WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Senegalese President Macky Sall to restore Senegal’s electoral calendar and timeline for presidential transition, the U.S. State Department said after a call between the two leaders.
In the call, Blinken raised “serious concerns” about Senegal’s current political situation following actions to postpone the presidential election.
The abrupt postponement of the Feb. 25 vote to December has plunged Senegal into crisis and intensified a backlash against what many see as an attempt to extend Sall’s mandate and a threat to one of the remaining democracies in coup-hit West Africa.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese)