In a statement signed by its political office, the PASTEF party announces the launch of a petition to dissolve the ruling party. According to Ousmane SONKO’s party, the RPA does not submit to the strict obligation to respect the constitution, laws and regulations. Indeed, basing itself on article 4 of the Constitution and laws n° 81-17 of May 6, 1981 relating to political parties modified by law n° 89-36 of October 12, 1989, PASTEF considers that their political adversaries , by recruiting thugs during the demonstrations and by sowing chaos and the death of several young people, no longer respect “the activities and actions of political parties which are legal and cannot be exercised by violent actions on citizens “. Thus, and faced with the warmongering discourse held by certain political leaders such as “the APR spokesman, Mr. Seydou GUEYE, questioned by the TV5 channel, who explicitly recognized that these militias and thugs were ‘volunteers’ who deployed spontaneously to defend the RPA and the institutions of the Republic and of Moustapha DIAKHATÉ, Aliou Doumbourou SOW, Ahmed Suzanne CAMARA, who had called for the murders without ever being bothered by the Senegalese courts”, it seems necessary to dissolve the party “immediately and without notice”.
“During the demonstrations of March 2021 and June 2023, consistent testimonies, corroborated by independent investigations by local and international media, based on explicit videos, the Alliance for the Republic Party used a militia armed with weapons of war to intervene in the maintenance of order alongside the security forces. Documents from human rights organizations have shown that these armed groups had the APR headquarters in Ouakam as their base camp, where several dozen pickup trucks were stationed for their deployment in the field. In some vehicles, one could note the logo of the Ministry of National Education. It has also been established, following the report of the newspaper Le Monde of June 12, 2023, that the thugs were recruited and paid by RPA officials. It should also be noted that these men had at their disposal weapons of war and bladed weapons (machetes, clubs, knives) which they used against the demonstrators. Their coordinated, violent and bloody interventions have caused bodily injury, mutilation, torture and the shooting deaths of protesters. These thugs violated the right to life and security guaranteed by art 7 of the constitution. That by recruiting, financing and sponsoring these thugs, their violent and illegal activities and actions are entirely attributable to the RPA, since their leaders, although informed of these actions, refrained from taking the necessary measures to stop, given the means at their disposal, even publicly encouraged them“, explains the press release from PASTEF.
As a reminder, in January 2021, after a PASTEF fundraising of 125 million, the Minister of the Interior, Antoine Félix DIOME had threatened to dissolve PASTEF/Les Patriotes “under article 3 of law no. ° 81-17 of May 6, 1981, relating to political parties, modified by law n ° 89-36 of October 12, 1989, political parties cannot benefit from resources other than those from contributions, donations and legacies of their members and national sympathizers and profits made on the occasion of the demonstrations”.