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Senegal has inaugurated Bassirou Diomaye Faye as its president, finishing the beforehand little-known opposition chief's dramatic journey from jail to palace in only a few weeks.
The leftist pan-Africanist was sworn in on Tuesday after a first-round victory in March 24 elections on a pledge of reform. At 44, he’s Senegal's youngest president.
“Earlier than God and the Senegalese nation, I swear to faithfully fulfill the workplace of President of the Republic of Senegal,” Faye mentioned in Diamandio, close to the capital Dakar.
He additionally promised to “faithfully abide by the provisions of the Structure and legal guidelines” and “spare no effort to safeguard the integrity and nationwide independence of the territory and to attain African unity.”
The formal switch of energy to 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 in style opposition chief and patron Ousmane Sonko following a political amnesty declared by SAIL.
“That is the end result of an extended wrestle for democracy and the rule of legislation,” mentioned Aisata Sagna, a 39-year-old manufacturing unit employee who labored on Faye's marketing campaign. “It’s a day of celebration for us, regardless that we now have misplaced youth killed through the demonstrations.”
The election examined Senegal's status as a steady democracy in West Africa, a area that has skilled coups and tried coups. The arrests of Sonko and Faye final yr sparked months of unrest and considerations that the president would search a 3rd time period regardless of constitutional time period limits. Rights teams mentioned dozens of individuals have been killed within the protests and about 1,000 have been jailed.
Faye campaigned on a promise to scrub up corruption and higher handle Senegal's pure assets. His victory was seen as a mirrored image of youth pissed off by widespread unemployment and the will of former colonial ruler France, critics mentioned, to make use of its ties with Senegal to counterpoint itself.
In his first speech as president-elect, Faye – generally generally known as Diome, or “honorable man” within the native Serer language – promised to struggle corruption and enhance the economic system.
Faye, a small-town Muslim, 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 home in Dakar and land exterior the capital and in his hometown. His financial institution accounts totaled about $6,600.