Senegal Opposition Leader Released Amid Nation-Wide Protests

Sonko gained strong political support amongst Senegal’s youth population. (Flickr)

Senegalese officials released the country’s most prominent opposition leader Ousame Sonko on March 8 after violent protests broke out over his arrest. Thousands of people condemned Sonko’s arrest as a threat to democracy and used this platform to criticize Senegalese President Macky Sall’s COVID-19 response and other socio-economic hardships that supposedly resulted from his presidency. 

Police arrested Sonko on his way to a court hearing after a beauty salon worker accused him of rape. He denied the charges and accused Sall of orchestrating his arrest in an attempt to hinder his political momentum. Protests broke out immediately after Sonko’s arrest, leading to the worst political unrest in Senegal in years. 

Sonko’s arrest prompted national and international pushback over the legitimacy of his arrest. Protestors declared the arrest an attack on Senegal’s democracy, while Amnesty International stated that Sonko was arrested arbitrarily. Sall has been accused of detaining political opponents to quell opposition in the past. For instance, in 2017, Dakar Mayor Khalifa Sall (no relation to Macky Sall) was sentenced to five years in prison for charges of embezzlement, preventing him from running for president in 2019. Sall pardoned Mayor Sall right after the election, raising concerns about the timing of the pardon. 

At least five people have died since the start of the protests, including a 17-year old boy. The government deployed riot police into the protests on March 8, where they used tear gas and rubber bullets to thwart demonstrators. Protestors targeted police stations, government buildings, and businesses affiliated with Sall, including supermarkets opened by the French company Auchan. 

Although Sonko’s arrest sparked the demonstrations, protests spread to include multiple grievances aimed at Sall’s government. Protestors criticized Sall’s COVID-19 response, asserting that it widened the wealth gap, induced economic hardships, and provoked conflict between youth and the police as a result of the 9 pm curfew. Some protestors also voiced concerns over the possibility of Sall exploiting a constitutional change in 2016 to run for a third term, threatening Senegal’s democratic processes. 

Conversely, the widespread opposition to Sonko’s arrest also raised concerns about the protests potentially hindering the ability of women to report sexual assault. The dismissal of the worker’s rape allegation against Sonko worries victims’ rights advocate groups, as reporting sexual assault in Senegal is already difficult. Up until one year ago, Senegalese law defined rape as a misdemeanor that carried a maximum sentence of 10 years; Sall signed legislation criminalizing rape on January 10, 2020, that set a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of 25. 

The woman stated that Sonko frequently visited the salon she worked at, made numerous sexual advances, and threatened to kill her; when she refused, he raped her. The worker became a target for harassment after a photo of her face circulated on WhatsApp. Protestors accused her of being a liar and a puppet of the government. The worker received death threats, prompting her to go into hiding. 

Given that protests are expected to continue into next week, the Education Ministry announced on March 7 that schools in Senegal will be closed until March 15. Sall declared a day of national mourning on March 11 in honor of those killed during the protests, and he announced that the curfew in Dakar (a point of contention for many protestors) will be lifted on March 19. As demonstrations continue, the leaders of Senegal’s Muslim brotherhoods and opposition group Movement to Defend Democracy both call for peaceful protests.