Bassirou Faye makes first appointment as president of Senegal 

The newly inaugurated President of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has appointed Ousmane Sonko as the prime minister of the country.

The 44-year-old Faye on Tuesday, took the presidential oath in the presence of hundreds of officials and several African heads of state, including President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria at an exhibition centre in the new town of Diamniadio, near Dakar.

Hours after officially taking over the reins of power, the administration of the new president, named 49-year-old opposition leader, Sonko as prime minister.

“Mr Ousmane Sonko is named prime minister,” said Oumar Samba Ba, the general secretary of the presidency, who read out a decree on the public television station RTS.

Sonko was disqualified from running in the most recent presidential race and picked Faye as his replacement on the presidential ballot.