Overview
- Late on Friday, May 22, President Faye issued a decree dismissing Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and dissolving the cabinet while keeping ministers in place as caretakers.
- The dismissal follows months of public clashes between Faye and Sonko over how to handle a deep debt crisis and whether to negotiate an IMF program.
- Sonko posted that he would “sleep with a light heart” after his sacking and was later greeted by hundreds of supporters at his Keur Gorgui home, showing his continued popular base.
- Senegal’s fiscal crisis has left the IMF’s $1.8 billion facility frozen after previously undisclosed debts raised the country’s end-2024 debt to about 132% of GDP, complicating who will lead talks with the Fund.
- No replacement prime minister has been named, raising the risk of a power struggle between the presidency and Sonko’s parliamentary bloc and adding uncertainty ahead of local and 2029 presidential contests.