hadhwanaag
Senegalese President
Macky Sall reinstated the post of prime minister Saturday, appointing a former
economy minister to the job two months after a tense legislative election in
which Sall's ruling coalition lost its comfortable majority.
Amadou Ba, a 61-year-old
taxation specialist who has also served as foreign minister, was named as the
West African country's prime minister, a statement from the presidency said.
Ba's appointment
reestablishes the position of prime minister in the West African country following
its abolition in April 2019.
"The major
priorities that the president has outlined include improving household
purchasing power, taming inflation, security, housing, vocational training,
employment and entrepreneurship," Ba said on national television after a
meeting with Sall Saturday.
The full government is
expected to be appointed later Saturday.
Earlier this week,
Senegal's security forces were called to secure a voting process in parliament
and hold back rowdy opposition members of parliament who tried to disrupt the
election of a new president of the national assembly. The assembly was
convening for the first time since July's election.
Sall came to power in
2012 after unseating longtime President Abdoulaye Wade. He was elected again in
2019 on promises of large-scale infrastructure expansion as the country is set
to start producing oil and natural gas next year.
But much of his second
term has been marked by economic hardship - partly stemming from the COVID-19
pandemic and global fallout linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Political tensions have
boiled over after Sall's refusal to publicly rule out a third-term presidential
bid in 2024.
Violent protests
erupted in Senegal last year when Ousmane Sonko, Sall's main opponent — who
came in third in the 2019 presidential election — was arrested on rape charges
which he denied.
Sonko was released but
many protesters saw his arrest as an attempt by Sall to remove a prominent
rival and clear his path for a third term bid.
VOA
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