Saturday, 1 April, 2000, 07:57 GMT 08:57 UK

New era for Senegal

By West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle

The veteran opposition leader of the West African state of Senegal is being
sworn in as president, ending 40 years of de facto one-party rule.

Abdoulaye Wade won a closely-fought election last month that was widely
praised as one of the fairest and most peaceful ever seen in the region.

Pro-democracy activists hope that the West African state's example will be
followed in other parts of the continent.

Mr Wade is a sprightly 74-year-old who has been contesting elections in
Senegal as an opposition candidate for over 25 years.

He won last month's elections on a platform calling for change, saying that
the former ruling socialist party was corrupt and inefficient.

His call for change strongly appealed to young Senegalese - many of whom are
unemployed.

The new president's ability to meet these voters' expectations of jobs and a
better life is very limited.

Peaceful change

Senegal is a poor country with a simmering secessionist rebellion taking
place in its southern Casamance region.

The newly-elected president has said that solving this rebellion by peaceful
means is a top priority.
But today's inauguration will mainly be an occasion for celebrations.

Most Senegalese voters are proud that they have brought about a peaceful
change in government of a sort which is rare in Africa.

Last month's elections were peaceful, partly because the outgoing Senegalese
leader, Abdou Diouf, graciously accepted defeat when the vote went against
him.

However the poll was also unusually free and fair thanks to Senegal's
newly-established independent radio stations.

These stations helped to make the voting and the vote-counting transparent
and so prevented much of the cheating that occurred in previous elections.
-
BBC News


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