Politics

Senegalese opposition leader, Sonko threatens to disrupt elections. Here’s why

Published

10 months ago

July 7, 2023

Despite the recent revelation by Senegalese President, Macky Sall that he won’t be running for next year’s election, his arch-rival, Ousmane Sonko has said he will continue to rally against Mr. Sall.

The president, who was consistently rumoured to be interested in continuing as the country’s head, said during a State of the Nation address on Monday that “Senegal is more than me, and is full of capable leaders for the country’s development.”

Sonko, on the eve of the president’s announcement, had urged the public to “come out en masse” and oppose him. The embattled politician who has been in and out of court suggested he may try to disrupt next year’s elections if he was not allowed to run in an interview on Thursday.

Apart from his recent conviction on “corrupting young people,” he was found guilty of libel earlier this year and given a two-month sentence with probation. On appeal, the sentence was later increased to six months. His legal troubles have the potential to jeopardize his desire to run for office in 2024.

“There will be no elections in this country if President Macky Sall wishes to counter my candidacy,” Sonko said. “It’s not up to Sall to choose our next president,” he added.

He finished third with 687,523 votes just behind President Sall and second-placed Idrissa Seck in the last elections.

With President Sall out of the running, Sonko, with his growing support, particularly from young people, could be a top contender in the 2024 elections.

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Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

18 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A government spokesman has revealed that Burkina Faso is looking into reports that 223 people were killed by the Burkinabe army in two villages in the north in February.

The killing was first reported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), causing a rift between the junta-led West African state and some foreign media that published the report. The HRW report released on Thursday said that the military had executed residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of working with jihadist terrorists. The report was based on interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and other groups.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the government, said that HRW’s claims were “peremptory” and that the junta was not unwilling to look into the claimed crimes.

“An investigation has been launched into the killings in Nodin and Soro,” Ouedraogo said in a late-evening statement, quoting a statement from a regional prosecutor on March 1.

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s militaries took over in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023, violence in the area has gotten worse. This is because of the ten-year fight with Islamist groups related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Attacks on Burkina Faso got much worse in 2023, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED.

Politics

S’Africa lengthens troop deployment in Mozambique, Congo DR

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech that South Africa’s military would keep sending troops to Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are both in the middle of wars.

The extension will leave 1,198 members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in eastern Congo for an unknown amount of time. They are there as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force helping Congo fight rebel groups.

The statement also said that 1,495 members of the SANDF would keep working in Mozambique, where they have been since 2021 helping the government fight dangerous extremism in the north.

After two SANDF troops were killed and three were hurt by a mortar bomb in Congo in February, South Africa’s military operations abroad have been looked at more closely at home this year.

Meanwhile, the major opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, said that Ramaphosa sent troops into a war zone without being ready.
Under the supervision of the UN, the SANDF has taken on many dangerous and difficult peacekeeping tasks over the years to help war-torn African countries stay stable and peaceful.

In 2003, South Africa was one of the first countries to send troops to Burundi to help the peace process. During the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peacekeeping mission in 2000, the SANDF led attempts to stabilize the country’s politics, rebuild and improve infrastructure, and train DRC troops.