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"Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko criticised alleged Western attempts to impose social values on other countries, saying Senegal would not accept 'lessons' from foreign governments during a press conference in Dakar on Friday. "In foreign countries, particularly France, if they have chosen these practices, practices I do not even want to name, that is their business. But we have no lessons to receive from them. Absolutely no lessons," Sonko said. The Senegalese leader also accused Western countries of intolerance, citing a recent attack in France against a lawyer who wore a headscarf during a media interview. "If there is intolerance, we should look at that country where, just four days ago, a lawyer was attacked because she gave an interview wearing a headscarf. That is intolerance," he stressed. Sonko linked the issue to broader criticism of Western influence, saying a 'small bloc called the West' was trying to impose its 'culture and civilisation' on the rest of the world through political and media influence. "This issue is that this is a form of societal tyranny. There may be eight billion people on Earth, and more than 80 percent, whether in Asian countries, Arab countries, or elsewhere, would never criticise another country for legislating on this issue," he explained. The prime minister emphasised that less than five or ten percent of the world's population, only because they have the 'means and control the media', want to 'impose their dictates'. He persisted, "Though one would hardly dare call this civilisation. And they want to impose it on the rest of the world. In the name of what?" Since taking office in 2024, Senegal's leadership under President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has pursued policies aimed at strengthening national sovereignty and reducing reliance on the former colonial power, France, in governance, culture, and the management of natural resources."
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