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Casablanca — Senegalese ex-president Abdoulaye Wade, who was due to return home yesterday after two years in exile, has accused his successor Macky Sall of manoeuvring against him.
Wade’s flight was grounded in Casablanca on Wednesday when he planned to make his way back to Dakar in a bid to be closer to his son Karim, who has been jailed in Senegal on corruption charges.
“I understood a long time ago that Macky Sall did not want this day to happen”, Wade said in Morocco.
He accused Sall, an arch rival who won a resounding victory against him at an election in 2012, of “manoeuvring” against him.
Wade, who was in power from 2000 to 2012, moved to France after the defeat.
The 87-year-old said his flight from France to Morocco had been grounded in Casablanca and that he waited for several hours for the green light to take off. He accused officials in Dakar of delaying his trip in order to disperse his supporters who had planned to welcome him on his arrival.
Wade added, however, that he still expected to return to Senegal yesterday afternoon after “some small problems” are ironed out.
Reports from Senegal said a large number of Wade supporters had gathered to welcome him on Wednesday amid heavy security.
Wade’s son Karim, aged 45, whose wealth includes land in Dakar, a fleet of luxury cars and media and finance companies operating across Africa, has been on remand in Dakar for a year and is due to be tried in June.
Senegal authorities accuse him of using corrupt means to acquire a fortune of $246m when he was a so-called “super minister” in his father’s cabinet. — AFP
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