Senegal's president fires prime minister after months of tensions

DAKAR, Senegal -- DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal ’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has fired Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko after months of simmering tension.

The decision was announced by the secretary general of the government, Oumar Samba Ba, during a late-night broadcast on Friday.

The firing caps a period of open confrontation between the two former allies from the Patriotes Africains du Sénégal pour le Travail, l’Éthique et la Fraternité (Pastef) party, who had defeated the former ruling party in March 2024.

Ba said the sacking of the prime minister led to the resignation of all the members of the government and its dissolution.

The Pastef party had ridden into office after a fierce campaign mounted against the then-ruling party Alliance pour la République following widespread speculation that former President Macky Sall wanted to use a 2016 constitutional change to revise his term in office.

Sall, who led the country between 2012 and 2024, eventually did not contest the election after violence erupted in the West African nation. The clashes between the security forces and supporters of Ousmane Sonko, the then-opposition leader, led to at least 16 deaths and left several people injured. Sall's party lost the election in the first round.

Sonko, who heads the Pastef party, was barred from running after a defamation conviction was upheld by Senegal's supreme court, and the Constitutional Court dismissed his candidacy. Faye ran instead of Sonko, and Sonko was appointed Prime Minister.

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“Praise be to Allah. Tonight I will sleep with a light heart in the Keur Gorgui neighborhood,” Sonko wrote in a short post on X after his dismissal.

The past few months have led to open confrontation between the pair. Earlier this month, Faye said the former prime minister would only keep his job if he did it properly after criticism from Sonko. The two disagreed on key policies, including the negotiation of a loan from the International Monetary Fund.

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Adetayo reported from Abuja, Nigeria.