
44-year-old Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has been sworn in as Senegal’s youngest president, 10 days after he was released from prison.
The left-wing pan-Africanist, who has never held an elected office attracted a host of African leaders including President Bola Tinubu at the ceremony in the new town of Diamniadio, near the capital Dakar.
Faye vowed to defend the integrity of the territory and national independence, and to spare no effort to achieve African unity.
The formal handover of power with outgoing President Macky Sall will take place at the presidential palace in Dakar.
Faye was among a group of political opponents freed from prison 10 days before the March 24 presidential ballot under an amnesty announced by Sall, who had tried to delay the vote.