Ce qu’il faut retenir
In Senegal, around twenty civil society organisations, political parties, unions and public figures condemned a US military operation in Venezuela on Saturday, 10 January. Meeting at the Venezuelan embassy in Dakar, they demanded the release of President Nicolas Maduro and urged official voices to denounce the Venezuelan case as well.
Contexte: a Dakar gathering with a continental message
The meeting, reported from Dakar by correspondent Pauline Le Troquier, brought together actors presenting themselves as a collective. Their stated objective was to “put pressure” on the African Union, ECOWAS and the Senegalese state, and to oppose what they described as Donald Trump’s “mafia-like desires.”
They argue that, so far, continental and regional organisations have remained cautious on Venezuela. In their reading, Dakar has also maintained a notably discreet posture on the file, a restraint they seek to change through public mobilisation.
Acteurs: Samp Afrig and Frapp set the tone
Diagne Fodé Roland, coordinator of the pan-African organisation Samp Afrig, called for a clear condemnation from Senegal, which he framed as a “model” for defending sovereignty on the continent. He explicitly invoked South Africa, Namibia, Ghana and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) as examples of what he considers a duty to speak out.
Roland also tied the issue to Senegal’s domestic trajectory, arguing that preserving democracy at home should be matched by defending it at African and international levels. His statement positions Senegal not only as an observer of distant crises, but as an actor expected to carry diplomatic weight beyond its borders.
Calendrier: a protest announced in Dakar
Beyond declarations at the embassy, the collective’s strategy includes street-level mobilisation. The civil society groups called on the Senegalese public to support the Venezuelan cause through a demonstration planned in the coming days in the capital.
This announced protest aims to translate symbolic solidarity into political visibility. In their framing, public pressure is the lever that could shift institutional caution into more explicit language from Dakar, ECOWAS and the African Union.
Strategic resources: a warning against future spillovers
Souleymane Gueye, the delegate general of the Front for a popular and pan-African anti-imperialist revolution (Frapp), argued that the stance is not merely a matter of principled solidarity. For him, the Venezuelan case signals potential risks that could later concern Africa, especially around strategic resources.
Gueye warned against treating Venezuela as a remote Latin American issue. He suggested that if similar dynamics were to reach Africa, the continent might not be prepared, particularly given what he described as Africa’s substantial reserves of rare and strategic resources.
Scénarios: between cautious institutions and louder publics
The episode sketches two parallel tracks. On one side, African and regional institutions appear, in the collective’s view, to be maintaining prudence on Venezuela. On the other, segments of civil society are pressing for sharper political language and for positioning sovereignty as a shared continental doctrine.
In the short term, the planned Dakar demonstration will test how far the issue resonates beyond activist circles. In the longer term, the activists’ demand is clear: they want Venezuela to become a reference point in African debates on external intervention, political legitimacy and the protection of strategic assets.
