Senegal sees unrest ahead of Ousmane Sonko's trial

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Africannews and AP - AFP

The unrest in Ziguinchor, a town in southern Senegal, came one day before the expected start of Sonko’s rape trial in the country’s capital, Dakar. Sonko was charged based on a woman’s accusations that he assaulted her when she worked at a massage salon.

If convicted, Sonko faces up to 10 years in prison and would be barred from running for president.

According to local authorities, a police armoured vehicle struck and killed the officer as it was reversing. The government offered condolences to the officer’s family, calling his death a ‘tragic accident’.

Clashes occurred near Sonko’s home, where he has been staying while vowing to defy any summons to appear in Dakar for the rape trial. Sonko challenged President Macky Sall in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and was elected mayor of Ziguinchor last year.

Supporters gathered outside his home starting Sunday evening, fearing police would move to arrest him to bring him to court. Messages have circulated on social media calling for supporters to act as Sonko’s “shields.” and defend their leader from arrest.

Sonko recently received a 6-month suspended prison sentence in a defamation case and declared he would no longer respond to court summonses without his safety being guaranteed.

His lawyers told reporters at a news conference in Paris on Monday (May. 15) that Sonko had not yet received a summons but would appear “if conditions were met.”

Senegalese police deployed extra officers in Ziguinchor and elsewhere in Senegal.

 

SENEGAL CONCERN NOTE:

 Ousmane Sonko had announced that he would only attend the trial if his safety from the security forces could be guaranteed. During his last two appearances in court of a different trial, he was attached by security forces, his vehicle window smashed, forcibly extracted and on one occassion sprayed with a highly toxic potentially deadly substance in what has been called an assassination attempt.

The rape accusation case itself is widely viewed as a farce aimed at excluding Sonko (who has a commanding lead in the polls) from the presidential race. The medical certificate from one of Senegal's leading gynacologists cleared him, as it revealed there had been no sexual contact, although the doctor then had attempts to bribe him to change the certificate followed by death threats and attempts on his life when he refused. The leading Gendarmerie investigator faced death threats, sacking and military detention after he revealed that an internal Police enquiry had found that the Chief prosecutor had altered witness statements and infroduced false evidence to implicate Sonko. Leaked audi tapes from the supposed victim (which she does not deny making) reveals her admitting the whole matter was an engineered plot as he had never had any relations with her. The investigating judge refused to accept evidence submitted by the accused revealing clear evidence of conspiracy against him.

It should be further noted that President Macky Sall's two previous main presidential contenders have both also found themselves excluded for running against him due to cases brought against them in the courts.