Senegal president names government, boycotted by ally-turned-rival

Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has announced a new government featuring several members and allies of a party led by sacked prime minister and estranged ally Ousmane Sonko, who has pledged his group would not join it.

Faye’s announcement came on Monday during a live television broadcast, less than two weeks after he fired Sonko, his former mentor, and dismissed the cabinet following disagreements, including over the troubled economy.

A popular figure, Sonko was promptly elected speaker of parliament by allies in a vote boycotted by the opposition, deepening the political crisis in the West African country.

Sonko said in a post on X that he met on Monday with Faye and that “points of disagreement” emerged on the future role of the Pastef party.

Therefore, Pastef “will not participate in the next government and will not be represented by any ministers,” Sonko said. “We wish the new team every success.”

Sonko remains the undisputed leader of Pastef, the party he founded in 2014 – to which Faye also belongs – and which controls 130 of the 165 seats in Senegal’s only legislative body.

New PM announced

On Monday, Faye named senior economist Ahmadou Al Aminou Mohamed Lo as prime minister, saying the new appointee had the expertise to steer Senegal out of its crippling debt.

Lo on Monday read out a list of 30 new ministers, including several Pastef members, but notable for the absence of several of its senior figures who had been in the previous government.

Sonko said his party would not join the cabinet after disagreeing about it with Faye during a “long conversation” on Monday.

“Some points of agreement were indeed confirmed, but also, above all, points of disagreement,” Sonko said in a statement on social media.

“Pastef will not take part and will not be represented by any ministers.”

Faye appointed Sonko as prime minister in April 2024, just days after being elected president.

Sonko would almost certainly have won the top job if he had not been barred from the presidential election due to a defamation conviction.

With his pan-Africanist rhetoric, Sonko had gained a following among young Senegalese after a power struggle with former President Macky Sall, who ruled from 2012 to 2024.

Tensions began to surface in July when the outspoken Sonko accused Faye of a “failure of leadership” by not backing him up enough against his many critics.

In May, the president took a shot at Sonko, saying the party needed to be “depersonalised” from any leader dominating it.

While Faye is open to discussions with the International Monetary Fund on a new loan programme, Sonko had advocated a more sovereign approach.