The streets around the Dakar court are squared. On all the exits, roadblocks have been erected, while riot police filter the passages. The smell of tear gas wafts through the air. The security device deployed in the Senegalese capital is considerable, in order to avoid any overflow.
A month after a first report, recorded on February 16, the main Senegalese political opponent, Ousmane Sonko, appears Thursday, March 16 in a defamation lawsuit following a complaint by the Minister of Tourism Mame Mbaye Niang. The leader of the Pastef/Les Patriotes party accused the minister of having been singled out in a report by the General State Inspectorate for alleged embezzlement in the Community Agricultural Domains Program (Prodac). The stakes are high since in the event of conviction, Ousmane Sonko, candidate for the presidential election of February 2024, risks ineligibility.
Violent clashes in Dakar
Even before the trial began, clashes occurred on Ousmane Sonko’s journey to the Dakar court. Refusing to follow an imposed route, his convoy found itself immobilized at the level of the Mermoz roundabout, before he was brutally extracted from his vehicle to be taken to court by the police intervention brigade (BIP). . Clashes then broke out between activists and the police. A fast food kiosk was reduced to ashes, a nearby Auchan supermarket was set on fire while the rubble on the road testifies to the violence of the exchanges. At the end of the morning, the scuffles extended to several districts of the capital and buses were stoned. Called in as reinforcements, army units deployed in certain areas of Dakar.
In the courtroom, the atmosphere is also electric. Hit by tear gas earlier in the morning, Ousmane Sonko and one of his lawyers were evacuated to the infirmary. After many suspensions, the judge finally decided to postpone the trial to March 30.
A tense week
Since the holding of a “giga meeting” of the Yewwi Askan Wi (Liberate the People) coalition on Tuesday March 14, popular pressure has continued to increase. This show of force to denounce the « arbitrary arrestss » et « the instrumentalization of justice against opponents brought together thousands of activists and supporters in Dakar. There have been many voices calling for the departure of Macky Sall who, until now, has still not decided on a possible candidacy for the presidency of the Republic in 2024. Uncertainty about a third consecutive mandate which generates tensions and anger among a large part of the population. “People are tired, we are fed up”, supports Abdou, Pastef activist.
Ousmane Sanko denounces a plot
Demonstrations were announced across the country the day before the trial. In Dakar, but also in Fatick and Keur Massar, they were banned for fear of “threats to public order”. Arguments had already taken place in the evening. The ruling coalition Benno Bokk Yakaar (United by Hope) accuses the opposition of seeking to “destabilize institutions” over there « violence ».
In addition to this lawsuit for defamation, Ousmane Sonko has also been prosecuted since March 2021 for “rape and death threats” after the accusations of an employee of a massage parlor. The case had been at the origin of the riots of March 2021 in which 14 people had lost their lives. Ousmane Sonko denounces “a political conspiracy” aimed at dismissing him from the presidential race of 2024. During the presidential election of 2019, this politician from Casamance (South) came in third position.