2023-07-15 11:09:26
Ousmane Sonko called for a concert of pans on Saturday evening to protest “peacefully” once morest the banning of his investiture meeting. The opponent of Senegalese President Macky Sall was invested by his party as presidential candidate for 2024 despite his court convictions.
Published on: 07/15/2023 – 13:09
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The opponent Ousmane Sonko, invested by his party as presidential candidate for 2024 despite his uncertain eligibility, called for a concert of pans, Saturday evening July 15, in Senegal to protest “peacefully” once morest the ban on his investiture meeting. He also called for “wearing a red color” to protest and “do strong acts for peace”.
Ousmane Sonko was sentenced on June 1 to two years in prison in a morality case, a verdict which makes him ineligible as it stands, according to his lawyers and jurists. In addition, the opponent was sentenced on May 8 to six months in prison suspended during an appeal trial for defamation, a sentence widely perceived as making him ineligible for the presidential election. But he has not yet exhausted his appeals to the Supreme Court.
“We are going to choose another date (for the investiture meeting). Macky Sall is still in the process of liquidating Pastef (his party) and to prevent me from being a presidential candidate,” Ousmane said Friday evening. Sonko, in Wolof and French addresses on his party’s channel, alluding to the banning of his inaugural convention.
The governor of Dakar announced in a press release on Thursday the banning of this gathering, initially scheduled for Saturday followingnoon in a stadium in the suburbs of Dakar, for “risks of disturbing public order”.
Instead of the investiture meeting, Ousmane Sonko called on Friday to “organize Saturday evening, from 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. (local and GMT), a concert of saucepans, horns and firecrackers, a peaceful way to demonstrate his disapproval, send a message of peace to President Macky Sall and ask him to step down in peace”.
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Ousmane Sonko says he ‘remains eligible’
President Macky Sall, elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2019, announced in early July that he will not run for president in 2024.
The investiture of Ousmane Sonko took place on Thursday during a meeting of the High Regulatory Authority of the Party (HARP), an organ of Pastef, which validated the decisions made by delegates from the 46 departments of Senegal and the diaspora. .
“Following a transparent and democratic investiture process, Ousmane Sonko, enjoying all of his civil and political rights, is unanimously nominated by the votes cast, candidate for Pastef-Les Patriotes for the presidential election of February 25, 2024”, said his training in a press release sent to AFP on Friday.
Despite legal proceedings, “I remain eligible” for the 2024 presidential election, said Ousmane Sonko the day following his inauguration. He also denounced once once more the blockade of his home in Dakar “since May 28” by the security forces, a situation which he believes puts him in fact “in prison”.
Senegalese justice also announced on Friday that it had issued an international arrest warrant once morest Juan Branco, French lawyer for Ousmane Sonko, for “crimes and misdemeanors” in connection with the unrest that occurred in early June in Senegal.
Juan Branco announced on June 22 that he had filed a complaint in France and a request for an investigation at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague once morest Senegalese President Macky Sall for “crimes once morest humanity”, following the violent demonstrations.
With AFP
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