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Senegal

Faye fires Sonko as the debt trap tightens

The late-night dismissal of the charismatic prime minister has broken one of West Africa’s most celebrated political partnerships

A brief televised decree late on 22 May ended Ousmane Sonko’s premiership and dissolved the government – breaking the pact that had carried Bassirou Diomaye Faye to the presidency two years earlier. Within hours, the Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l’éthique et la fraternité (Pastef) party’s parliamentary speaker, El Malick Ndiaye, had resigned in solidarity, while supporters of the hugely popular Sonko massed outside his Dakar residence, signalling that the real contest was only just beginning.

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