At 44, Bassirou Diomaye Faye becomes the 5th president of Senegal. He took the oath of office in front of an audience of African officials and leaders.
Senegal has invested, on Tuesday, in Africa’s youngest elected leader, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44 years old, previously little known, who has made a spectacular rise from prison to the palace in just a few weeks.
A few hours after his inauguration speech, Bassirou Diomaye Faye created a surprise by appointing his mentor, the former opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, to the post of Prime Minister.
Last month’s election tested Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy in West Africa, a region rocked in recent years by coups and coup attempts.
Mr. Faye was released from prison less than two weeks before the vote, as was his mentor and popular opposition figure, Ousmane Sonko, following a political amnesty announced by outgoing president Macky Sall.
Their arrests had sparked months of protests and fears that Mr. Sall would seek a third term despite term limits.
Rights groups said dozens of people had been killed and a thousand others imprisoned.
In his first speech as president, Mr Faye remembered those killed and arrested during the protests and promised to ensure greater sovereignty in Senegal while working for prosperity.
“ I am aware that the election results express a deep desire for systemic change ,” he said.
This is the first time that Mr. Faye, a former tax inspector, has been elected.
His rise reflected widespread frustration among Senegalese youth with the country’s leadership – a sentiment common across Africa, which has the world’s youngest population and a number of leaders widely accused of hold on to power for decades.
