Ousmane Sonko knew that at any time he could be arrested. But it was when no one was expecting it that the opponent was arrested. Since his sentence to two years in prison for “corruption of youth” on June 1, the Ministry of Justice had indicated that his arrest could take place “as soon as the decision [of justice] is available”. Did they fear further riots, given Mr. Sonko’s ability to mobilize the streets in Dakar? The authorities had in any case preferred de facto to put him under house arrest rather than transfer him to Rebeuss prison.
Friday, July 28, to the surprise of the opponent and his relatives, Ousmane Sonko was imprisoned, but in a new case. According to Abdou Karim Diop, the public prosecutor who spoke to the press on Saturday, Ousmane Sonko is now being prosecuted for “call for insurrection”, “criminal association”, “attack on state security” , “criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise”, “conspiracy against the authority of the State”, “acts aimed at endangering public security and creating serious political disturbances” and “theft” for acts committed between March 2021 and June 2023.
“All these procedures that we have set out, which have caused inestimable damage as well as more than forty deaths, inevitably converge on Ousmane Sonko”, explained the prosecutor. According to the spokesman for the opponent’s party, El Malick Ndiaye, Mr. Sonko was “being heard by the judge to be charged before being placed under a warrant of committal” at the end of the day on Saturday. “We will try to blame all the events that have happened over the past two years on him,” said Demba Ciré Bathily, spokesperson for Mr. Sonko’s lawyers’ collective.
Important police force
On Saturday, as the prosecutor began his press conference, clashes began to be reported in certain districts of Dakar. The day before, one of the stations of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) site was ransacked and incidents took place in Dakar and Ziguinchor, in Casamance, the city of which Mr. Sonko is mayor, without injuries being reported. The fact that the arrest took place on a public holiday in the country, the day after the Ashura festival, undoubtedly limited the mobilization of his supporters.
A large police force in several arteries of Dakar remained visible on Saturday, however, and a driving ban until Monday for motorcycles was decreed. Measures that revealed the fears of the authorities. In early June, at least 26 people died in the riots that followed the opponent’s conviction, according to a report by Amnesty International.
The opposition coalition Yewwi Askan Wi (“liberate the people”) denounced an “umpteenth drift” of power while the Pastef, the party of Ousmane Sonko, speaks of “relentlessness” and continuity of Macky Sall’s project “to prevent their leader from being a presidential candidate in 2024”. Each of these court cases puts the opponent at risk of being declared ineligible. Previously convicted in the Adji Sarr case and in a defamation case against the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Sonko already runs the risk of being excluded from the race for the highest office. Seven months before the election, the judicial authorities have so far not publicly clarified his situation.
Long accused by the opposition of wanting to run for a third term, President Macky Sall has meanwhile cleared up doubts: “My decision, which has been considered for a long time, is not to be a candidate for election, even if the Constitution gives the right,” he said in early July, partly easing the political tension that had become stifling.
