DAKAR: Tensions remained high in Senegal on Saturday after fresh overnight clashes brought the death toll to 15 in the two days since a court convicted opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.
Sonko’s ongoing legal woes have prompted rare flare-ups of violence in Senegal, typically a bastion of stability in West Africa, and foreign allies have urged a return to calm.
Sonko, a 48-year-old former tax inspector, was initially charged with rape but was convicted on a lesser charge of morally “corrupting” a young woman and sentenced to two years in prison. He claims the charges against him were a bid by the government to torpedo his political career ahead of the presidential election next year.
His conviction may take him out of the running for the 2024 poll.
Clashes between Sonko´s supporters and police broke out after the ruling on Thursday, leaving nine people dead.
Shops and businesses were ransacked. The army was deployed to the streets but fresh scuffles erupted on Friday night in parts of the capital, Dakar, and in Ziguinchor.
HANGZHOU, China: Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a “strategic partnership” with Syria on Friday during...
WASHINGTON: A judge at the US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay on Thursday ruled that a Yemeni detainee who was...
GENEVA: The UN called on Friday on Iranian authorities to scrap a new law that dramatically increases penalties for...
LONDON: There were an estimated 4,507 heat-related deaths in England in 2022, according to an official study on...
OTTAWA, Canada: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has reiterated that there are “credible reasons” to believe that Indian...
LONDON: A lock of hair from an Ethiopian prince who died in 1879 and artefacts looted by the British during a...
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine claimed responsibility for a missile attack that struck the headquarters of Moscow´s Black Sea...
MARSEILLE: Pope Francis on Friday said European governments have a duty to rescue asylum-seekers who take to sea to...