Senegal: Western Backed Colour Revolution Underway

26-02-2024: In early February, Senegal’s President Macky Sall postponed presidential elections for several months weeks before the planned election date of February 25, leading to protests across the West African nation. Opposition members of parliament who attempted to block a bill entrenching the delay were arrested as police fired tear gas at protestors outside.[1] By the evening, the bill which initially proposed a postponing of the elections until August 25 was amended to an even later date of December 15, which was passed by 105 members of parliament (MPs) in the 165 seat assembly.[2] In an interview with Associated Press (AP) President Macky Sall denied he was attempting to hold on to power by delaying the elections. He stated he was “..seeking for nothing except to leave a country in peace and stability….I am completely ready to pass the baton. I have always been programmed for that”.[3] While one might agree or disagree with the official positions of Macky Sall, he can scarcely be blamed for making moves to calm political conditions which have led to deadly riots in recent years.

Who is the “opposition” ?

This is especially the case when Senegal was gripped by violence last year ostensibly in support of Ousmane Sonko, the leader of PASTEF (Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity). At the time, Sonko was cleared of rape charge but found guilty of corrupting the youth, which is “immoral behaviour” towards a person younger than 21, according to Senegal’s penal code. 16 people died and over 500 arrested during the pro-Sonko riots, with many of the arrestees being in possession of knives, firearms and Molotov cocktails.[4] The carnage belies the claims of the liberal Western media, which invariably claims that the actions were protests for “democracy”. Following the deadly street violence in 2023, the Senegalese government announced the dissolution of PASTEF for rallying its supporters for these actions, and also restricted access to mobile data internet services to stop what it referred to as the spread of “hateful and subversive” messages on social media.[5]

PASTEF was formed in 2014 and in 2017 joined the so-called “People’s Alternative” coalition. In 2021, Sonko created a new “opposition” alliance named Liberate the People which included other political formations such as the Party for Unity and Rally and Manko Taxawu Senegal. This coalition gained 56 seats in the National Assembly.[6] All of this sounds innocuous, and observers from the outside could be forgiven for assuming that PASTEF is part of genuine, grassroots opposition political party. Little could be further from the truth. PASTEF has a branch based in the USA (United States of America), which is even named PASTEF USA ![7] Followers of PASTEF USA can even order hats, T-shirts and bracelets emblazoned with “Sonko for President 2024” from their online store.[8] The Aar Suñu Elections (“Protect Our Elections”) platform held a forum in New York (!) after the February 13 rally in Senegal was banned by the prefect of Dakar, in which they called for a follow up rally on February 16, which called for the use of “different legal and peaceful means” such as: silent walking, a general strike, and unannounced sit-ins.[9] The subsequent action in Dakar on February 17 saw participants wearing the same black T-shirts of their US supporters, and some wearing the same rubber “Sonko for President 2024” bracelets which can be purchased across the Atlantic Ocean.[10]

Colour Revolution 20 years in the making

It is the case that the ruling class in Senegal has traditionally been an ally of the West in Africa, and even of its former colonial administrator France. Yet, as we have experienced in recent years, the US ruling class can fund, organise and trigger a colour revolution even against Western allies, if it is required for US geo-political interests. Colour revolutions ultimately orchestrated by Washington are often prepared years and decades in advance, while they wait for the opportune time to generate a regime change operation. For example, billionaire anti-socialist king maker George Soros’ Open Society Initiative for West Africa has operated from a base in Dakar since the year 2000.[11] The US government funded USAID (United States Agency for International Development) is not so subtle, literally operating out of the US Embassy in Dakar. Supposedly handing out grants for improved access to health care and education, it also trumpets its work in “strengthening democratic institutions”.[12] This is a barely concealed euphemism for covert imperialist subversion.

The notorious National Endowment for Democracy (NED) the specialist regime change arm of the US government funded CIA, admits to funding some 300 NGOs (Non-Government Organisations) in almost every country in Africa.[13] Of course, government funded non-government organisations are an oxymoron. Virtually all of them pursue the foreign policy interests of the government which funds them. One would have to be naïve to not recognise that the now disbanded PASTEF, Ousmane Sonko, the Aar Suñu Elections platform and similar “civil society” organisations in Senegal are in fact Western funded fronts through which Washington and its European allies attempt to overwrite Senegal’s parliament and institutions, if not bring them down entirely, regardless of the real wishes and desires of Senegal’s population of 18 million.[14]

