Senegal halts extraditions to France over refusal to return two citizens

By : AFP

Date: 12 December 2025 2:51pm WAT

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Bassirou Diomaye Faye gives his address as Senegal's President at an exhibition centre in the new town of Diamniadio near the capital Dakar on April 2, 2024. - Bassirou Diomaye Faye was sworn in on April 2, 2024 as Senegal's youngest president after sweeping to a first-round victory on a pledge of radical reform 10 days after he was released from prison. (Photo by JOHN WESSELS / AFP)

Bassirou Diomaye Faye gives his address as Senegal's President at an exhibition centre in the new town of Diamniadio near the capital Dakar on April 2, 2024. - Bassirou Diomaye Faye was sworn in on April 2, 2024 as Senegal's youngest president after sweeping to a first-round victory on a pledge of radical reform 10 days after he was released from prison. (Photo by JOHN WESSELS / AFP)

Senegal has “decided to suspend” all extraditions to France, Dakar’s justice minister said, accusing Paris of refusing to hand over two Senegalese citizens to the West African country.

The row comes after the French courts postponed a decision last month on whether to return a Senegalese press baron critical of the Senegalese government, and as Dakar seeks the extradition of a businessman under investigation for financial irregularities.

“We have two Senegalese nationals in France. France, up to now, has not returned them to Senegal, which has provided all the justifications and continues to request their extradition,” Justice Minister Yassine Fall told parliament on Thursday, without specifying who the two people were.

As a result of France’s non-cooperation, Senegal will refuse to extradite 12 people wanted by France “until France responds favourably to what we have requested,” Fall said.

“If these people are guilty of crimes, we arrest them. We do not do as France does. We do not let them remain free,” the minister added.

A French appeals court in late November asked Dakar for details on the country’s request to extradite media magnate and government critic Madiambal Diagne, who fled to France in late September and is subject to a Senegalese arrest warrant over alleged financial irregularities.

Two journalists were arrested in Senegal in October after conducting separate interviews with Diagne, sparking an outcry among press groups and the political class, which called the detentions a serious attack on freedom of speech. Both were freed within the week.

Since toppling ex-president Macky Sall in 2024, considered one of France’s closest allies in west Africa, the Senegalese government has taken a more critical line towards Paris, without completely turning its back on the country’s former colonial ruler.

Meanwhile, France released on Friday a revamped roadmap to become carbon neutral by 2050, with an ambitious plan to phase out oil and gas.

The updated strategy was unveiled on the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the landmark climate accord designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming well below 2C, with efforts toward 1.5C.

The announcement comes as climate diplomacy faces major challenges, with the COP30 climate summit in Brazil last month concluding without an explicit call to phase out fossil fuels, as sought by the European Union and other countries.

France’s updated National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC-3) foresees the end of oil use between 2040 and 2045. Fossil gas would be phased out by 2050.

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