https://arab.news/6gtcv
- Sonko鈥檚 government pledged earlier this month to investigate dozens of deaths resulting from the political violence between 2021 and 2024
DAKAR: Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said Friday that his government would submit legislation to repeal a law by former president Macky Sall granting amnesty for deadly political violence.
The controversial amnesty was granted just before March 2024 elections as Sall sought to calm protests sparked by his last-minute postponement of the vote in the traditionally stable West African country.
Critics say the move was to shield perpetrators of serious crimes, including homicides, committed during three years of political tensions between February 2021 and February 2024.
But it also allowed Sonko, a popular opposition figure, to stand in the elections after court convictions had made him ineligible, as well as Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who eventually won the presidency.
Sonko鈥檚 government pledged earlier this month to investigate dozens of deaths resulting from the political violence between 2021 and 2024.
鈥淚n addition to putting compensation for victims into the budget, a draft law will be submitted to your august Assembly to repeal the March 6, 2024 amnesty so that light may be shed and responsibilities determined on whatever side they may lie,鈥� Sonko said in a highly awaited policy speech to lawmakers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a witch hunt and even less vengeance ... It鈥檚 justice, the foundation without which social peace cannot be built,鈥� Sonko said.
Sonko鈥檚 speech also laid out plans for the next five years to pull Senegal out of three years of economic and political turmoil that have sent unemployment soaring.
He and Faye, who won the presidency and in November secured a landslide victory in parliament, now have a clear path for implementing an ambitious, leftist reform agenda.
鈥淲e must carry out a deep and unprecedented break never seen in the history of our country since independence鈥� from France, Sonko told lawmakers.
He said Senegal remained 鈥渓ocked into the colonial economic model鈥� and vowed an overhaul of public action and tax reforms to foster 鈥渉ome-grown growth.鈥