A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #362 - Senegal Between Political and Financial Crisis (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In 2024, a new majority took power in Senegal. Propelled by a massive 
popular movement, the new regime, which has largely failed to meet the 
population's expectations, now finds itself in a state of open political 
crisis while the state teeters on the brink of financial collapse. --- A 
Look Back at the March 2024 Elections ---- On March 24, 2024, Bassirou 
Diomaye Faye, the candidate of PASTEF (1), the opposition to Macky 
Sall's regime, won the presidential election in the first round with 
54.3% of the votes cast (with a 61% voter turnout).  Presented as a 
"revolution" by supporters of the new government, this electoral 
outcome, which Macky Sall had tried to avert by all possible means, 
attempting to secure a third term and even delaying the start of the 
election campaign until the last minute in early February, brought an 
end to months, even years (in 2021, then 2023, and finally early 2024), 
of mobilizations against the regime that were brutally repressed 
(between 65 and 80 deaths according to various sources). It should be 
noted, however, that this electoral victory was not solely the work of 
PASTEF, but of a broader coalition called "Diomaye Faye for President!" 
Upon assuming the presidency, he appointed Ousmane Sonko, the original 
leader of PASTEF, as Prime Minister. However, the President-elect and 
his Prime Minister faced a parliamentary majority loyal to the previous 
government and had to respect the two-year waiting period stipulated in 
the Constitution between the last election and a potential dissolution 
of Parliament. Thus, after a few months of waiting, on November 17 of 
the same year, the legislative elections allowed PASTEF to dominate the 
National Assembly: with nearly 55% of the votes cast, it obtained 130 
out of 165 seats. From then on, PASTEF and its allies held all the 
levers of power, at least domestically, because for a country like 
Senegal, one must also consider relationships of dependence on the 
international stage.

Diomaye is Sonko: not a dueling duo.
We must also revisit the circumstances surrounding the 2024 election: 
they had delayed consequences that have been evident for about a year. 
Sonko was the founder of PASTEF, and Diomaye Faye was its 
second-in-command. Moreover, they were close associates before PASTEF's 
creation, as they were both tax inspectors and also leading members of 
their professional union. Without going into all the legal troubles of 
the former opposition leader, Sonko, prevented from running due to a 
final conviction, was chosen as the candidate by Bassirou Diomaye Faye. 
This led to the popularization of the main campaign slogan: "Diomaye 
mooy Sonko" (Diomaye is Sonko). Once elected, Sonko appointed Diomaye 
Faye as Prime Minister. In a constitutional system similar to that of 
the French Fifth Republic, one could wonder how long this partnership, 
based on the perceived equivalence of individuals, could last. The 
answer was: barely over a year. Indeed, as early as July 2025, Sonko 
began denouncing a "lack of authority at the state level." Then, as the 
months went by, relations only deteriorated. Sonko cultivated his 
popularity through rallies and public pronouncements that broke with the 
head of state, particularly regarding the position to adopt with the 
International Monetary Fund (IMF), and also on "accountability" for the 
former regime (see following paragraphs). The final episode of this 
discord occurred on April 22nd, when Sonko, who had adopted an 
opposition stance towards Diomaye Faye over the past few months, was 
finally dismissed. In response to the President's decision, Sonko 
returned to the National Assembly, where he had been elected in November 
2024, only to resign and become Prime Minister. He was then elected 
Speaker of the Assembly by the PASTEF party members. He also convened a 
PASTEF congress on June 6, where he was re-elected unopposed. Meanwhile, 
Diomaye Faye replaced Sonko with Amadou El Amine Lo, a former official 
at the Central Bank of West African States, a profile likely to appeal 
to international financial circles. No longer able to rely on PASTEF, he 
is now turning to the "Diomaye Faye Coalition," the structure created 
during the presidential campaign. This split can be interpreted in two 
ways (which are not necessarily mutually exclusive): either a 
disagreement over political positions, or a power struggle between two 
figures at the highest levels of government. The first interpretation is 
that of those who defend "sovereignty" from an anti-imperialist 
perspective, and who see Diomaye Faye as a man who fell under the 
influence of foreign powers or international political or economic 
lobbies. This is not implausible.But we must also ask ourselves whether 
Sonko is truly the man of change he claims to be, which, as we shall 
see, is debatable. Furthermore, the other problem, if we follow this 
hypothesis, is the charismatic power he embodies. Certainly, leadership 
(in the sense of subservience to a leader) can be considered a 
phenomenon rooted in history, even in Senegalese political culture (from 
Blaise Diagne to Abdoulaye Wade, by way of Senghor). However, we have 
often seen the perverse effects of this, with a blurring of reference 
points and the feeling that politics is nothing more than a game of 
chess between leaders... Not to mention what, in Sonko's case, is taken 
to an unprecedented level, namely recurring references to religion (even 
if his party does not define itself as a religious party) and a mode of 
unanimous adherence linked to his person that is offered to PASTEF 
activists, as evidenced by the current slogan: Sonko rekk (Only Sonko).

