DAKAR, Senegal: Detained Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, an aspiring presidential candidate and fiercest critic of the head of state, Macky Sall, on Saturday ended a hunger strike he began on July 30.
Sonko has been facing several legal woes since 2021 he claims are aimed at keeping him out of country’s politics. He was arrested in late July and charged with crimes including fomenting insurrection, criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise and undermining state security over incidents dating back to 2021.
In a separate case, Sonko was, on June 1, sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for morally corrupting a young woman, a conviction that makes him ineligible to stand in 2024 vote.
According to his lawyers and party, he was hospitalised on August 6 and then admitted to an intensive care unit. “Ousmane Sonko has just suspended his hunger strike,” El Hadji Malick Ndiaye, a spokesman for his party, announced on Facebook and X. One of the Sonko lawyers, Bamba Cisse confirmed the end of the hunger strike.
The decision comes after several Muslim leaders urged Sonko to end his protest. In the Muslim-majority country, religious leaders have often played their mediatory role in ending political impasses.
Sonko had “acceded to the request of Caliph General Serigne Mountakha Mbacke”, an influential Muslim leader, to end his protest. The Caliph is the head of the powerful religious brotherhood the Mourides. Sonko has built up a passionate following among Senegal’s disaffected young and portrays President Sall as a would-be dictator who oversees a corrupt elite. On the other hand, Sall’s supporters retort that Sonko is sowing instability.
