Senegal has inaugurated Bassirou Diomaye Faye as its president, finishing the beforehand little-known opposition determine’s dramatic ascent from jail to the palace in simply weeks.
The left-wing pan-Africanist was sworn in on Tuesday after sweeping to a first-round victory within the March 24 elections on a pledge of reform. At age 44, he’s Senegal’s youngest president.
“Earlier than God and the Senegalese nation, I swear to faithfully fulfil the workplace of president of the Republic of Senegal,” Faye stated in Diamniadio, close to the capital, Dakar.
He additionally promised to “scrupulously observe the provisions of the structure and the legal guidelines” and defend “the integrity of the territory and nationwide independence and to spare no effort to attain African unity”.
The formal handover of energy with outgoing President Macky Sall will happen on the presidential palace in Dakar.
Faye was launched from jail lower than two weeks earlier than the vote together with standard opposition determine and mentor Ousmane Sonko after a political amnesty introduced by Sall.
“It’s the end result of an extended battle for democracy and the rule of regulation,” stated Aissata Sagna, 39, a manufacturing unit employee who labored on Faye’s marketing campaign. “It is a day of celebration for us, even when we’ve misplaced younger individuals killed in the course of the demonstrations.”
The election examined Senegal’s repute as a steady democracy in West Africa, a area that has skilled coups and tried coups. It adopted months of unrest ignited by the arrests final 12 months of Sonko and Faye and issues that the president would search a 3rd time period in workplace regardless of constitutional time period limits. Rights teams stated dozens of individuals have been killed within the protests and about 1,000 have been jailed.
Faye campaigned on guarantees to wash up corruption and higher handle Senegal’s pure assets. His victory was seen as reflecting the desire of younger individuals pissed off with widespread unemployment and former colonial ruler France, seen by critics to be utilizing its relationship with Senegal to counterpoint itself.
In his first speech as president-elect, Faye – generally generally known as Diomaye, or “the honourable one” within the native Serer language – promised to struggle corruption and reform the financial system.
A working towards Muslim from a small city, Faye has two wives, each of whom have been current on Tuesday.
Earlier than the election, he launched a declaration of his property to indicate transparency and referred to as on different candidates to do the identical. It listed a house in Dakar and land exterior the capital and in his hometown. His financial institution accounts totalled roughly $6,600.