on Tuesday with a trial conducted at a run, an opportunity for an unpacking breaking with the modesty of rigor in Senegal and shared in real time with the general public by the journalists present thanks to the internet.
Prosecutor Abdou Karim Diop has requested that Ousmane Sonko be sentenced to ten years in prison for rape, or at least five years in prison for “youth corruption”, as well as one year in prison for the death threats he received. allegedly uttered against the plaintiff.
Ousmane Sonko is the subject of the complaint by Adji Sarr, 23, an employee of the Sweet Beauté salon. The young woman, who became a celebrity without her will and placed under police protection, maintained at trial that Ousmane Sonko had abused her – “five times” – between 2020 and the beginning of 2021 and had threatened her with death if she was talking.
Ousmane Sonko described her on Wednesday evening as a “manipulated young girl, who was promised a diplomatic passport and exile abroad, (in) more (of) large sums of money”, a “poor young lady who does not is not so innocent as that since she could have recanted a long time ago”. “Sooner or later she will pay the full price for her package,” he said. Adji Sarr has always persisted in demanding justice. The government denies any instrumentalization of justice and alleges a private matter.
With AFP
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