In Senegal, political tension is growing on the streets and online

by time news

2023-05-28 16:21:05

The official website of the presidency of Senegal was temporarily blocked on Sunday May 28 after the launch of a cyberattack claimed by a group claiming to be in solidarity with the protest against power. Inaccessible at the start of the day, the site was operational again at the end of the morning.

Two days earlier, the presidency had already been targeted by an attack affecting dozens of official sites. The @MysteriousTeamO account, claiming to be from the hacker group Anonymous, announced a second wave on social media. This is one of the very first attacks of its kind in Senegal.

The 2024 presidential election

It comes in a context of strong tension nine months before the next presidential election. On the one hand, the President Macky Sall maintains uncertainty about his candidacy or not for a third term. On the other hand, the opponent Ousmane Sonko increases the tension whilehe risks losing his eligibility. A criminal chamber must indeed render a much-awaited verdict on June 1 in a trial against him for rape. He refused to appear, crying out for the conspiracy of power to remove him from the presidential election.

The double attack on the site of the Presidency of the Republic coincides with a “march” towards Dakar undertaken Friday in the south of the country by Ousmane Sonko. His convoy drew crowds of enthusiastic young supporters and was marred by clashes.

One dead in clashes

The Kolda prosecutor’s office has thus confirmed the death of a 37-year-old man, shot dead during clashes between young people and the police. Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana stressed that such processions are legally subject to a request for prior authorization, absent according to him.

“Ousmane Sonko is in a dynamic of daily provocation of the defense and security forces. He seeks to transfer a judicial file to the political field and unfortunately he uses young children whom he pushes to be on the streets., denounced Abdou Karim Fofana on TV5 Monde on Saturday evening. He noted “a disturbing coincidence between the trial of Ousmane Sonko, his caravan, his calls for insurrection” et “these sabotages of state IT infrastructure”.

Ousmane Sonko’s Pastef party blamed his death on power accused of implementing a “incredible brutality and bloody repression with lethal weapons” to sabotage the march. He called on the Senegalese to mobilize for ” to secure “ walking and ” resist “ attempts to hinder it.

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