Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on the event date of 2026-05-22 dismissed Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and dissolved the government, a move that deepened uncertainty in a country already under pressure from heavy debt and political strain.
The decision was announced on state television in a decree read by presidential aide Oumar Samba Ba. According to the decree, Faye ended Sonko's duties and those of all ministers and secretaries of state serving in the government. No replacement prime minister was announced.
The dismissal marks a dramatic turn in the relationship between two men whose alliance helped deliver Senegal's 2024 political shift. Faye and Sonko rose to power together on a promise of change, with their Pastef party winning outright in the first round of the 2024 elections. Sonko had been the movement's most visible figure and, before the last presidential contest, was widely seen as the likely front-runner had he not been blocked by a defamation conviction.
The public rupture has been building for months. The French-language AFP report published by France 24 said the two leaders had been locked in mounting tension, with Faye criticizing Sonko in early May for what he called excessive personalisation inside the ruling party. Faye also said in a televised interview that Sonko would remain prime minister only while he retained presidential confidence. Sonko, for his part, accused Faye of a failure of leadership and said he was not being backed against his critics.
The split also comes as Senegal struggles with a difficult economic backdrop. The government inherited a large debt burden from its predecessor, and the AFP report cited International Monetary Fund figures showing debt at 132 percent of GDP, making Senegal the second-most indebted country in sub-Saharan Africa. That economic pressure has raised the stakes for any political instability at the top of government.
Sonko responded to his dismissal on Facebook, writing that he would sleep soundly in Dakar's Keur Gorgui neighborhood. He later returned home after midnight, where supporters gathered to greet him, according to AFP journalists cited in the report.
The confrontation also reflects the unusual structure of Senegal's leadership. Faye holds the presidential office, but Sonko remains a highly influential political figure and a central architect of the movement that brought them to power. That dynamic has made their falling-out particularly consequential for the governing coalition and for a system that had been presented as a reformist alternative to the previous order.
No immediate details were given on how the government would be reorganized, and the decree left open the question of who would be chosen to run the cabinet next. For now, the dismissal has turned a long-simmering power struggle into an open governing crisis.
