Things just got messier in Dakar — President Faye has cut ties with his former PM’s party, and Senegal’s debt crisis is caught in the crossfire.

So, here’s the latest from Dakar, according to cbinews.tv — Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has just rolled out a fresh 30-member cabinet, and Pastef didn’t make the cut.

Pastef is the party led by Ousmane Sonko, Faye’s former ally and prime minister who got the boot less than a fortnight ago. The two had a pretty public falling out over politics and the economy, with Sonko pushing back hard against an IMF-backed plan to restructure Senegal’s debt.

Parliament wasn’t having it, though. Lawmakers rebelled against Faye’s decision, reinstating Sonko as an MP and then voting overwhelmingly to make him speaker. Bit awkward.

Last week, Faye tapped senior economist Ahmadou Al Aminou Mohamed Lo as the new PM, saying Lo’s got the know-how to dig Senegal out of its massive debt hole.

Sonko, who’s still wildly popular, announced on Monday that Pastef won’t be joining the new government at all. He posted on X that “points of disagreement” came up in talks with Faye about what role the party — which still holds a large parliamentary majority — would actually play. That’s only deepened the political standoff.

All this is unfolding while Senegal tries to sort out a financial mess that kicked off in 2024, when it emerged the previous government had misreported debt. The fallout? The IMF froze its $1.8 billion lending programme, and Senegal’s debt ballooned to 132% of GDP by the end of 2024.

Next up: Senegal’s expected to restart talks with the IMF in the week of 8 June.

As reported by cbinews.tv

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