Dakar - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade was sworn in for a second five-year term on Tuesday, in front of 20 African heads of state and 60 000 spectators in Dakar's largest stadium.
But once the party is over, one of his first tasks will be to see off a political crisis brewing over a threatened opposition boycott of legislative elections due in June.
Wade, a lawyer who spent a quarter of a century in opposition before coming to power in 2000, took his oath at 6pm at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium.
Among the heads of state or government represented at the ceremony, were the leaders of Nigeria, Gabon, Ethiopia, Libya and Egypt. The European Union and France also sent representatives.
The event, which was broadcast live on Senegalese Radio Television (RTS), included traditional singing and dancing as well as the singing of the national anthem.
But he will have to move quickly to deal with a threat by the opposition socialists to boycott parliamentary elections due in June 3.
Ousmane Tanor Dieng, the First Secretary of the Socialist Party, told reporters on Monday that it would be calling on its members not to register by Friday's deadline.
"The opposition will not be registering any list," said Dieng. "We have decided to ask our candidates to withdraw their deposits."
They want talks with the president over the creation of an independent body to organise the elections to replace the current electoral commission, which they accuse of an "electoral masquerade" in last month's presidential vote.
The country's highest electoral court dismissed allegations of irregularities from two other candidates.
Although the international monitors noted irregularities, they said they were not serious enough to affect the outcome.
They declared the election free and transparent in the only country in West Africa never to have experienced a coup d'etat.
The 80-year-old political veteran saw off 14 other candidates to win a second term on February 25 with 56 percent of the vote.
None of the other candidates scored more than 15 percent of the vote. - Sapa-AFP