The four – Chile's former President Michelle Bachelet International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal's former President Macky Sall – appeared before member states and civil society to set out their vision for an organisation under acute financial and political strain...

WHY MACKY SALL WANTS TO RUN THE UN When Senegal's former President Macky Sall told delegates at the Addis Ababa summit that he believed he stood a good chance of becoming the next United Nations Secretary-General his confidence wasn't entirely misplaced...

8bn facility after the Faye government's post-election audit uncovered between $7bn and $13bn in liabilities hidden by the Macky Sall administration even exceeding the secret debt scandal in Mozambique (AC Vol 64 No 20 Secret deal won't end the tuna bond saga)...

It is two years since Faye and Sonko took office and 18 months since an audit uncovered US$7 billion in hidden debt bequeathed by the administration of former President Macky Sall (Dispatches 9/3/2026 Premier Sonko threatens walk-out as feud with President Faye deepens)...

Now Africa's most indebted country – its debts are estimated at 132% of GDP after a post-election audit exposed US$7 billion in liabilities hidden by former president Macky Sall – it has defaulted on payments to some foreign government creditors with repayments to France believed to have gone beyond the 90-day grace period that defines a ‘technical' default (Dispatches 27/10/25 Hidden loans ramp up debt servicing costs)...

Activists warn that this crisis triggered by the Macky Sall government's concealing of US$7 billion of debts is wrong-footing the Bassirou Diomaye Faye-Ousmane Sonko government...

Having explicitly accused the government of former president Macky Sall of ‘deliberately hiding' some US$7 billion in debt the International Monetary Fund stands ready to help...

Disenchantment is all the deeper after the euphoric electoral uprising of 2024 when President Macky Sall's Benno Bokk Yaakaar alliance was emphatically turfed out following the collapse of his attempt to postpone the polls (Dispatches 6/2/24 Election delay triggers mass protests AC Vol 65 No 4 Fury as Sall's vote delay unleashes mayhem & Vol 65 No 5 After Sall's U-turn elections likely within two weeks)...

NAVIGATING THE DEBT CRISIS Painful choices lie ahead for Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye as they try to finalise a deal with the International Monetary Fund on a new programme after the discovery of US$7 billion in hidden debt incurred under former President Macky Sall between 2019 and 2024...