President Wade inaugurated

President Abdoulaye Wade - speaking at his inaugural ceremony on Saturday - challenged Senegalese youth to be active in the development of the country, news reports.

Heard in Dakar by at least 60,000 spectators present at the nation's largest sports stadium, he told the youth to master new information technologies and be more serious in the construction of a democratic society.

Wade, who describes himself as a committed pan-Africanist, also said he backed South African President Thabo Mbeki's concept of the African Renaissance as well as the African Union mooted during the 1999 extraordinary summit of the Organisation of African Unity, in Syrte, Libya.

Wade's inauguration ended 40 years of rule by the Parti Socialiste (PS). However, he immediately appointed former PS stalwart Moustapha Niasse as prime minister, thereby fulfiling an electoral promise.

Niasse, who steps into the same post he held under the PS in 1981, said his priorities would be to provide better health care, security and more jobs. AFP reported that "tough negotiations" were underway for the cabinet posts in the government. Some 30 parties supported Wade's presidential
bid. Wade had said he would sharply reduce the cabinet to 22 members, on coming to power.

The inauguration was attended by some past and current West African leaders: Omar Bongo of Gabon, Blaise Compaore (Burkina Faso), Robert Guei (Cote d'Ivoire), Alpha Oumar Konare (Mali), Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya (Mauritania), Yahya Jammeh (Gambia) and Kumba Yala of Guinea-Bissau.

Also present, PANA said, was Nigeria's last military ruler, Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Algerian president Ahmed ben Bella, Morocco's Crown Prince Moulay Rachid, and the French cooperation minister, Charles Josselin.