On Saturday, the opposition, at the request of the caliph general, decided for Mourides to suspend his demonstrations “his die” to avoid the risk of further violence in Senegal. If the field is genuine, the crisis is not resolved in the field. It’s about balance of power.
With our special correspondent in Dakar, Carine Frank
According to a new assessment by M2D, the coalition that supports opponent Ousmane Sonko, the toll for recent riots now amounts to thirteen deaths, ten according to a government source. And nearly 600 wounded, according to the Red Cross.
At the request of religious guides, Ousmane Sonko and doncdû agrees to suspend the demonstrations. He could not do otherwise a few days after the worst clashes the country has known in a decade. It would have been to take the risk of alienating part of public opinion. “The fraternity system is so strong, even for the opponent against the system,” says one analyst. Thus, it is an opportunity for him to present himself as a responsible politician, but he does not give up the streets for all that. An M2D director warns: “It depends on the processing that is carried out by our requirements. But demonstration is a right that we fully intend to exercise. ”
“In return”, the protest movement has in fact submitted a “ten-point memorandum”. In particular, the M2D demands “immediate release” of those they consider to be “political prisoners”, “the end of the action against Ousmane Sonko” and also demands that President Macky Sall’s “constitutional and moral impossibility” be recognized. “run for a third period” in 2024.
Macky Sall under pressure
On the contrary, President Macky Sall will not show that he is acting under pressure, but more than a signal, it is a serious alarm, an electric shock.
Whether the head of state tries the third term or waives it, according to an observer, he does not want to meet him Ousmane Sonko nor as the only opponent and even less as a successor. It is possible that he opens the political game: why not an amnesty in favor of Khalifa Sall, the former mayor of Dakar, and Karim Wade, son of the former president, so as not to leave Ousmane Sonko alone to occupy the land? “We are not there yet,” said a former minister.
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