But President Macky Sall's administration has been badly shaken by the international opprobrium following the arrest of more than 500 protestors and death of at least 16 in the wake of Sonko's trial...

On the political front compromise remains elusive though former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall Sonko's co-leader in the Yewwi Askan Wi alliance has been taking part in the national dialogue and Macky Sall has promised a statement after these talks end...

Although the consequences of the sentence were plain to all President Macky Sall maintained a stony silence on the case and on the key question of whether or not he would stand for a third presidential term...

More than two years after he was first charged with raping the masseuse Adji Sarr and then making death threats Ousmane Sonko the charismatic leader of the Pastef Les Patriotes party and one of President Macky Sall's most determined opponents this week finally faced trial after an incendiary build-up to the proceedings...

) Acquittal for Sonko whose fiery populist rhetoric has earnt him heroic status among young Senegalese would set him up for probable victory over President Sall if as widely expected the latter breaks his 2012 public promise not to stand for a third term of office (AC Vol 63 No 11 Macky Sall faces the third-term curse)...

She is widely respected as a capable administrator a reputation undamaged by her sudden defection from the presidential camp last September in fury at Macky Sall's decision not to name her parliamentary speaker even though she had just led the narrowly victorious legislative election campaign of the ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) alliance (AC Vol 63 No 19 Weakened president in troubled waters)...

Seck contends that President Macky Sall – who has been silent on his intentions – will be constitutionally barred from seeking a third term should he choose to pursue re-election...

Searing criticism from what he had hoped would be a helpful government in Washington is the latest blow for President Macky Sall as opposition mounts against his government and his suspected plans for a third term...

President Azali Assoumani of Comoros took over the chairmanship from Senegal's President Macky Sall at the opening of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa on 18 February with a tough message on food security and the damage caused to his country an archipelago in the Indian Ocean by climate change (Dispatches 15/2/23 Summit takes off in Addis amid growing race for the region's resources and votes in the UN)...

Populist threatElected civilian presidents such as Ouattara Ghana's Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Senegal's Macky Sall see the military regimes and their nationalistic rhetoric as a threat to the region's established governing class and its longstanding security and geopolitical alignment with Europe and the United States...

AU chairman Macky Sall and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa criticised the US's bill on 'Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa' currently before the Senate having been passed by the House of Representatives...

Ousmane Sonko the charismatic leader of the Pastefs les Patriotes opposition party is in full campaign mode for the presidential elections due in early 2024 – although President Macky Sall is yet to announce whether he will run for a third term...

As such a bid would trigger mass protests it could undermine Sall's international image as chairman of the African Union and continental advocate on debt and climate issues (AC Vol 63 No 11 Macky Sall faces the third-term curse)...

They sparked widespread riots in early 2021 and that could be repeated this year (AC Vol 62 No 6 Macky Sall buys some time)...