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Senegal was plunged into disaster in February 2024 after parliament backed President Macky Sall’s resolution to delay elections by 10 months. Following the announcement, protests erupted within the capital Dakar. Social media customers in Nigeria and South Africa shared a video alleging that it exhibits an enormous rally in opposition to Sall after the vote postponement. However the declare is deceptive: although the footage does characteristic a big crowd in Dakar, it was filmed throughout a March 2023 marketing campaign march organised by opposition determine Ousmane Sonko, who has since been arrested and was nonetheless in jail as of February 9, 2024.
“Sights and sounds from Senegal!! No prayers, no massive English,” reads a put up revealed on X on February 4, 2024.
Preferred greater than 3,000 instances, the put up was revealed by an account that regularly shares anti-Western content material, referring to the Senegalese president as a “French puppet”.
Senegal is usually seen as a bastion of stability within the unstable area and has by no means skilled a coup since gaining independence from France in 1960.
However on February 3, 2024, Sall introduced a delay to the scheduled February 25 elections, simply hours earlier than campaigning started.
Senegalese lawmakers confirmed the choice quickly after, paving the best way for Sall to stay in workplace till his successor is put in, regardless of rising concern in regards to the erosion of democracy within the nation. AFP has been overlaying the story (archived right here).
The put up claiming to indicate the protests features a 27-second video of a line of automobiles driving via a crowd, with individuals waving Senegalese flags and shouting “president” in French. A person is seen standing up via the primary automobile’s sunroof.
Most feedback are in English and are available from accounts based mostly in Nigeria and South Africa, calling for comparable protests of their nations.
“Nigerians! If the Senegalese can do it, why can’t you do it? Is it till the politicians kill us all?” wrote one person.
“South Africans won’t ever ever suppose to face up like this for this nation… We ought to be ashamed of ourselves”, stated one other.
A distinct put up from Nigeria known as the scenes within the video a “democratic coup,” including that “this ought to be taking place in Nigeria too”.
However though violent avenue protests did rock Dakar after Sall’s announcement, this video is unrelated (archived right here).
2023 video
Utilizing a reverse picture search, AFP Truth Examine discovered an April 2023 investigation into the identical video by the fact-checking organisation Africa Examine (archived right here).
Customers sharing the video on the time falsely claimed it confirmed supporters of Sonko liberating him from jail, which Africa Examine debunked.
Sonko got here third within the 2019 presidential election and has been on the centre of a bitter stand-off with the state that has lasted greater than two years and sparked often-deadly unrest (archived right here).
The firebrand politician – significantly widespread amongst younger individuals – has confronted a string of authorized woes he claims are geared toward holding him out of politics.
Utilizing a key phrase search in French for “crowd releases Sonko from jail,” AFP Truth Examine discovered a put up from March 2023 that includes the identical video circulating now.
“The Senegalese went to interrupt out a political opponent from jail,” reads the French caption.
However Sonko was not incarcerated in March 2023 and, due to this fact, couldn’t have been launched from jail by the gang (archived right here).
He was arrested and charged in July 2023 with fomenting riot, undermining state safety, prison affiliation with a terrorist physique, and different crimes (archived right here).
He has been in detention because the arrest.
2023 political rally
Africa Examine geolocated the footage to an esplanade in Dakar, saying it confirmed a March 14, 2023, political gathering for Sonko.
An AFP journalist based mostly in Dakar confirmed that the video was from this March 2023 rally.
AFP reported on the occasion, posting a video displaying the gang to its official YouTube channel on March 15, 2023.
A number of visible clues verify the video used within the false put up originates from the March 14 gathering.
In each movies, Ousmane Sonko is sporting the identical outfit – a baseball hat with khaki pants and a beige shirt.
There are additionally individuals standing on an identical rooftop overlooking the gang.
“A number of thousand Senegalese opposition supporters collect in Dakar,” reads the French-language caption of the AFP video.
Instability in West Africa
The worldwide group has expressed concern over the democratic decline in West Africa.
Senegal’s neighbour Mali, in addition to Burkina Faso and Niger, are all led by navy regimes following coups in recent times.
Each Burkina Faso and Mali have been supposed to move to the polls later this 12 months, however the navy authorities need to lengthen the “transition” durations, citing the insecurity engendered by jihadist unrest (archived right here).
Nigeria held an election in 2023, however opposition candidates challenged President Bola Tinubu’s win, saying the vote was marred by fraud and voting irregularities (archived right here).
The method sparked a wave of disinformation and anger in Africa’s most populous nation.
In the meantime, South Africa is getting ready for an election later this 12 months, which is already marked by an increase in xenophobia and disinformation (archived right here).
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