Amid the launch of the national dialogue between the government and the various political and civil society players on May 31, 2023 in Dakar,reports that Senegal opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has been acquitted of charges by a Senegalese court related to the rape of a beauty salon employee in Dakar. Sonko has however been sentenced to two years for"corrupting youth."
Sonko, an outspoken opponent of President Macky Sall, was reportedly arrested on May 30, 2023, interrupting his cross-country march, which Interior Minister Antoine Diome said needed authorisation. He added that Sonko had not been arrested, but rather"dropped off" at his Dakar home. Sonko called on his supporters to protest on social media against the current government.
For Sonko and his opposition party, this arrest underlined President Macky Sall's intentions to run for a third term, which Sonko has denounced. Sonko said that the 2016 constitutional revision reset the counters and therefore"erased" Macky Sall's first term that started in 2012. The justice ministry has reset Sall's term to run from 2019 to 2024.