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Written by: Seringe ST Touray
Macky Sall’s push for the top job at the UN recently took on a new political twist at home after his nomination for Secretary-General was filed by Burundi rather than his own government.
It comes after a bruising end to his presidency that saw opposition figures, including Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko, jailed during the 2021 to 2024 unrest and election crisis, with protests fuelled in part by fears he might seek to extend his rule.
His administration also pushed through a controversial amnesty law in March 2024 that critics said risked blocking accountability for violence linked to that period, a measure Senegal’s parliament later moved to narrow.
Now, with Senegalese political debate still simmering over whether he should face proceedings for “high treason”, and lawmakers previously blocking one such attempt, his reliance on a foreign nomination rather than a home endorsement is being read as the latest front in an unresolved power struggle.
