Senegalese opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko ends hunger strike

Ousmane Sonko, the imprisoned Senegalese opposition leader whose presidential bid for 2024 is in doubt, has ended the hunger strike he has been on since mid-October, according to two of his party officials who visited him in prison.

Both men said that Mr Sonko was “in excellent shape” and in good spirits.

Mr Sonko had been admitted to intensive care in a Dakar hospital after losing consciousness at the end of October and was in a “very weak” state at the time, according to his lawyers.

“Sonko remains our one and only candidate”, one of his party official stated.

However, Senegal’s Supreme Court overturned a ruling that had reinstated Mr Sonko in the presidential race by overturning his removal from the electoral roll following his conviction in a vice case on Friday.

The case will be retried on an undetermined date, at a time when the opposition leader is racing against the clock to secure the sponsorship required to run for president.

Mr Sonko’s party, Pastef, has been rallying support for Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who is also imprisoned, since Sunday. According to a party campaign, “sponsoring Diomaye is sponsoring Sonko.”

Mr Sonko, 49, who came third in the last presidential election, was found guilty on 1st June of debauching a minor and sentenced to two years in prison.

Having refused to appear at the trial, which he denounced as a plot to keep him out of the election, he was sentenced in absentia.

His conviction sparked the deadliest unrest in Senegal for many years.

He was imprisoned at the end of July on other charges, including calling for insurrection, criminal conspiracy in connection with a terrorist undertaking and undermining state security.