Civil rights groups oppose meeting between Macky Sall and President Diomaye

A group condemning the repression under former President Macky Sall’s rule in Senegal has spoken out against his arrival in Dakar on Friday to meet the Senegalese Head of State, as part of his campaign to lead the UN.

The former president is accused by the authorities, who have been in power since April 2024, of having severely cracked down on opposition protests between 2021 and 2024, which left dozens dead across the country. For Guy Marius Sagna, a member of the parliamentary majority, “this visit is a third assassination, a third act of torture, a third imprisonment for all the victims between 2021 and 2024”.

Burundi had nominated former Senegalese president Macky Sall as a candidate for the United Nations' top job, a UN spokesperson said Monday.

Sall led the West African nation, whose current government accuses him of covering up unfavorable economic data, from 2012 to 2024.

Senegal's current government accuses the former administration of Sall of having concealed the true extent of the country's fiscal problems.