The Senegalese political milieu has been agitated since the beginning of February by a complaint for rape and death threats against Ousmane Sonko, third in the presidential election which saw the re-election of Macky Sall in 2019. Proof of an increasingly strong tension, clashes confronted this Monday in Dakar police officers and sympathizers of the leader of the Pastef party and the opposition which shouts with the “plot” hatched, according to him, by the capacity, noted an AFP journalist.
The facts, word against word
The complaint, reported by the press, was filed by an employee of a beauty salon in the Senegalese capital, in which Mr. Sonko was going to have a massage. In her complaint, the employee of the salon, aged in her twenties, according to the press, claims to have been coerced by force and threats to have sex with Ousmane Sonko. The latter said, Sunday, to have been a client of the salon to relieve back pain, several years old. He said he had made sure beforehand that the salon had the necessary amenities and that the practice was in accordance with Islam. He also made sure that two people were always present during the massages, he added.
Sonko shouts “plot”
The 46-year-old MP denied the accusations on his Twitter account and shouted “conspiracy” and “attempted political liquidation” by President Macky Sall, which he said was intended to ruin his presidential plans in 2024. Mr. Sall maintains the vagueness of the possibility of a candidacy for a third term, despite the limit of two introduced after a constitutional revision approved in 2016. Dozens of supporters of Ousmane Sonko gathered on Monday in front of his home in the center from Dakar.
Clashes between police officers and supporters of Sonko
Police officers were dispatched to the scene to, according to their officers on the spot, remove traffic obstructions and not arrest Mr. Sonko, who is unknown if he was there. “The police were present because of a rally, prohibited during a pandemic,” said a police spokesperson. Mr. Sonko’s supporters threw stones at the police, who dispersed them with tear gas. Police officers were injured in the confrontation, the spokesperson said. Supporters of Mr. Sonko then carried out sporadic actions in the surrounding neighborhoods and set up roadblocks at roundabouts.
Ousmane Sonko’s refusal to respond to a summons from investigators
Mr. Sonko, deputy and president of the Pastef party, refused to attend a summons scheduled for Monday in front of the gendarmes in charge of the investigation, explained to AFP an official of his party, Ousseynou Ly. In the form of a political challenge to the authorities, he indicated that he would respond to the summons of the investigators as soon as his parliamentary immunity was lifted.
The Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko, targeted by a rape complaint in his country, affirms, he but also his supporters, that it is a scheme of power. These accusations provoked clashes between militants and the police.#OusmaneSonko @Macky_Sall pic.twitter.com/89Ax1zycY5
– The Journal of Africa – France 24 (@JTAfrique) February 8, 2021
No reaction was initially obtained from the Senegalese government. The complaint against Mr. Sonko drew parallels with the troubles of Karim Wade, son and former minister of ex-president Abdoulaye Wade, and Khalifa Sall, ousted mayor of Dakar, both hit by convictions for financial embezzlement and prevented from running for the 2019 presidential election.
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