In the book  » Macky Sall behind the mask « , I use anecdotes to show that, in the exercise of power, this man is capable of excusing any affront or injury. This is undoubtedly a trait of opportunism on the part of politicians, because each of his illustrious predecessors (Léopold Sédar Senghor, Abdou Diouf, Abdoulaye Wade) has had to forgive, even inviting around the table of Council of Ministers people who have covered them with the most vile insanities. President Macky Sall has taken the initiative to grant amnesty for the serious crimes that landed Ousmane Sonko and many of his supporters in prison. These people are being prosecuted for terrorist actions, subversive acts, repeated and public calls for insurrection, murder, military coups and the assassination of judges and members of the security forces, as well as politicians and journalists. Ousmane Sonko was even more cruel towards Macky Sall, whom he promised to cut into small pieces in front of the television cameras. More than 350 people have already been released from prison and the main leaders are waiting to breathe the air of freedom in the next few days; there is even good reason to believe that this will happen in the next few hours.

Read the column – Each Day Lost Will Cost Macky Sall!

Is Macky Sall negotiating the final bend in his departure from power, to make a clean sweep and polish his image? Or is he trying to soften up the world around him so that, in return, he can enjoy some peace of mind and gain more days, weeks or months at the helm of the country? The latter accusation, levelled at him by his detractors, may be audible, especially as we are not really used to seeing a Head of State, less than two months from the end of his term of office, take such major steps that could determine the actions of his future successor. Was it to pacify the political and social climate? This alibi may come as a surprise. In fact, never during Macky Sall’s twelve-year reign has Senegal lived so peacefully as between 28 July 2023 and 3 February 2024, i.e. since the imprisonment of Ousmane Sonko and his lieutenants and other supporters. If violent demonstrations were recorded on 9 February 2024, causing deaths and damage, it was precisely because the electoral campaign, which was due to open on 3 February 2024, had been interrupted by authority, after the candidates had already finished recording their « airtime » on television, under the supervision of the National Broadcasting Regulatory Council (CNRA). As a French journalist pointed out, how can you explain the release of troublemakers just when unrest has broken out?

Sonko undoubtedly has the right to become better

The death on 9 February 2024 of Robert Badinter, the emblematic Minister of Justice of the French Republic, gave us the opportunity to reread Victor Hugo in the text. Mr Badinter was fond of recalling Hugo’s beautiful words: « the right that cannot be taken away from anyone is the right to become better« . This right can be granted to Ousmane Sonko and certainly to any other prisoner. The principle of forgiveness and social reintegration applies in all human societies, political or judicial systems. In fact, this is a long-standing tradition in Senegal, and our country stands out for having always helped to restore civil and political peace in various parts of the world. However, there is something wrong in this case. It is the absence of repentance, contrition or the absence of regret or atonement for faults and wrongs. Would it be too much to ask for even the slightest apology? What amends could be made and what guarantee could there be of not reoffending by granting amnesty to a prisoner who has asked for nothing, let alone acknowledged his crimes?

Read the column – The indecent injunctions to the judges of the Constitutional Council

Last week we already saw people triumphantly leaving prison in Dakar and Ziguinchor, with the feeling of having won a battle and, in a logic of defiance or omnipotence, to allow themselves, in front of the camera, to repeat the words or threats to commit again the acts that had led them to prison. The crowds that greeted them at the prison gates made heroes of these freed prisoners. Can we imagine, on the day of his release, Ousmane Sonko, at the head of his troops, deciding to head for the presidential palace to take it over and settle there, as he has always advocated? We can well imagine that the public forces would not let him do so and that carnage would inevitably follow.  The country is in grave peril!

If we can legitimately harbour such apprehensions, it is simply because justice has not been done. In his letter of 16 April 1963 to the pastors of Birmingham (Georgia), Martin Luther King Jr criticised the choice of « preferring a negative peace, which is the absence of tension, to a positive peace, which is the presence of justice ».

Should Macky Sall alone be responsible for the release of Ousmane Sonko?

This is not a question of denouncing any excessive generosity, but it is advisable to refer to the history of Senegal and to universal practice in such situations. An amnesty is generally granted after a period of sedimentation, after the wounds have healed and, above all, after justice has been done or in the context of public sessions for discussion, reconciliation and forgiveness. The perpetrators are brought face to face with their victims and acknowledge their crimes in order to pacify hearts. Otherwise, we will see more serious acts or even situations of revenge or settling of scores. In 1991, President Abdou Diouf wanted to put the trauma of the painful 1988 elections behind him and granted amnesty to the bombers, as part of a vulgar political arrangement with his fierce opponent at the time, Abdoulaye Wade. The result? The « Clédor Sène gang », who benefited from the amnesty, killed a constitutional judge in 1993. The tragedy of 16 February 1994, with the despicable murder of six policemen on Général De Gaulle boulevard, is a sad reminder of this!

