Macky Sall

Having lost his first appeal against conviction for the misuse of municipal funds, Khalifa Sall has been dismissed as mayor of Dakar by President Macky Sall – even though the ultimate decision on his guilt has yet to be taken by the Court of Cassation (AC Vol 59 No 17, President plays by his rules)...

With just seven months to go to Senegal's next presidential election, the political mood remains sour as opponents accuse President Macky Sall of manipulating the judicial system to exclude his principal challengers from the race...

Many urban Senegalese view all the main players with a degree of hard-headed scepticism but in last year's parliamentary elections provincial voters remained largely loyal to Macky Sall, whose government has invested heavily in rural development...

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is understood to be looking at Timis's close association with Aliou Sall, brother of Senegal's President Macky Sall (AC Vol 56 No 18, Timis under scrutiny) and in Freetown, a British judge has been listening to the complaints of Sierra Leoneans in a landmark case against another Timis-founded company, the now-defunct African Minerals Limited (AML – AC Vol 59 No 3, Drilling down)...

On 30 December the Parti socialiste (PS) expelled 65 members for breaching discipline, including Sall, previously a potential rival to President Macky Sall for the PS's presidential nomination...

Meanwhile, Macky Sall is keeping above the fray and concentrating on securing his re-election...

Although the leader of the MFDC, Salif Sadio, declared a unilateral ceasefire in 2014 after talks with Macky Sall's government at the Vatican, the rebels continue to operate and in 2017 defied the Economic Community of West African States' intervention in Gambia by siding with forces loyal to the then President, Yahya Jammeh...

Problem alliesLike Hollande before him, Macron is much more comfortable dealing with west African reformists like President Macky Sall of Senegal than central Africa's autocrats...

Yet in the most important, Dakar, BBY and Manko Taxawu Senegaal, the alliance around President Macky Sall's challenger Khalifa Sall, the Mayor of Dakar, both parties are claiming victory...

The current scandal in Senegal over questions about Timis's association with Aliou Sall, brother of President Macky Sall, has increased Banjul's wariness of a company associated with Timis, Africa Confidential understands (AC Vol 58 No 10, Majors push out the minnows & Vol 56 No 18, Timis under scrutiny)...

On the same day, Energy Minister Thierno Alassane Sall was sacked, though the Presidential Office gave no reason for dismissing the former aeronautical engineer who is one of President Macky Sall's long-time allies and had been in the position since 2015...

It prevented a state visit by Senegalese President Macky Sall this month by labelling the trip, planned for 20-23 April, as an endorsement of Vaz's policies...