By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Detained Senegalese opposition leader and presidential candidate of PASTEF Party, Ousmane Sonko, on Saturday ended a hunger strike he began on July 30.
The move is in response to persuasions by Muslim leaders who had appealed to Sonko to end his protest. In Muslim-majority Senegal, religious leaders play a critical role in mediating political impasses.
Sonko had “acceded to the request of Caliph General Serigne Mountakha Mbacke”, an influential Muslim leader, to end his protest, a close aide told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Caliph is the head of the powerful religious brotherhood, the Mourides.
Sonko has faced series of legal woes since 2021, which he claims are aimed at keeping him out of politics.
Sonko was arrested in late July and charged with crimes including fomenting insurrection, criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise and undermining state security over incidents dating back to 2021.
In a separate affair, he was on June 1 sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for morally corrupting a young woman, a conviction that ministry of justice says makes him ineligible to stand in next year’s election.
Following the commencement of the hunger protest, Sonko was hospitalised on August 6 and then admitted to an intensive care unit, according to his lawyers and party.
“Ousmane Sonko has just suspended his hunger strike,” El Hadji Malick Ndiaye, a spokesman for his party, also announced on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.
Bamba Cisse, one of the lawyers representing Sonko, confirmed the end of the hunger strike.
His lawyers and party had warned that his health had seriously deteriorated and that his life was “in danger”.
Sonko enjoys passionate following among Senegal’s young population.
He portrays President Macky Sall as a would-be dictator who oversees a corrupt elite.
Senegal’s Justice Minister, Ismaila Madior Fall, said at the end of last month that Sonko’s conviction in the moral corruption case was “final”, leaving him ineligible for the 2024 presidential election.
