Senegal president names government, boycotted by rival

President of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, at the 68th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on December 14, 2025. [AFP]

Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Monday announced a new government featuring several members and allies of a party led by sacked prime minister and estranged ally Ousmane Sonko, who had vowed his group would not join it.

Faye's announcement came in a live television broadcast less than two weeks after he fired Sonko, his former mentor, and dismissed the cabinet following disagreements including over the troubled economy.

A popular figure, Sonko was promptly elected speaker of parliament by allies in a vote boycotted by the opposition, deepening the political crisis in the west African country.

Sonko remains the undisputed leader of Pastef, the party he founded in 2014 -- to which Faye also belongs -- and which controls 130 of the 165 seats in Senegal's only legislative body.

On Monday, Faye named senior economist Ahmadou Al Aminou Mohamed Lo as prime minister, saying the new appointee had the expertise to steer Senegal out of its crippling debt.

Lo on Monday read out a list of 30 new ministers, including some Pastef members, but notable for the absence of several of its senior figures who had been in the previous government.

Sonko said his party would not join the cabinet after disagreeing about it with Faye during a "long conversation" earlier Monday.

"Some points of agreement were indeed confirmed, but also, above all, points of disagreement," Sonko said in a statement on social media.

"Pastef will not take part and will not be represented by any ministers."

Faye appointed Sonko as prime minister in April 2024 just days after being elected president.

Sonko would almost certainly have won the top job if he had not been barred from the presidential election due to a defamation conviction.

With his pan-Africanist rhetoric, Sonko had gained a following among young Senegalese after a power struggle with former president Macky Sall, who ruled from 2012 to 2024.

Tensions began to surface in July when the outspoken Sonko accused Faye of a "failure of leadership" by not backing him up enough against his many critics.

In May, the president took a shot at Sonko, saying the party needed to be "depersonalised" from any leader dominating it.

While Faye is open to discussions with the International Monetary Fund on a new loan programme, Sonko had advocated a more sovereign approach.