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In Senegal, opponent Ousmane Sonko, deputy and president of the Pastef party, elected mayor of Ziguinchor at the end of January, spoke on the evening of Friday March 11 during a long television interview with several national media.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
Ousmane Sonko notably returned to the court case, at the origin of the deadly riots of March 2021, namely the complaint for rape filed once morest him by Adji Sarr. Asked by RFI, Ousmane Sonko did not respond to our requests for an interview on this case. A year following the demonstrations which left at least 13 dead, Ousmane Sonko once once more denounced a ” political conspiracy » and maintains his radical line of « opponent number 1 to the Macky Sall diet.
The interview with five journalists, in the Wolof language – a claimed choice – lasted two and a half hours. Asked regarding the court case in which he is charged, Ousmane Sonko reaffirms this: ” Senegalese justice is complicit in a plot. There is nothing in this file that can worry me,” he said.
Showing, facing the camera, his diplomatic passport, the leader of Pastef, still under judicial control, requests the return of his ordinary passport.
Read also: Senegal: Adji Sarr comes out of silence a year following his accusations once morest Ousmane Sonko
Faithful to his sovereignist and anti-colonialist discourse, the new mayor of Ziguinchor reconsiders his decision to rename the streets of his city bearing the names of French personalities. He promises, if elected to the presidency, to ” renegotiate contracts with foreign companies “. He also accuses France of being behind the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS in Mali, while ensuring: “JI have nothing once morest the French people ».
A line without concession, with in perspective, the legislative elections of July and especially the next presidential one. While President Macky Sall remains unclear regarding a possible candidacy for a third term, Ousmane Sonko assures him: his next meeting with the Head of State will be ” the transfer of service to the palace in 2024 he says.