On Thursday, Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko, accused of rape, was sentenced to two years in prison for “corruption of youth” and this sentence sparked violence in Dakar and throughout Senegal, further compromising his presidential candidacy of 2024.
Ousmane Sonko, the fiercest opponent of President Macky Sall, was absent at the delivery of the judgment, during his trial. He is presumed to be blocked by the security forces at his home in the capital, “kidnapped” according to him.
After two years of a confrontation with the authorities which kept the country in suspense, he can now be arrested “at any time”, Justice Minister Ismaïla Madior Fall told reporters.
Without waiting for such an arrest, the dreaded troubles before the deliberation broke out in Dakar and in several cities.
The University of Dakar has taken on the air of a battlefield. Groups of young people threw stones at the police in riot gear who responded with tear gas. Several buses from the medical school, the history department, and the country’s main school of journalism were set on fire and offices ransacked. Classes have been suspended until further notice.
Apart from these hotbeds of violence, the streets of Dakar have been deserted, a rare sight in a teeming metropolis.
Disturbances have been reported elsewhere in the country, in Casamance (south), Mbour and Kaolack (west), or Saint-Louis (north). Satire Mbaye, a presidential party official in Keur Massar, on the outskirts of Dakar, said the party headquarters had been “ransacked”. “They broke the windows and destroyed the material that was inside. They asked where Assome’s house is,” Diatta, the local party official, said.
This violence follows the deliberation rendered Thursday by a criminal chamber in Dakar against Ousmane Sonko, accused of rape and death threats.
The court condemned him for “corruption of youth”, which consists in favoring the “debauchery” of a young person under 21 years of age. On the other hand, she acquitted him of the charges of rape and death threats.