Macky Sall’s Bid to Rule Senegal from the Grave Was Doomed
The Senegalese president’s clumsy attempt at a constitutional putsch is the latest in a trend of democratically elected African reformists trying to extend their hold on power.
Macky Sall, Senegal's president, at the G-20 investment summit in 2023.
Source: Bloomberg
Senegal President Macky Sall is an outlier in his west African neighborhood: a constitutionalist in a coup-splattered region experiencing serious democratic backsliding.
Mali, Senegal’s southern neighbor, is run by the military following two coups in 2020 and 2021. Guinea-Bissau had a coup attempt in December 2023, the 10th such action or outright coup since 1974. Neighbor Guinea is in the grip of a military junta. Burkina Faso and Niger, neighbors to the southeast, are military regimes.