DAKAR — Senegal’s new president Macky Sall was sworn in on Monday after a crushing poll
victory over outgoing leader Abdoulaye Wade and a transfer of power hailed as an example of democracy in
Africa.
Senegal's fourth president since independence from France in 1960 (AFP/File, Seyllou)
“I swear to faithfully fulfil the office of president … to observe and enforce the constitution, to
devote all my efforts to defending constitutional institutions, territorial integrity and national independence,” Sall said
as he took the oath, his right hand raised.
Some 2,000 people attended the ceremony in the gardens of a large hotel in
the seaside capital, including 11 African heads of state from countries such as Liberia, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Burkina Faso,
Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Sall, 50, takes over as the west African nation’s fourth president since independence from
France in 1960 after winning 65.8 percent of the votes in a presidential run-off against Wade on March 26.
Dressed in
a smart suit, the new leader made his way to the presidential palace in downtown Dakar as thousands clamoured around the
convoy, flags waving, as he arrived at the gates behind scores of white-caped guards on white horses.
Sall was forced
to duck back into his car as his presidential guard struggled to clear a path to the 105-year neoclassical palace surrounded
by tropical gardens, where he was greeted by his mentor-turned-bitter rival Wade, dressed in a flowing white
boubou.
The two chatted lightly ahead of the official transfer of power.
Sall’s victory was greeted with
euphoria in the country after he triumphed over Wade, whose efforts to stay in office for a third term led to deadly riots
and threatened to tarnish the country’s democratic credentials.
Wade surprised the world by conceding defeat just
hours after polls closed and calling his former protege to congratulate him, a move that won him plaudits from around the
globe.
However despite the statesman-like move, many in Senegal see him as leaving through the back door after pushing
his country to the brink with his candidacy which prompted protests in which six died and scores were injured.
After
12 years in power Wade had circumvented a constitutional two-term limit to run in the election by arguing that changes to the
law in 2008 meant he could seek a fresh mandate.
Sall’s rise to power caps a tumultuous period for the west African
nation, but he faces high expectations from a population tired of unemployment, high food prices, power cuts and a long
strike which has crippled the education sector.
In an interview with AFP before the run-off, Sall, Senegal’s first
president to be born since independence, said “several emergencies” loomed.
They included a “dramatic public finance
situation” as well as a food crisis in the north where some 800,000 Senegalese are going hungry due to a drought gripping the
Sahel region.
Sall said he also wanted to halve the size of the government — slashing the cabinet by some 20
ministers — and reduce Senegal’s diplomatic representation abroad.
He would use the savings to lower the prices of
basic goods, he said.