The F24 is an opposition front which was set up to fight against the intention, which was attributed to Macky Sall, of seeking an additional mandate as president of the Republic of Senegal in 2024. But this political objective fell in the water, from the moment that Macky Sall stated that he never thought of that and that he even nominated his candidate for the Presidential election, in the person of his Prime Minister Amadou Ba. The rallying cry of the F24 is therefore no longer audible and this organization, losing steam, is seeking to explore new avenues to revive itself. This is how they organized a march last Friday in Dakar, bringing together a few hundred people. The demonstration went smoothly. The marchers demand the release of “political detainees”, whom they say are imprisoned by the “dictatorial regime of Macky Sall”. How sweet is this dictatorship in Senegal, where opponents can organize marches, in the main arteries of the city, shout their slogans damning the “dictator”, to the sound of songs and dances, and quietly return home at the end of the promenade!

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But the most burlesque thing is that some of them brandished Russian flags to show their inclination or their crush for the Russia of “big brother” Vladimir Putin. Well, in a “dictatorship”, like that of Senegal, we can express our craziest or most absurd preferences, in complete peace and quiet. But ask Russian opponents to demonstrate publicly in their country and call President Putin a bloodthirsty dictator? We’ll see what happens to them!

Honestly, I had hoped to hear some reactions from the organizers of the event, to stand out from the display of Russian pennants; I still wanted to believe that those who would chase France from African soil, because this country is portrayed as a dominator, a shameless exploiter, an imperialist, a sucker of the blood of the Africans were not going to advocate replacing France with a new master, especially not Russia.  Although no one can ignore what the Russians have left in terms of desolation, damage and misdeeds, wherever they have already passed with their sinister mercenaries of Wagner and others. I refuse to believe that these “self-proclaimed patriots”, with such touching sincerity (I must grant them), who want the political, economic and financial independence of our dear Senegal, would not want their country to fall into the catastrophic situation from the Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea or Libya, wherever the Russians have a street presence.

The F24, a den of potential putschists

On June 1, 2023, Ousmane Sonko’s former Pastef party published a press release calling, bluntly, for a military coup. This statement followed a series of such statements and unequivocal public calls for insurrection, violence and the overthrow of Senegal’s democratic institutions. No political leader or personality, member of civil society organizations affiliated with the F24 has deigned to note this, to deplore it, much less denounce it. On the contrary, they all continue to howl with the wolves. But the best admission that they are potential putschists and insurrectional insurgents is that they demand the release of people whom they adorn with the dignity of “political detainees”. However, the people arrested and imprisoned relayed calls for a putsch, insurrection and/or took actions to achieve such evil designs set by Ousmane Sonko. In their understanding, it is still playing politics, as great democrats no doubt, to call for a coup d’état and an insurrection, to throw Molotov cocktails into buses crowded with passengers and thus cause atrocious deaths, to burn universities and public buildings, inhabited homes and businesses, to ransack the country’s vital infrastructure with a view to causing chaos, to threaten judges and journalists and other political adversaries and to attack the Defense and Security Forces! In any country other than Senegal, the perpetrators of such acts are considered terrorists, and treated as such.

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But members of the F24 were even more vile. Have they not already loudly applauded the military putsches in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger and the attempted overthrow of the President of Guinea-Bissau the day after his election? Among them, there are some who have gone so far as to say that Senegal risks experiencing the same situations. And they are preparing for it. Others have had the nerve to caricature the Senegalese Army as “fearful” troops who are far too many in the ranks. Let’s judge!

Military putsches in these countries took place according to an immutable pattern. Anti-French propaganda and the discrediting of democratically elected political authorities were initially carried out. It is after this that Russian flags are brandished during public demonstrations and the idea of an imminent putsch is distilled in an insidious manner, to prepare minds, acclimatize them to the prospect of a coup d’état, until finally the package ends up being realized. In Senegal, the same plan is unfolding. During the F24 march this Friday, October 27, 2023, Russian flags flew over the heads of marchers and the apology for the coup d’état was made publicly and sacrilegiously, some dared to blurt out: « It’s better to have a military regime than the dictatorship of Macky Sall!” The scene is well set. They did not limit themselves to that.  Before the march, social networks circulated the false rumour of the death of Ousmane Sonko, just to heat things up. And during this F24 march, the crazy rumour of a coup d’état underway in Senegal spread to many circles.

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A big Senegalese economist, who was at an international conference in Nairobi, distraught, had to interrupt his activities to leave the room and call Senegal to be informed about the putsch that was said to be underway. One of his compatriots, well known in hydrocarbon trading circles, circulated this warning message about a coup d’état which would be underway in Senegal. The excitement aroused is enormous, but we can consider that it was done on purpose.

In the same wake, around ten articles were produced and published on the African web, and in particular on Facebook, questioning the Senegalese exception, a country « sheltered from coup d’états, despite the enormous potential in hydrocarbons” which could prove to be a spark to ignite the powder. Verifications by compatriots, very active on social networks, will show that all these articles came from the same platforms and with the same elements of language. Such attitudes would have left people indifferent, had there not been precedents like Cambridge Analytica or all the interference to divert public opinion in the United States, the United Kingdom and even in Africa.

The same day, F24 circles translated and shared the lead of an article from the British newspaper The Economist which expressed concern about the exposure of Macky Sall’s regime to a military coup. The objective of the bashing against Senegal is obvious. Let’s read these few lines from this magazine: “Macky Sall, President of Senegal since 2012, knows more closely than anyone the scourge of coups in Africa since 2020 and the efforts aimed at reversing them. Two of the first coups took place in Mali, Senegal’s largest trading partner. Then there was one in another neighbouring country, Guinea. A failed attempt followed in neighboring Guinea-Bissau. Mr. Sall was president of the African Union when coup plotters struck Burkina Faso for the second time in 2022. And he played a leading role in the response from the Economic Community of African States. West (ECOWAS), the regional bloc, with each coup d’état including one in Niger in July 2023. It is therefore worrying that when asked what can be done to deter coups or bring countries back to democracy, he is discouraged. “It’s difficult, I don’t know,” he said. “Sometimes we get lost.”

Who will believe that this concomitance of facts and actions is gratuitous or simply fortuitous? Are these opponents, who play this game or who remain silent so as not to stand out from all this, aware of the great harm they are doing to their country? Their strategy is to smear and undermine the credibility of Senegal at all costs. They must find someone to talk to!

Post scriptum: The remains of an alleged homosexual desecrated and burned in the streets of Kaolack

What is happening to this country? Last week, Islamist associations set up a private police force at Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis to fine female students who wear “bine-bine”, pearl belts. Tomorrow, they will demand to change the baptismal name of their university!

The remains of a man could not find a dignified burial, tossed between Touba and Kaolack, where he was refused burial. Now inhumanity has gone so far as to dig it up and burn the remains in the streets of Kaolack, in front of a joyful crowd. Who knows if there might not be people in the excited crowd who indulge in the same practices? The state authorities have ended up showing their reluctance on questions of this kind. Perhaps it is too much to ask human rights organizations to raise their voices in outrage at this sordid spectacle! I almost forgot.  It was not the corpse of a “political detainee” that was desecrated in this way!

By Madiambal Diagne / mdiagne@lequotidien.sn

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