Former president Sall to visit Senegal as he campaigns for UN chief post

DAKAR, July 14 (Reuters) – Former Senegalese President Macky Sall will travel to Senegal on Friday, his first public visit to the country since leaving office as he campaigns for the post of U.N. secretary-general.

Sall remains a divisive figure in Senegal following his unsuccessful attempt to postpone the 2024 presidential election, a move that triggered deadly protests and was ultimately struck down by the Constitutional Council.

Senegal’s Court of Auditors said Sall’s government understated debt and deficit figures, implying about $7 billion in hidden borrowing, a number that later ballooned and was estimated by S&P Global Ratings at about $13 billion as of last July, a quarter of the country’s $40 billion economy. Sall denies any wrongdoing.

He is due to meet President Bassirou Diomaye Faye before leaving Dakar immediately afterwards, he said on X. He said the visit was “part of the consultations and visits I have undertaken in connection with my candidacy”.

But he said he anticipated “having the opportunity to return to Dakar on another occasion to meet with activists and supporters”. He now lives in Morocco.

The U.N. is due to choose its 10th secretary-general this year for a five-year term beginning January 1, 2027. Sall is among five candidates so far.

If chosen, Sall would succeed Antonio Guterres to become the third African secretary-general, after Egypt’s Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Ghana’s Kofi Annan.

Sall oversaw Senegal’s transition into an oil- and gas-producing nation during his 2012 to 2024 presidency.

(Reporting by Bate Felix and Diadie Ba; Writing by Ayen Deng Bior; Editing by Alison Williams)