Ahead of her trip, Le Pen wrote in L'Opinion, saying her visit ‘can become the two driving forces behind a rediscovered relationship of trust between Europe and Africa.’
On Friday, Senegal’s former prime minister Cheikh Hadjibou Soumare was taken into custody and charged with libel after he asked if President Macky Sall had provided funds to French far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen. Soumare’s lawyer, Mame Adama Gueye, told AFP that Soumare had been charged with libel and spreading 'false information' before being released on bail.
In an open letter, Soumare—who served as budget minister and then prime minister from 2007 to 2009 under former president Abdoulaye Wade—asked Sall whether he had donated 12 million euros ($12.7 million) to Le Pen, who was unnamed in the letter, but was described as a 'French political figure' whose party is distinguished 'by hatred and rejection of others'.
Soumare asked:
If by any chance all of this were true, please enlighten the Senegalese people as to whether you acted as president of the Republic of Senegal or as a leader of a political party and with what money.
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