Nine dead as protests rock Senegal after Sonko jail sentence

In Senegal, at least nine people have been killed in clashes between riot police and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko after a court sentenced him to two years in prison, the country’s interior ministry said.

Skirmishes erupted after Thursday’s ruling, possibly leading to the banning of Sonko, President Macky Sall’s fiercest opponent, from running in next year’s presidential election.

In the capital Dakar, cars and buses were set on fire and disturbances were reported elsewhere, including in the city of Ziguinchor, where Sonko has been mayor since 2022.

“We regret to learn of the violence that has led to the destruction of public and private property and sadly nine deaths in Dakar and Ziguinchor,” Interior Minister Antoine Diome said on national television on Friday.

Sonko, 48, did not attend the hearing over an alleged sexual assault in which he was accused of raping a woman who worked at a massage parlor in 2021, when she was 20, and making death threats against her. He denied wrongdoing and said the allegations were politically motivated.

The court acquitted Sonko of rape, but found him guilty of a separate offense described in the Penal Code as immoral conduct towards persons under the age of 21.

The Justice Ministry said the opposition leader could be taken to jail at any time now.

Police remained stationed around his home in Dakar as unrest flared in the capital and elsewhere following the verdict.

“With this sentence, Sonko cannot be a candidate,” said one of the opposition leader’s lawyers, Bamba Ciss, referring to Senegal’s electoral law.

Sonko’s PASTEF party said the verdict was part of a political conspiracy and called on citizens to “stop all activity and take to the streets” in a statement.

Sonko, a former civil servant, rose to prominence in the 2019 presidential election, coming in third after a campaign targeting President Sall and the country’s ruling elite. He portrays Sall as a corrupt and would-be dictator, while the supporters of the president call Sonko a troublemaker who has sown instability. His first arrest on rape charges in 2021 sparked several days of clashes that left at least 12 people dead.

Thick black smoke billowed from a central university campus in Dakar on Thursday, where protesters set fire to several buses in the afternoon and threw stones at riot police, who responded by firing tear gas.

Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana said security forces had the situation in the capital under control.

Several social media and messaging platforms were restricted in Senegal later in the evening — a measure “likely to have a significant impact on the public’s ability to communicate,” according to the NetBlocks internet observatory.

Law professor Ndiack Fall said Sonko could demand a new trial if he turned himself in to authorities. But Sonko’s supporters have denounced the allegations as a ploy to prevent him from running in elections scheduled for February. The government and judiciary deny this.

Demonstrations are not uncommon in Senegal and tend to increase around elections. But Sall’s second term was particularly turbulent for a country usually regarded as one of West Africa’s strongest democracies.

Separately, Sonko is appealing a six-month suspended prison sentence for libel – a crime he also denies.