The question of "accountability" in relation to Macky Sall's regime
Since the change of power, a few high-ranking figures from the previous 
regime have run afoul of the law, but overall, despite the outcry from 
the latter's supporters, it hasn't been the sweeping cleanup one might 
have expected, given the extent of the corruption at the end of Macky 
Sall's presidency. Moreover, the few former officials who were 
investigated ultimately benefited from provisional release, or even had 
the charges dropped. One of the points of disagreement between the two 
leaders is therefore this issue of "accountability." Sonko has attacked 
the justice system, accusing it of failing to do its job... That said, 
one might wonder if this isn't simply a convenient way of shirking 
responsibility for the stalled legal proceedings. But there is another 
dimension of accountability that seems to concern the two former 
opposition leaders less: the follow-up to the dozens of lawsuits filed 
by the families of the slain protesters. Certainly, some compensation 
has been paid. There was also the commemoration of a "Martyrs' Day" on 
December 7th, during which Sonko delivered a speech to honor their 
memory. On the legal front, the victims' families jointly filed 
complaints in July 2025. However, to date, the plaintiffs have received 
no updates on the progress of the investigations. This situation 
undoubtedly reflects a desire to appease the security forces, who 
maintained a position of political neutrality during the transition 
between the two presidencies and who can always prove a useful tool when 
it comes to suppressing social movements or political opponents. This 
was evident last February with the violent repression of striking 
students when security forces stormed the campus, resulting in one death 
and dozens of injuries.

The vote on the anti-LGBT law:
a form of state homophobia that is neither traditional nor entirely recent.

While Diomaye and Sonko disagreed on certain points, this was not the 
case when it came to strengthening the law against homosexuality. It's 
important to remember that this was a campaign promise of Sonko's, who 
went even further by proposing a law criminalizing homosexuality. The 
law that was passed increases the penalties for "acts against nature," 
raising them from 5 to 10 years. Furthermore, it also targets the 
"promotion" and "financing" of homosexuality. It passed with a very 
large majority, and those who abstained were opposition members of 
parliament who felt it wasn't repressive enough, since homosexuality 
remained a misdemeanor, not a crime as had been proposed. It is 
significant that, in a country where, in principle, a "democratic" 
debate exists, nowhere in the Senegalese press have one been able to 
read opposing viewpoints in defense of homosexual rights (2). It is only 
in foreign media that one has been able to read or hear positions 
against the tightening of legislation targeting homosexuals. The 
justification for this law is based on a "sovereignist" principle 
illustrated by these words: Westerners prohibit polygamy (or prohibit 
the wearing of the veil), therefore we have the right to prohibit 
homosexuality. In doing so, such reasoning overlooks the colonial origin 
of this legislation (in particular the term "act against nature") which 
has been toughened even though, moreover, African tradition (if this 
word has any meaning) has never made homosexuals "criminals" as the 
promoters of this state-sponsored homophobia understand it. In fact, the 
gorjiggéen (a Wolof term for male homosexuals, literally meaning 
"man-woman") were figures that could almost be described as 
"traditional" in Senegalese society, who had their place but remained 
somewhat marginalized. For the past three or four decades, "moral 
entrepreneurs," in this case from the Islamic sphere, have stirred up 
public opinion on this issue, sometimes conflating homosexuality and 
pedophilia. Initially marginal within the Islamic community, they have 
managed to gain the support of major religious brotherhoods on this 
issue. Thus, under Macky Sall, the passage of an anti-homosexuality law 
was already the subject of a campaign led by an anti-gay lobby called 
And Samm Jikko Yi (Together for the Defense of Our Values). In 2026, it 
was this same lobby that once again placed this campaign promise from 
the PASTEF program on the political agenda...

