DAKAR, June 1 – Senegal’s Pastef political party will not participate in the country’s new government, recently ousted Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, the party president, said on Monday, raising the prospect of further political turmoil amid a daunting debt crisis.
Sonko said in a post on X that he met on Monday with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, his ally-turned-rival, and that “points of disagreement” emerged about the role of Pastef, which holds a large parliamentary majority, within the executive branch.
Therefore Pastef “will not participate in the next government and will not be represented by any ministers,” Sonko said.
“We wish the new team every success.”
Faye sacked Sonko and dissolved the government on May 22, then appointed seasoned economist Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo as a replacement.
Lawmakers rebelled against Faye’s decision last week by reinstating Sonko as a member of parliament and overwhelmingly backing him as speaker with the support of 132 lawmakers in the 165-member assembly.
The upheaval, following months of mounting tensions between Faye and Sonko, comes as Senegal tries to navigate economic woes stemming from the discovery in 2024 of misreported debt by the previous government.
The International Monetary Fund froze its $1.8 billion lending program with Senegal following the discovery of the debt, which pushed the country’s end-2024 debt level to 132% of its economic output.
Senegal expects to resume talks with the IMF next week and hopes to reach agreement on key points by June 30, the finance minister said last month. REUTERS
