Published on : 20/08/2022 – 00:18
In Senegal, the support of Ousmane Sonko, one of the leaders of the opposition, to the president of the transition in Mali, Assimi Goïta, did not go unnoticed during his press statement where he officially announced Thursday 18 August his candidacy for the presidential election of February 2024. Words that provoked reactions.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Thea Olivier
If he is elected President of the Republic, Ousmane Sonko announced on Thursday, August 18, that he would not hesitate to dispatch troops to support “the Malian people and” put an end to this gangrene “, referring to the jihadist groups that are spreading in the country.
An announcement that followed the expression of his support for the president of the Malian transition Assimi Goïta, following accusing President Macky Sall of having ” repatriated the few Senegalese elements who were on the Malian theater ».
These remarks caused the Senegalese army to react, which indicated that it had not withdrawn but had carried out a ” periodic relief of committed contingents as part of Minusma, a UN mission in Mali.
Pape Mahaw Diouf, spokesperson for the Benno Bokk Yaakaar presidential coalition, believes that it is “ irresponsible for presenting Macky Sall and ECOWAS as acting once morest Mali » and accuses Ousmane Sonko of « to attack the image of Senegal on an international scale ».
For its part, the Senegalese Democratic Party, a member of the inter-coalition of the opposition, refuses any comment but recalls its principles, that is to say the union of African States, the freedom of the Malian people to choose its leaders and its right to live sovereignly in peace.
