Senegal’s interior minister has dissolved the party of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, Pastef for allegedly calling on its members to stoke violence during June protests prompting more clashes with police.
This is coming following a long-running struggle between President Macky Sall’s ruling party and Sonko’s Pastef, whose followers accuse Sall of fabricating charges to push out his most defiant opponent ahead of a national poll in February next year.
This is the first time a party has been proscribed since Senegal gained independence from France in 1960.
“We are going to attack this decision, the Senegalese people will resist,” a Pastef spokesperson said on local radio.
Pastef came third in the last elections and is one of three main opposition parties.
Protesters hit the streets of Dakar once again on Monday as Sonko was incarcerated by a judge on charges that include plotting an insurgency.
Sonko was detained last week following a scuffle with security forces stationed outside his apartment in Dakar. It is not clear if Sonko will remain in jail or when a trial will begin.
Bamba Cisse his lawyer said “He will spend his first night in prison.”
There are concerns that more unrests prompted the managers of TotalEnergies petrol stations across Senegal to begin a 72-hour strike from Tuesday because of the political and social crisis.
TotalEnergies acknowledged the planned strike in a statement and, stated that it would communicate on any ensuing disruptions and seek to mitigate its impact.
Sixteen people were killed in June after Sonko was handed a separate two-year prison sentence for ‘immoral behaviour’ towards people younger than 21. At the time, he called for protesters to take to the streets.
The violent protest saw filling stations vandalised in the process, with French and other Western brands appearing particularly targeted. A train service linking Diamniadio to Dakar was suspended.
The government limited internet access due to the spread of “hateful and subversive messages” on social media.