Published on 02.09.2023 at 1:18 p.m. by APA
The Senegalese dailies that reached APA on Thursday mainly report on President Macky Sall’s popular reception in the town of Thiès, 70 kilometers from Dakar, where he began an economic tour on Wednesday evening, described by some opponents as almost “political”. one year of the 2024 presidential election. On an economic tour in the Thiès region, 70 kilometers from Dakar, President Macky Sall was welcomed by “a human tide”, according to the national daily Le Soleil. It was “a colorful welcome”, supports Le Quotidien, which at the same time notes “the battle for local leadership” in the circle of Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY, united for the same hope), the ruling coalition.
“The president exults after the popular reception” in Thiès, reports L’Observateur, noting that “even the birds on the caïlcedrats were at the reception, it is unheard of”. Welcomed on entering Thiès by the city’s former mayor, Idrissa Seck, Macky Sall declared in Bés Bi that his partnership with the latter “works very well” as the approach of the 2024 presidential election exacerbates tensions between opposition and power.
“In 2019, I said (to the presidential candidates) Ousmane Sonko, Madické Niang and Issa Sall that we must avoid setting fire to this country”, recalled Idrissa Seck, ranked second in the last presidential election with more than 20% of the votes.
Today, the risk of invalidation of the candidacy of Mr. Sonko, third in the last presidential election with more than 15% of the vote, because of his worries with the law, raises fears of the awakening of the specter of the events of March 2021. The arrest of the current mayor of Ziguinchor (south) had at the time raised a wave of violent demonstrations almost everywhere across the country, causing a macabre toll of fourteen people and the destruction of several properties belonging particularly to France. .
Faced with this situation, Walf Quotidien indicates that “mayonnaise does not take” to BBY on the question of Macky Sall’s third candidacy in 2024. not all BBY leaders. This will of the Head of State, not yet formalized, is already coming up against resistance from certain leaders and allied parties” within the presidential movement, notes the newspaper.
At the same time, Le Soleil points out that youth employment, livestock, tourism and infrastructure are on the menu of topics that will be discussed in Thiès by the Head of State, who will chair a Council of Ministers this Thursday. decentralized.
For Sud Quotidien, the “rehabilitation and revival of the railway in Thiès” is “the other great challenge for Macky” Sall, knowing that the Thiès region is nicknamed “the capital of rail” for having represented for a long time the symbol railway activities, now almost at a standstill, between Senegal, its eastern part and beyond the border with Mali.
“Will the train whistle again at Thiès station? The launch of work on the Dakar-Tambacounda railway line and the continuation of the work will determine the resumption of rail traffic between Dakar and Tambacounda, via the city of rail. A great challenge for the Head of State who has repeatedly committed to relaunching the train, ”explains the newspaper.
