Ousmane Sonko, a popular Senegalese opposition leader, who had been on a “hunger strike” in protest against his detention, has been taken into intensive care. 

“Mr Sonko was the victim of an illness that occurred last night,” Ousseynou Ly, a member of Mr Sonko’s Pastef party, confirmed in a statement on Thursday.

Also, a source at the Hospital Principal in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, where he was treated, confirmed that he had been moved into the intensive care unit.

Mr Sonko’s political party had alleged that the authorities were “responsible” for his health condition after they charged and detained him for insurrection and conspiracy against the state, among other crimes. 

The development came two weeks after Senegal’s government dissolved the main opposition party, Pastef, and ordered the arrest of Mr Sonko.

Although, there has been no statement from the authorities on his condition.

Mr Sonko, 48, is also popular among Senegal’s youth and was seen as a threat to the ruling party ahead of the 2024 election. 

In June, the opposition figure was in absentia sentenced to two years after being accused of morally “corrupting” a young woman.

Many of his supporters have said the charges are to prevent him from running again for president after he placed third in the 2019 race.

Mr Sonko, who plans to run for president in February next year, had been engaging in a bitter power struggle with the authorities since 2021 when he was investigated in a moral corruption case.