Senegal's president confirms departure date - months before likely election date

• Senegal's president, Macky Sall, has reaffirmed his departure from office on 2 April, while elections are likely to be on 2 June.
• Sall said democracies have "moments of fragility, sometimes punctuated by violence".
• Political prisoners have been cleared for release. 

Senegal President Macky Sall has reaffirmed his plan to depart from office on 2 April, despite his country's national dialogue process proposing 2 June as the new presidential election date.

In a statement posted on his X page, Sall said his "departure date is absolutely firm".

On Monday and Tuesday, there was a "national dialogue" centred on the country's political chaos. 

Initially, polls had been set for 25 February, but Sall illegally pushed them to 15 December. 

Senegal's Constitutional Council ruled his decision as irregular and tasked him with bringing the country back to a proper electoral timeline.

Before the national dialogue, Sall declared he would leave office on 2 April, creating speculation elections could be held around that time.

In his address to stakeholders from civil society and the opposition on Tuesday, he sought to cleanse his image as he entered the last month of his presidency.

He said:

"Dialogue and consultation make it possible to heal these weaknesses and move forward in the quest for the ideal of democracy.

"This is what I always chose. Through sincere dialogue, our democracy will be strengthened; and despite the burden of trials, we will thus remain in the good sense of history; that of the great nations which emerge even stronger from the trials they go through," Sall said.

On Wednesday, his government adopted an amnesty bill that will result in the release of about 400 inmates jailed since 2021, who were linked to anti-government protests, as the country tries to move forward from its biggest modern-day political crisis.

In a statement, the Open Society Foundation said the release of political prisoners, "will foster peace, social cohesion, and reconciliation among the Senegalese population".

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The foundation also called on the impartial investigation of human rights violations during the political turmoil that resulted in the deaths of 60 people.

"We urge the government to take the necessary additional steps to immediately conduct an independent investigation and, where necessary, prosecute the individuals responsible for serious human rights violations committed since the start of the political impasse, which includes the unlawful killing of more than 60 Senegalese civilians by security forces," it said.