Senegal has boosted security in the capital Dakar and a northern city as a war against radical Islamists rages in neighboring Mali, police said Wednesday.

Armored cars and police vehicles were visible in downtown Dakar and police were carrying out checks on motorists in various parts of the capital, an Agence France Presse journalist said.

At least 23 people were killed in a collision between a bus and a truck in the center of Senegal on Tuesday morning, the fire department and local media said.

"It was a collision between a 35-seat bus and a truck transporting charcoal above the village of Sikilo," an official from the fire department told Agence France Presse.

Senegal voted for a new parliament Sunday with President Macky Sall seeking a majority to put his policies into action after ousting veteran leader Abdoulaye Wade in a March poll.

A collision between two buses killed 10 people and injured 22 on Saturday in western Senegal, public news agency APS reported.

The crash occurred when an empty bus tried to overtake another that was loaded with passengers, hitting it and sending it crashing headlong into a stand of trees along the road outside the town of Diourbel, APS said.

Well-known ecologist of Lebanese origin Ali Haidar, who has been heavily involved in the protection of the marine environment, was named minister of ecology in Senegal.

The announcement of President Macky Sall's new government was made late Wednesday, two days after his inauguration ceremony.

U.N. human rights Chief Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged Mali and Guinea Bissau to follow Senegal's lead in holding "free, fair and transparent" elections.

Congratulating Senegal for its peaceful March 25 presidential run-off, Pillay noted: "Mali also had a good record of democratic elections over the past two decades, and I hope it gets back on that track as soon as possible."

Thousands of people celebrated in the streets of Dakar after Senegalese opposition candidate Macky Sall defeated President Abdoulaye Wade in his controversial bid for a third term in office.

"The real winner remains the Senegalese people," former Prime Minister Sall said after his victory became clear following Sunday's run-off presidential vote in the country hailed as a beacon of democracy in West Africa.

Senegal went to the polls Sunday in a contentious election in which President Abdoulaye Wade is seeking a third term, testing its credentials as one of Africa's most stable countries.

Hundreds of people lined up in polling stations around the west African nation as voting began at 0800 GMT in the poll pitting the 85-year-old incumbent against 13 opposition candidates in a wide-open race.

Africa's top envoy on Saturday offered a political solution to prevent chaos in Senegal by suggesting that President Abdoulaye Wade retire after two years if he wins Sunday polls.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said his proposal was a way to "bridge the gap" between government and the opposition as a standoff over Wade's bid for a third term led to violent protests in the country.

Senegal security forces shot dead a 60-year-old woman and a teenager Monday during an opposition protest against octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade's candidacy for a controversial third term.

A ruling by the constitutional council Friday, which allowed Wade to run but not music icon Youssou Ndour, heightened tensions in the usually stable west African country and prompted international appeals for calm.