Thousands of people are gathering in Gambia for the inauguration of the country’s new president, Adama Barrow, after a lengthy power struggle forced him into exile.
Various African heads of state are expected at the ceremony.
Mr Barrow is only the third president in the history of Gambia.
He was sworn in last month in a low-key event in neighboring Senegal before his predecessor agreed to step down.
Saturday’s much larger scale ceremony is taking place in a stadium near the Gambian capital, Banjul.
The celebrations also mark 52 years of the west African country’s independence, from Britain, but many are also calling the day the birth of a third republic following the ousting of Yahya Jammeh at the ballot box.
The Gambia’s first leader, Dawda Jawara, who governed from independence in 1965 until the 1994 coup mounted by Jammeh, has also been invited, organisers told AFP.
President Sall is a guest of honour at the ceremony, while Liberian leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who pushed for mediation efforts with Jammeh during his last days in office, is also expected.
Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was to attend, another key mediator during the nation’s crisis, along with US Assistant Secretary of State Linda Thomas-Greenfield, in a sign of efforts to reset ties with the West.
Mr Barrow has promised a new dawn for the country, which Mr Jammeh ruled with an iron fist.
Many political prisoners have already been freed and Gambia is set to rejoin international institutions such as the International Criminal Court and the Commonwealth.