A fierce public power struggle has erupted between Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, shaking the nation's ruling coalition and raising fundamental questions about who truly holds political authority.
Political war erupts in Senegal between President Faye and PM Sonko
FILE - Senegal's top opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, right, and his key ally Bassirou Diomaye Faye address supporters in Dakar, Senegal, Friday March 15, 2024.
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Sylvain Cherkaoui/Copyright 2020 The AP. All rights reserved.
The crisis ignited on Tuesday when President Faye unilaterally announced the removal of Aïssatou Mbodj, a key Sonko ally, as head of the "Diomaye Président" coalition that secured his 2024 election victory.
He replaced her with his own campaign coordinator, Aminata Touré.
The move directly contradicted Sonko's public declaration days earlier that there would be "no change at the head of the coalition," marking a deliberate challenge to the Prime Minister's influence.
Sonko's party declares president's move "illegal"
In a swift and defiant response, Sonko convened his Pastef party, which issued a statement rejecting the president's authority to make such a change.
The party asserted Faye "does not have the power to dismiss" Mbodj and bluntly declared it shares "neither the same values nor the same principles" with the president's new appointee, signaling a deep ideological and political rift within the government.
A battle for control with governing at stake
The public clash, conducted through official communiqués, reveals a fundamental struggle over power.
Analysts are now questioning President Faye's ability to govern effectively without Sonko, who commands a powerful political party and significant popular legitimacy, demonstrated by the thousands of supporters he recently rallied.
The confrontation leaves the ruling coalition fractured and the West African nation facing a period of profound political uncertainty.