This Thursday, March 16 in Dakar, the Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko must appear for defamation against a minister. A trial that promises to be a risky meeting and raises fears of violence. Many schools are closed this Thursday morning.
Sonko’s convoy left around 9:00 a.m. (GMT) under heavy police escort, but without the crowd he had summoned.
The neighborhood of his home was patrolled by the security forces from the start of the morning. Armored vehicles, mobile gendarmes and filter barriers were placed around his residence.
The security system has also been reinforced near the court where riot police and gendarmes have been deployed.
Ousmane Sonko is opposed to the Minister of Tourism Mame Mbaye Niang, a leader of the presidential party, who is suing him for “defamation, insults and forgery”. The minister criticizes the opponent for having declared that he had been singled out by a report from the General State Inspectorate for his management of a fund for an agricultural program for the employment of young people.
In March 2021, Mr. Sonko’s involvement in another case of alleged rape helped spark riots that left at least a dozen people dead. These two procedures could prevent his candidacy for the presidency of 2024, the texts providing for removal from the electoral lists, and therefore ineligibility, in certain cases of conviction.
Sidwaya.info
source: VOA