The program of the long-term funding and organising of “civil society” organisations in Senegal and Africa by the West, is clearly not carried out with the intention of aiding and assisting Africans in the Sahel region. This is the case even when some genuine charity work may be conducted by these front entities. If anyone is under any doubt that what is occurring in Senegal is not what is being reported in the Western corporate media, one need only view the brief statement of the US state department itself on February 6. There, the US government outlined its alleged “deep concern” about the delay of presidential elections in Senegal, and urged the government of Senegal to continue with the planned elections and restore internet access to allow “freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression”.[15] Citizens in the US and in the West generally, after the experience of severe political suppression of free speech and the right to assembly during the years of a fraudulent “pandemic” and censorship by Facebook, Youtube and Google, would also be pining for such rights! The restoration of internet services in Senegal in this respect will likely allow the Western funded NGOs and CSOs (Civil Society Organisations) to set off more deadly riots (“protests”) bent on toppling the government.

ECOWAS losing ground

Another reason why the US state department is covertly activating the colour revolution playbook in Senegal is to block another anti-colonialist coup from breaking out in the Sahel region. Popularly supported coups took place in Mali in 2020, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and in Niger in 2023. These coups led to the eventual expulsion of former colonial power France, despite imperialism attempting to use ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) to reverse the coup in Niger in July 2023. This attempt fizzled out,[16] and eight months later, ECOWAS has lifted the travel, commercial and economic sanctions it imposed on Niger[17] as a punitive measure for the overthrow of the pro-Western former Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum. Nevertheless, the new governmental administrations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have recently announced that they will withdraw from ECOWAS, which will reduce ECOWAS from a bloc of 15 West African states to one of 12.[18] Despite some bluster from ECOWAS that they will not allow the three states to leave without negotiations, it is unlikely that they will be able to draw on their Western government patrons to enforce this.

It can scarcely be denied that one of the reasons why Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have been able to rise and depose presidents and leaders who have subordinated themselves to the aims of Western imperialism is the increasing economic cooperation with firms based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) along with growing military cooperation with entities from the Russian Federation. It is also no coincidence that the anti-Western satrap coups in Burkina Faso and Niger have taken place during NATO’s (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, via the arming of Nazi battalions which were integrated into the Ukrainian state following Victoria Nuland’s ultra-violent coup in Kiev in 2014.[19] In short, African states can see that the Russian Federation is not only standing up to US and EU (European Union) imperialism in Ukraine, it is defeating it on the battlefields almost single-handedly. Sensing the weakness of Western imperialism, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have seized the moment when the faltering West will not be able to maintain control of its former empire.

On top of this, the gaining momentum of the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) which has now expanded to include Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the African states of Egypt and Ethiopia, is offering a crucial non-imperialist alternative to African nations which have endured centuries of Western capitalist plunder. While the BRICS bloc itself is not socialist, the struggle for socialism must now chart its course through the BRICS, given that it is anchored by the gigantic manufacturing and economic power of the socialistic PRC. Colour revolutions and regime change wars, not to mention the imminent threat of World War III, can be consigned to history IF working people in the East and the West are able to construct political leaderships which can utilise the objective conditions of history which benefit their class. Such a leadership can only emerge from internationally linked Marxist vanguard parties, bonded with the theory of Permanent Revolution.

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[1] www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/8/senegal-elections-why-did-president-macky-sall-postpone-the (24-02-2024)

[2] www.reuters.com/world/africa/senegal-should-hold-presidential-vote-soon-possible-african-union-2024-02-05/ (24-02-2024)

[3] www.apnews.com/article/senegal-president-macky-sall-elections-11adac8e3b926db260e9dee0cdb293e7 (24-02-2024)

[4] www.edition.cnn.com/2023/06/05/africa/sixteen-killed-senegal-protests-intl/index.html (24-02-2024)

[5] www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/01/senegalese-government-dissolves-opposition-party-cuts-internet (24-02-2024)

[6] www.wikiwand.com/en/PASTEF (24-02-2024)

[7] www.africainharlem.nyc/en/pastef-usa-hosts-press-conference-to-discuss-senegals-current-political-climate/ (24-02-2024)

[8] www.pastef-usa-store.myshopify.com/collections/all (24-02-2024)

[9] www.africainharlem.nyc/en/the-aar-sunu-elections-coalition-sets-a-new-date-and-rolls-out-its-action-plan/ (24-02-2024)

[10] www.france24.com/en/africa/20240217-thousands-of-senegalese-march-in-first-authorised-protest-since-elections-postponed (24-02-2024)