Senegal’s new President, Bassirou Faye, on Tuesday, urged “more solidarity” among African countries “in the face of security challenges” after being sworn in as the country’s youngest head of state.
The PUNCH reports that President Bola Tinubu departed Abuja Tuesday for Dakar, Senegal, to attend the inauguration of Faye.
President Tinubu, who is the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, joined other regional leaders to witness the inauguration.
“At the African level, the scale of the security challenges obliges us to show more solidarity,” Faye said in front of hundreds of officials and several African heads of state at an exhibition centre in Diamniadio near the capital Dakar, AFP reports.
“I reaffirm Senegal’s commitment to strengthening efforts to promote peace, security, stability and African integration,” he added.
Faye renewed his promise of “systemic change” and “greater sovereignty” after being sworn in as the country’s youngest head of state.
Faye, 44, said his victory in the March 24 presidential election expressed “a profound desire for systemic change,” adding that he clearly heard the “aspiration for greater sovereignty, development and well-being”.
Faye said he clearly heard the “aspiration for greater sovereignty, development and well-being” in Africa and re-iterated to foreign partners “Senegal’s openness to trade that respects our sovereignty and meets the aspirations of our people, in a mutually beneficial partnership.”
Commonly known as Diomaye, or “the honourable one”, his promise of radical change won the election with 54.3 per cent of the vote.
After three tense years in the traditionally stable nation, his democratic victory has been hailed from Washington to Paris, via the African Union and the European Union.
On the international stage, Faye seeks to bring military-run Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger back into the fold of the regional Economic Community of West African States bloc.