The same 1991 amnesty law also allowed the release of rebel leaders of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) who planned to execute 25 soldiers at Babonda on 25 July 1995 and another 25 at Mandina Mancagne on 19 August 1997. This was enough for the military authorities to veto any new idea of an amnesty law in Casamance, particularly following the Ziguinchor peace agreement in 2005. In Côte d’Ivoire, political crises have been accompanied by hasty amnesty measures, each time escalating the crisis. In 2000, there was an amnesty provision in the Constitution, as there was in 2003 and 2007, but this did not prevent the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011, because « no one has ever admitted anything, no one is guilty of anything« .  It is certainly because he has learnt the lessons from all this that President Ouattara has taken his time, waiting for Côte d’Ivoire’s national justice system and the International Criminal Court to reach a verdict on who is responsible, before passing a law granting amnesty for the crimes and misdemeanours committed during the tragic political events of 2010-2011. Needless to say, the Rwandan genocidaires, like the Apartheid criminals in South Africa, followed the same path of begging for forgiveness, and redemption or absolution.  The lack of preparation is so obvious that the language used by President Sall to sell his proposed amnesty is inadequate. The Office of the President of the Republic needs to brush up on its history lessons. The crimes of the Second World War were declared imprescriptible in 1945, and after the verdicts of the Nuremberg Tribunal, former escapee Nazi criminals such as Klaus Barbie, Helmut Oberlander and Oskar Grôning, among others, continued to be hunted down by international courts.

President Macky Sall is pushed and encouraged in this exercise by mediators, in this case Alioune Tine and Pierre Goudiaby Atepa, who are quite talkative and noisy for men of the shadows. But the real problem is that the conciliators say on radio and television that they are acting at the express request of Macky Sall. We can say It’s flying high! Incidentally, why is President Sall so keen to offer the maximum of what Ousmane Sonko could ask for, or even hoped-for quid pro quo, without any guarantees? Leaders of the former Pastef are blowing their trumpets, claiming they are not asking for anything at all. Could Macky Sall be so fragile and desperate to put himself in such a position? We know that some Muslim religious authorities have had to intercede on behalf of Ousmane Sonko, but why on earth wouldn’t they come out and take responsibility for their request? We know, for example, that in order to have Karim Wade released from prison, the Khalif General of the Mourides, Serigne Sidy Mokhtar Mbacké, was publicly involved, going so far as to send his son Moustapha to take the famous Doha exilee to the hangar of his « deportation » plane. Similarly, Abdoul Aziz Sy Al Amin publicly pleaded for clemency for the former mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Ababacar Sall, during his trial for embezzlement of public funds.

Washing whiter, at what cost?

President Sall’s determination to enact an amnesty seems unshakeable. He has just reiterated his instructions to his government to prepare the bill. The National Assembly will have to play its part. In the meantime, there is real frustration among the magistrates, police officers, gendarmes and other civil servants who investigated the legal proceedings. They wanted to be faithful to their calling, not to say their oath to serve the Republic and the rule of law. Some of them ignored warnings from people close to them about the fickleness of politicians, or even their lack of scruples about sealing deals while sitting comfortably on all the right principles. More than soul searching, these judges, prosecutors and officers have their morale in their socks. One of them couldn’t contain his dejection: « All that, for this!  » They hang their heads in front of colleagues who were cowards and who today appear as heroes, who are applauded for having paradoxically failed in their duties to the republic. What about the victims who saw their homes, businesses and other possessions destroyed? As far as we know, Macky Sall did not lose any property in the ordeal, let alone anyone close to him! What do we say to the parents of the little girls Fatimata Binta Diallo and Oumou Kalsoum Diallo, who were burnt alive when their bus was set on fire by a molotov cocktail? What can we say to the families of the law enforcement officers who were killed or other people who lost their lives, they who deserve that someone be held formally responsible for their deaths? In the end, no one will be held accountable for the burning of the University of Dakar! This feeling of impunity has certainly prompted Ngagne Demba Touré of the former Pastef and his fellow clerks to desecrate justice. If sworn court clerks have come to support in this way a colleague, an avowed Salafist, who is being prosecuted for crimes against the rule of law and who has abandoned his post for more than six months while continuing to defy the State, it is precisely because the Republic and the rule of law are in a sorry state. I have said as much in several articles published in these columns, pointing the finger at the responsibility of magistrates and other officers of the court, who have proven to be the primary critics of the judicial institution (« If it comes to booing the Judges « , 16 July 2018;  » Judges who don’t care about justice », 24 August 2020;  » Ousmane Sonko before the judge, the Republic will recognise its own » 8 March 2021;  » Is it now permissible to insult magistrates? », 2 January 2023). Ironically, these articles caused me the worst legal woes of my life!

While we’re at it, let’s wash even whiter. The all-out rehabilitation should not fail to repeal the measure dissolving the Pastef party and even grant amnesty for defamation to save Ousmane Sonko from conviction in his dispute with Mambaye Niang. Tomorrow, will we find civil servants to act as bulwarks, to protect the rule of law from the excesses of politicians? Instead of the troublemakers, President Macky Sall should apologise sincerely to the nation.

By Madiambal DIAGNE / mdiagne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE