Facts vs. Rumours

Macky Sall has made access to international financing mechanisms for countries of the Global South one of the central pillars of his campaign for the United Nations. When he left office in April 2024, he left Senegal with a debt-to-GDP ratio well below Western standards, despite the substantial investments made possible by sound economic management — management that was praised at the time by every international financial institution. The new Senegalese authorities chose to place the country under an IMF programme by raising the alarm over an alleged “hidden debt”, seeking to persuade their supporters that their own inability to govern Senegal was the previous administration's fault. It should be recalled that the institutional framework makes any concealment impossible: every loan follows a strict procedure involving, among others, the Supreme Court and the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). Growth and investment figures between 2012 and 2024 bear witness to sound, responsible and development-oriented management.

Contrary to the claims of Senegal's current Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, and his surrogates, there were never any “protests” violently repressed in Senegal. Convicted by the courts in 2023, Sonko whipped his supporters into a frenzy and sought to organise an armed insurrection to seize power by force. Several dozen Senegalese lost their lives during the ensuing riots. Ousmane Sonko publicly rejoiced at these deaths, which were supposed to “weaken” Macky Sall both domestically and on the international stage. More cynically still, he urged the mothers of the bereaved families to have more children to make up for the loss of those he calls his “martyrs”.

The presidential election initially scheduled for 25 February 2024 was postponed by barely a month, against a backdrop of conflict between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council. This delay was proposed by the National Assembly itself — it was not a unilateral decision by President Macky Sall. In keeping with the spirit of Senegalese institutions, the matter was settled by the Constitutional Council, which struck down the postponement decree. Macky Sall complied with that decision to the letter. On 2 April 2024, he handed over power to the democratically elected candidate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, and ensured a peaceful transition.

Macky Sall's candidacy for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations is supported by close to three quarters of the member States of the African Union. A limited number of States have voiced reservations. Their position reflects pre-existing regional balances rather than any assessment of the candidate's profile: in East Africa, dynamics specific to the Great Lakes Region; in North Africa, the leadership rivalries that shape the Maghreb; in West Africa, competing aspirations for regional influence. None of these reservations bears on the qualifications, the experience or the institutional record of the former Senegalese President.