Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye sacked Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and dissolved the government on Friday after months of tensions, deepening a crisis in the debt-laden west African nation. The shock announcement was made on state television in a decree read out 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 provided on the appointment of a new prime minister. "Alhamdulillah (praise be to God). Tonight I will sleep soundly in the Keur Gorgui neighbourhood," Sonko posted on Facebook after his dismissal, referring to the Dakar district where he lives. Sonko arrived home shortly after midnight, where he greeted hundreds of supporters who had gathered to cheer him on, according to AFP journalists. Senegal is in the unusual situation of having a president who owes his position in large part to the prime minister, who would almost certainly have taken the top job had he not been barred from running in the last presidential election due to a defamation conviction.
Discord has grown between Senegal's now-dismissed Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko (L) and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye (R) pictured during an 2025 event in Dakar. © Patrick Meinhardt, AFP
