Dakar – Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye fired Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and dissolved the government on Friday, deepening a political crisis in the debt-laden west African nation after months of growing tensions between the two leaders.
The announcement came through a decree read out on state television by presidential aide Oumar Samba Ba, who said Faye “has ended the duties of Ousmane Sonko… and consequently those of the ministers and secretaries of state who are members of the government.” No details were given on who would replace Sonko as prime minister.
Sonko responded to his dismissal on Facebook, writing: “Alhamdulillah (praise be to God). Tonight I will sleep soundly in the Keur Gorgui neighbourhood,” referring to the Dakar district where he lives. He arrived home shortly after midnight to hundreds of supporters who had gathered to cheer him on. 
The fallout between the two men has been building for months. Faye and Sonko, once mentor and protégé, swept to power together when their Pastef party won outright in the first round of the 2024 elections on promises of a profound political shake-up, vowing to fight corruption while inheriting an economy buried in debt.
Despite Sonko’s enormous popular following, particularly among Senegal’s disaffected youth, Faye holds all the real power as president and can remove his prime minister with a simple decree.
The dismissal came just hours after Sonko publicly condemned what he described as a tyrannical West trying to “impose” homosexuality on the rest of the world, following the passage of a new law toughening sentences for same-sex relations. Sonko said he had heard heavy criticism of Senegal from foreign countries, particularly France, after the law was approved.
“If they have opted for these practices, it’s their problem, but we don’t have any lessons to take from them, absolutely none,” he said.
Cracks in the alliance had been visible for weeks. At the start of May, Faye publicly criticised Sonko’s “excessive personalisation” within the ruling party and warned in a televised interview: “As long as he remains prime minister, it is because he has my confidence. When that is no longer the case, there will be a new prime minister.”
Sonko had hit back, accusing Faye of a “failure of leadership” for not defending him against his critics.
The two leaders have also had to navigate a dire economic situation since taking office. Senegal’s debt has reached the equivalent of 132 percent of its GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund, making it the second most indebted country in sub-Saharan Africa.
