Macky Sall returns to Senegal seeking backing for UN leadership bid

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LAGOS – Former Senegalese President Macky Sall will return to Senegal on Friday for a symbolic meeting with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, their first since Sall left office in 2024. The three-hour stop in Dakar has one objective: securing his country’s official support for his bid to become United Nations secretary-general.

In a statement posted on social media, Sall said he would arrive at Dakar’s Yoff airport at 3 p.m. and leave at 6 p.m. His meeting with Faye is the only announced engagement. Sall described the trip as part of consultations linked to his campaign and thanked his successor for agreeing to receive him.

The visit comes at a sensitive moment. Dakar has yet to endorse Sall’s candidacy and in March was among the countries that blocked the African Union from granting him formal backing. In a communication to the AU Commission, Senegal said it had neither promoted nor participated in the initiative. A letter Sall sent to Faye in February received no public response.

The meeting could also test whether the two leaders can separate diplomatic ambitions from domestic disputes. Relations deteriorated after the former opposition came to power and accused Sall’s administration of concealing public debt and repressing supporters of the Pastef party. Victims’ groups argue that an international candidacy must not eclipse demands for accountability over arrests, violence and alleged abuses.

For Sall, Senegal’s endorsement would strengthen the legitimacy of an African campaign that began without continental consensus. For Faye, supporting his predecessor could signal institutional pragmatism but risk resistance among longtime government opponents.

The process of replacing António Guterres, whose second term ends in December 2026, is expected to conclude before January 2027. Sall’s brief return to Dakar could therefore shape not only his UN campaign, but also the prospects for a political reconciliation that remains uncertain.