Senegal is in an uproar following the attempted murder, on the night of Thursday 29 February to Friday 1 March 2024, of our colleague and friend, Maïmouna Ndour Faye, Managing Director of the 7Tv channel and presenter of the successful programme « L’Invité de MNF« .

An act by a common mugger? That would suit a lot of people!

I don’t want to be counted among those people who, hypocritically or cowardly, don’t want to see, that militants of Ousmane Sonko’s former Pastef party have repeatedly made death threats against her publicly, on social networks and even in the mainstream media. People duly identified as leaders of this dissolved party have vilified her and threatened to kill her. No one in Senegal dares ignore such threats, which have been going on for several months. Last week, the threats became more pressing, more relentless, when Maïmouna Ndour Faye had the nerve to voice her opposition to the release of several hundred people arrested for acts of vandalism and sedition, and above all to the draft amnesty law concocted by the government. These releases are the result of political negotiations between Ousmane Sonko and President Macky Sall, the details of which have been revealed by the media.

Read the column – Forgive Ousmane Sonko? Yes, but Senegal Deserves a Repented!

People who were released from prison on this occasion made it their duty to threaten to kill Maïmouna Ndour Faye, as well as a number of other journalists opposed to this astonishing political arrangement. No one in Senegal can claim to be unaware of this. What’s more, after this despicable attack, which almost cost the life of the woman I affectionately call the Oprah Winfrey of Senegal, the same people jubilantly congratulated themselves and even regretted that she was not killed, and that they would have to go and find her to finish her off. The assailant hadn’t done enough for their taste! Others wanted to trivialise the litres of blood she lost, claiming, with macabre or morbid irony, that it was bissap (red sorrel) juice poured over her body! The height of cynicism and bestiality! Once again, no one in Senegal can ignore these reactions to a crime.

On the TV set of Futurs Médias, Diop Taïf, an extremist activist from the disbanded Pastef party, confidently displayed the notebook in which, from his prison cell, he listed the names of journalists and anyone else who had the audacity to speak ill of his party and its leader Ousmane Sonko. The despicable videos of this guy, released from prison a few days ago thanks to the arrangement between Ousmane Sonko and Macky Sall, are circulating everywhere. It will always be regrettable that the media, in the name of a bad-faith balancing act, continue to elevate this kind of person to the status of interlocutor. You will tell me that Amadou Clédor Sène, the murderer of constitutional judge Babacar Sèye in 1993, is one of the « personalities » received at night by President Macky Sall! Farba Ngom made the revelation on Maïmouna Ndour Faye’s latest programme. Supporters of Ousmane Sonko continue to spend their time smearing MNF’s reputation and dragging it through the mud. The few people in their camp who would do anything to condemn this criminal act do so on social networks, supported by one of their own photos in which they are smiling happily, as if satisfied. It’s easy to believe that this is to taunt her, even though these people close to Ousmane Sonko are regulars on her show!

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

Nor can anyone claim to be unaware of the recurrent and insistent threats made by Ousmane Sonko, urging his followers to physically attack journalists. Yes, the crime against Maïmouna Ndour Faye was committed by Ousmane Sonko and his supporters! Where were the public figures who rushed to the TV studios to express their outrage at the knife attack, when Ousmane Sonko and his supporters were insulting and threatening to kill MNF? Where were these people when the head office of Futurs Médias was ransacked and journalists’ vehicles set on fire by Ousmane Sonko’s henchmen? Since 16 April 2021, Maïmouna Ndour Faye, who has just suffered the murderous fury of a man who sought to stab her to death, has been alerted on the death threats she was receiving directly from Pastef party activists. On 15 April 2021, Ansou Gallas Diédhiou, a student and supporter of Ousmane Sonko’s party, posted a message on Twitter saying: « Maïmouna saytané bou mague nga (Editor’s note: You are an evil spirit, meaning a big bitch). She plays the card. She’s a dangerous woman. We have to take her down. » This message was ignored and the outpouring of hatred and violence against the journalist began. The State of Senegal failed to provide her with the protection to which she was entitled. President Macky Sall was moved by this despicable attack. Surely his message on the social network « X » would have been, give or take a few words, the same if MNF had lost her life in this attack.

Prime Minister Amadou Ba was at her bedside, at the head of a delegation of several ministers. He would have done the same for her family and nothing more if MNF had died. The government authorities must be feeling pretty good not to have done anything to protect MNF and others who are also in the sights of these murderers who seek to eradicate from Senegalese soil anyone who doesn’t think like them. The Minister of the Interior, whose job it is to ensure the safety of individuals, has a duty to offer « ex officio protection » to any person facing a serious threat to their physical safety. Such a measure was taken to ensure the safety of Adji Raby Sarr, who received death threats from supporters of Ousmane Sonko after filing a complaint of sexual abuse against the leader of the Pastef party. MNF did not receive as much attention, perhaps because it was thought that she could afford to pay for her own security!

