Macky Sall accused of crimes against humanity: “childish and ridiculous” for Aïssata Tall Sall
In an interview with France 24 and RFI, Senegalese Foreign Minister Aïssata Tall Sall described as “puerile and ridiculous” the complaint filed for “crimes against humanity” against Macky Sall. She also believed that the Senegalese president “undoubtedly” has the right to be a candidate for his own succession in 2024.
On an official visit to the French capital on the occasion of the Paris summit on the new global financial pact, Aïssata Tall Sall, head of Senegalese diplomacy, answered questions from RFI and France 24.
On this occasion, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced that the target of $100 billion in special drawing rights for vulnerable countries had been reached. “Good news”, admitted Aïssata Tall Sall, but believed that the IMF could “do better than that”.
Another goal of the Paris summit, to free up funds to encourage the countries of the South to energy transition and to abandon fossil fuels. However, Senegal has announced that it will exploit offshore gas and oil from 2024.
Almost 600 million Africans still do not have access to electricity, recalls Aïssata Tall Sall. For her too, Western countries must “accept” that there is a lag in Africa that we will not be able to absorb without resorting to fossil fuels. Africa must also find its own pace on the decarbonisation front, she added.
On 21 June, a double trial began against President Macky Sall for “crimes against humanity”. This judicial offensive launched by one of the opponent Ousmane Sonko’s lawyers after deadly clashes between police and protesters.
“An approach that is both childish and ridiculous”, decided Aïssata Tall Sall, herself a lawyer. National justice does its own work, the minister added.
She admitted in part that “the use of firearms by the security forces during demonstrations set a dark precedent for Senegal”, as concerned on 13 June, however, she believed that the security forces were acting in “self-defence” against demonstrators who were themselves armed.
Macky Sall “undoubtedly has the right to represent himself”
The head of Senegalese diplomacy saw no difficulty in allowing opponents Karim Wade and Khalifa Sall to run for president next February, despite their previous convictions. She invoked “the satisfaction of the political field in Senegal”.
The candidacy of the two opponents is considered by the members of the national dialogue, which ends in Dakar.
A completely different candidacy is raising questions in Senegal, that of President Macky Salls. On June 21, from Paris, the Senegalese president seemed to put an end to doubts with these words: “thanks to our work we will stay in power”.
Macky Sall “undoubtedly has the right to be a candidate in 2024”, both legally and constitutionally, the lawyer stated, concluding that he “will decide one way or the other when he sees fit”