Senegal's debt: a cyclical but primarily structural phenomenon
The other point of contention raised by Sonko concerns the management of 
Senegal's debt. It's difficult to summarize in a few lines an issue that 
is not only economic and financial, but also political. We can begin by 
giving some figures: a little less than a year after PASTEF came to 
power, in February 2025, the Court of Auditors revealed that Senegal's 
debt in 2023 did not amount to 74% of GDP, as officially announced until 
then, but actually reached 100% of that amount. In light of this 
situation, the IMF suspended the disbursement of a scheduled $1.8 
billion loan. Now, a figure of 132% is projected for 2025. This is the 
infamous "hidden debt." Where does this debt come from? Starting in 
2019, Macky Sall's regime took out loans that it did not declare in the 
state budget, but rather in separate accounts not included in official 
statistics. The question then becomes: why didn't an institution like 
the IMF react sooner? Either the IMF experts are incompetent, or the IMF 
saw what was happening but turned a blind eye. Beyond this issue of 
hidden debt, some economists argue that, even without hidden debt, 
Senegal has a structural tendency toward indebtedness that predates 
recent years. Among the various structural factors are the mechanisms of 
the CFA franc, which make African economies more dependent on 
refinancing in international currencies compared to a situation where 
they have their own currency. There are other factors that could be 
mentioned that have increased this debt, such as the choice of costly 
investments driven by considerations of prestige, or even stemming from 
special international relationships (for example, the choice of the TER 
regional train built by Alstom for a line of only a few dozen 
kilometers, while the rest of the rail network is neglected).
In any case, the prospect of default seems to be looming, and the 
consequences of this critical economic situation are becoming 
increasingly apparent (inflation, stagnant economic activity, and 
unemployment).

Towards a revival of social struggles?
In these deteriorating economic conditions, protest movements have 
emerged. These movements affect specific sectors, such as transportation 
and healthcare. An inter-union initiative, the Labor Defense Union 
Front, was formed to unite these demands, denouncing the fact that 
Ousmane Sonko's government had failed to honor its commitments when, in 
2025, it asked unions to sign a National Pact for Social Stability. A 
first march took place on April 8th, but it is difficult to know if this 
will lead to a larger mobilization.
It is also worth noting that the government did not hesitate to use 
repression to quell students demanding the payment of overdue 
scholarships. Not only were the students physically repressed, resulting 
in the death of one of their members, but student associations were also 
suspended, meaning they no longer have representation in university 
bodies. However, students had been one of the most active centers of 
resistance against Macky Sall's regime and overwhelmingly supported 
Sonko and PASTEF. The events of February were sometimes perceived as a 
betrayal by some students, but for the moment, this disappointment, 
which some remaining supporters of the old regime, now in opposition, 
are trying to exploit, is not enough to create a grassroots opposition 
to the current regime. Leftist forces that supported PASTEF in its rise 
to power, such as the Front for a Popular and Pan-African 
Anti-Imperialist Revolution (FRAPP), which recruits particularly among 
students, defend the line of support for Sonko, rejecting the debt 
restructuring advocated by the IMF, in opposition to Diomaye, at least 
until now. If, indeed, the "solutions" advocated by the IMF are only 
aimed at satisfying international finance and making the Senegalese 
people pay for the mismanagement of the previous regime, the question 
that must be asked for the future, beyond the opposition between Sonko 
and Diomaye, is that of the emergence of a social front and a political 
alternative independent of the quarrels of demagogic politicians, who 
rely on popular movements when they are in opposition and then repress 
them when they come to power.

Dakar correspondent

Notes
(1) Meaning of the acronym PASTEF: "African Patriots for Solidarity, 
Work, Ethics, and Fraternity." The word pastef in Wolof also means goal, 
objective.
(2) As an example of an internationally expressed perspective, see the 
feminist critique by Rama Salla Dieng: 
https://afriquexxi.info/Senegal-Une-loi-contre-les-queers-cache-sexe-des-echecs-du-regime

https://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4747
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