Senegal religious leader asks politician to end hunger strike
Dakar, Senegal – AFP
An influential Senegalese religious leader has joined calls for detained opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to end his hunger strike, an official from his political coalition told AFP.
A presidential candidate and head of state Macky Sall’s fiercest critic, Sonko has faced a string of legal woes since 2021 that he claims are aimed at keeping him out of politics.
After beginning the hunger protest on July 30, he was hospitalised on August 6 and was admitted last week to an intensive care unit, according to his lawyers and party.
One of his attorneys, Cire Cledor Ly, on Wednesday said Sonko’s condition had seriously deteriorated and that his lawyers and personal doctor had been blocked from seeing him.
Ly said there was an “imminent risk to his life”.
Amid calls for his release, a delegation from Sonko’s political coalition on Tuesday visited the head of the powerful religious brotherhood the Mourides.
Caliph General Serigne Mountakha Mbacke called on Sonko to start eating again, one of those present said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The leader sent a pack of dates to the politician, the person said.
In Senegal, religious leaders have often helped to mediate political impasses.
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