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 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------