In Senegal, the state is targeted by a cyber attack

The Senegalese government's websites were paralysed on Friday 26 May. They were operational again on Saturday morning.

A @MysteriousTeamO account claiming to be from the Anonymous hackers claimed on social networks to have paralysed the websites of the presidency and those using the gouv.sn domain, such as that of the government and the Armed Forces and Health ministries. These sites were operational again on Saturday morning.

MysteriousTeamO expresses its "solidarity" with the people of Senegal and their right to freely choose their president.

Back to normal

Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana acknowledged the existence of the attack, which consisted of "overwhelming a network with massive amounts of traffic saturating the bandwidth". The organisation managing the domain has mobilised its teams to ensure a return to normal "as soon as possible", he said in a press release.

This attack comes in a tense political climate. The opposition is denouncing what it sees as increasing repression by the authorities. The uncertainty maintained by Macky Sall on whether or not he will run for a third termTensions are also being fuelled by the political and judicial fate of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko, who is in danger of losing his eligibility.

Source: Jeune Afrique