Despite a demonstration against against the junta in Ouagadougou held on 21 June in Dakar, the Senegalese government still stands by its Burkinabe counterpart.
Senegalese diplomats were quick to respond to their Burkinabe counterpart’s attack on the organisers of a demonstration against the military junta in Ouagadougou, held last Friday in Dakar.
Initiated by the Senegalese Coalition of Human Rights Defenders (COSEDDH) and Amnesty International (AI), the aim of the demonstration was to denounce the repression of press freedom and freedom of expression, as
well as the numerous arrests of members of civil society, including the well-known lawyer Guy Herve Kam, by the regime of Captain Ibrahim Traore.
Faced with this mobilisation of human rights activists in the Senegalese capital, Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its “regret” and “disbelief” on Monday, “denying any accusation of Senegal for interference,” Senegal’s Minister of African Integration and Foreign Affairs, Yassine Fall, said in a statement to APA on Wednesday.
To show their support for their military authorities, demonstrators from the Coordination nationale des associations de la veille citoyenne du Burkina Faso staged a peaceful sit-in in front of the Senegalese embassy in Ouagadougou on Tuesday 25 June to hand over to the ambassador a copy of the protest letter that its president,
Djibril Sawadogo, had sent to the coordinator of Amnesty International in Burkina Faso.
“Contrary to rumours circulating, neither the diplomatic staff nor the embassy premises have been threatened in any way, nor have Senegalese citizens residing in Burkina Faso, who continue to go about their business,” Ms Fall stressed.
She noted that the Senegalese government “reaffirms its solidarity” and salutes the efforts of its Burkinabe counterpart “in its resolute fight against terrorism and restore the country’s territorial integrity.”
To cut short the controversy, the Secretary General of the Senegalese section of Amnesty International, Seydi Gassama, stated in the Senegalese daily Bes Bi on Wednesday that “the State of Senegal has nothing to do with (their) demonstration.”
Demonstrators in Burkina Faso were outraged that the new Senegalese authorities had authorised such a demonstration against their country’s leaders.
However, Mr. Gassama noted that the Senegalese authorities had “no business involving Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko in this affair.”
After overthrowing Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba in September 2022, Captain Ibrahim Traoré extended the transition by five years in May 2024, in accordance with the recommendations of the national conference.
In recent days, he has denied rumours of a “mood swing” within the army following a deadly jihadist attack in the north-east of the country.
“The mood swings are false, there is nothing at all,” the head of the Burkinabe junta said on state television RTB.
ODL/te/fss/as/APA