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

This shortcoming is an embarrassment to certain government circles, who have tried to make it appear, through certain channels, that MNF did not want a close guard offered to her. It’s a big lie, she was never offered one. It was only on 31 May 2023, the day of the attack on the home of the mayor of Dakar, Barthélemy Dias, that several members of the gendarmerie were put on guard outside MNF’s home and the headquarters of her television station, because of threats of attacks planned by militants of the Pastef party. Other media managers also benefited from the same arrangements, which were lifted after three days. In the end, we were transformed into the legendary cowboys of the Wild West, obliged to go out with a loaded pistol.

Also, Maïmouna can also arouse enmity, even jealousy. She is a young woman, a seasoned professional, who is relatively successful in a Senegalese media sector in which women do not play the leading roles. She may also have the disadvantage of living in a society where independence, power or a shred of authority are not recognised or accepted for women. We couldn’t help smiling sadly at the sight of some journalists at a rally organised by media professionals to denounce this attack. To think that some of them were trying to sell us the idea that it was just another crime, just another news item, just another attack. Indeed, the idea that MNF was the victim of a thug who was out to rob her can ease many people’s consciences.

Circumstances of the attempted assassination
First of all, it is to be hoped that this affair does not end in a vulgar omerta, as was the case, for example, with the judicial investigation into the attack on the L’AS and 24 Heures newspapers in 2008, and the attack on political leader Talla Sylla in 2003. Initial findings from the joint police and gendarmerie investigation reveal that the despicable act against MNF was premeditated and planned. The victim’s habits seem to have been clearly identified. She returns home every night at the stroke of 3am because, at the end of her programme at 1am, she and her team prepare the day’s menu. For some time, the journalist had been unable to get her car into her garage because of pavement works on the road. The assailant was waiting for her a few metres from her home. Video footage showed him talking on the phone ten minutes before the journalist arrived at the scene. Was he talking to an accomplice who alerted him to the arrival of his prey?

Maïmouna was on the phone as she parked her car. She got out of the car quietly, the telephone still glued to her ear, picked up her things, closed the car behind her and headed towards home. She had no reason to fear anything, just a few metres from her home. The neighbourhood was quiet and there had never been the slightest act of banditry. The street lights reflected a shadow of a man brandishing a dagger and striding towards her. She turned her head to face her assailant, who pinned her to the ground. The pugnacious journalist fought back and got up, but she would be tackled again. The assailant stabbed her three times, clearly with the intention of killing her, and she screamed, bleeding profusely. He then picked up the handbag, which he later deposited behind the car, not without taking the money inside. It’s strange that a common thief who robs unaccompanied ladies should leave his victim lying in blood, without taking away her valuable jewellery and mobile phones. Neighbours were able to rush to the victim’s assistance.

Read the column – Macky Sall, Dialogue to Close the Gash

MNF is recovering from her serious injuries. Friends wanted to arrange for her to convalesce in a more tranquil setting but, fmore combative than ever, she systematically refuses, insisting on going back on air immediately, to do the job she has chosen and for which she has risked her life. I admire your courage and tenacity, my dear! 

Do we still dare grant amnesty for these terrorist crimes?

Can we hope that the terrorist attack on MNF will sound the death knell for the amnesty law concocted by President Sall precisely to erase crimes of terrorism, sedition and undermining state security? The bill was sent to the National Assembly after its rather curious adoption at the Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday 28 February 2024. The members of the government have adopted a bill that they have not seen. Why all this secrecy? This situation, and above all the inappropriateness of the initiative, makes many ministers uneasy. However, they feel trapped in the context.  « We can’t even protest, let alone resign, to avoid being seen as rats jumping ship. We’re swallowing this amnesty law without flinching, » lament several ministers. President Macky Sall doesn’t seem to care about the feelings of those close to him. 

Read the column – The Postponement Conspirators

On Friday 1 March 2024, he received members of parliament to urge them to vote in favour of the amnesty law. This followed his message of compassion for MNF a few moments earlier. In other words, his determination to grant amnesty could not be more unshakeable! This law, if passed, will wipe out this new terrorist crime against MNF, because the proposed amnesty text covers « from 2021 to 2024 ».

Strangely enough, we are also potentially granting amnesty for acts that have not yet been committed! To think that the Defence and Security Forces and the authorities of the Public Prosecutor’s Office had to express their reservations, not to say their disapproval of the wave of release of hundreds of detainees, but they were obliged to bow to political will!

By Madiambal DIAGNE / mdiagne@lequotidien.sn

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