Senegal’s new president Macky Sall, 50, 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. “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 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 run-off presidential election against Wade on March 26. He was expected to make his way to the presidential palace downtown where hundreds of cheering people lined the road awaiting the new leader. 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.
