Dakar, Nov 20, 2023 (AFP)
Senegalese President Macky Sall, who is nearing the end of his term in early 2024, has said whoever succeeds him must prioritise preserving stability in the West African nation "by all means".
The country's "stability must be preserved, above all and by all means, despite the assaults of certain political adventurers and despite the desire for destabilisation", he said in an interview published Monday in the magazine Jeune Afrique.
"We must absolutely preserve this stability by relying on the rule of law, whatever the cost", he added.
For the past two and a half years, Sall has faced an opposition united around the firebrand political opponent Ousmane Sonko.
His conviction in a moral corruption case, which he denounced as a plot to torpedo his political career, in June led to the most serious unrest in Senegal for years.
Dozens have died in protests linked to Sonko since March 2021.
The government has since dissolved Sonko's party, citing its "frequent" calls for "insurrectionary movements", which it claimed have led to numerous deaths and "acts of ransacking and looting of public and private property".
Sall, who was elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2019, in July announced that he would not seek a controversial third term. He handpicked his prime minister, Amadou Ba, as his coalition's presidential candidate.
Sall said the February 2024 election will present a choice between "continuity" or "adventure", "with political combinations that will make governance very difficult".
He was also asked about growing anti-French sentiment in the region, which the ruling juntas in neighbouring Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have been instrumentalising.
Sall said he believes that "movement has grown", but that "France cannot be held responsible for all the ills of Africa".

Sumber : AFP