Senegal opposition leader calls for calm ahead of court hearing

Senegal's main opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Wednesday urged his supporters to remain calm on the eve of a court hearing in a rape case against him that has previously sparked deadly riots.

"I solemnly ask everyone to stay quietly at home or to go about their business quietly," said the 48-year-old politician, who came third in the last presidential election and plans to run again in 2024.

He was accused last year of raping an employee of a beauty salon where he was getting a massage.

His arrest and indictment in March 2021 led to several days of riots, looting and destruction that left about a dozen dead.

"If we accept to fight, we will do it," Sonko -- who claims he was set up by President Macky Sall's government to knock his 2024 presidential bid off course -- said in a livestreamed address Wednesday.

"We are not there yet, my fellow citizens."

Sonko, who is expected in court at noon (GMT and local) Thursday, told his supporters that the summons would be an "ordinary" procedure that he had in fact been "demanding for a very long time".

"We have wanted it because this system must be definitively dealt with -- because it is a plot hatched at the top of the state," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, members of Sonko's political coalition expressed their solidarity with him, promising to "stand together" in the face of "any injustice".

'Tactical game'

Sonko claims the president is attempting to set a trap for him and his supporters.

"Don't go to my house, don't go to court -- we don't have to fall into Macky Sall's trap," he said.

"(Sall) is in a dynamic of creating chaos... We are now in a tactical game; they must not be more intelligent than us."

Sonko, who was elected mayor of the southern city of Ziguinchor in January, has enjoyed a rapid political rise in part thanks to his popularity with young people -- half of Senegal's population is under 20 years old.

But critics characterise him as a populist firebrand. He regularly tears into social elites and corruption, slamming the economic and political grip of multinational firms and former colonial power France.

He attempted to contest the July legislative elections, but the candidate list he was named on was invalidated over a technicality.

That led to fresh clashes in June that left several people dead.

Senegal has a general reputation for stability in a region where political turbulence is widespread.

In recent years, several other prominent opponents of the president have seen their political careers cut short by legal cases.

Sall, who was elected in 2012 and again 2019, has remained vague on whether he intends to run for a controversial third term in 2024.