(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-18 14:26

FREETOWN - Ernest Bai Koroma took oath Monday as Sierra Leone's new president after winning a tense runoff vote and vowed to wipe out graft and heal deep wounds in the impoverished war-scarred west African nation.

Sierra Leone All People's Congress party candidate Ernest Koroma (L) and his wife arrive at a polling station to cast his vote during the second round of presidential election 08 September 2007, in Freetown. Koroma was sworn in as Sierra Leone's new president on Monday for the next five years after winning a tense runoff vote. [AFP]

Koroma, 53, an opposition candidate who defeated outgoing vice president Solomon Berewa, also pledged to improve the lives of Sierra Leoneans who live in the world's second poorest country despite its vast diamond riches.

"We shall adopt zero tolerance on corruption and mismanagement of state funds," Koroma said in his inaugural speech at the State House, atop the seaside capital Freetown which is fringed by rolling hills.

"Sierra Leoneans have suffered for too long, we shall endeavour to ease your pain," he said.

Many Sierra Leoneans make do on less than a dollar a day or are jobless, and face perennial shortages of basic services such as running water and electricity.

"For this government, failure is not an option," Koroma said, warning that his government "shall not hesitate to deal firmly with those who choose to operate outside the law."

Koroma was declared winner after he garnered 54.6 percent of the vote in the run-off in the first election to be held in this country after the pull-out of 17,500 UN peacekeepers.

The election is the second after the end of a 10-year civil war which ended in 2001.

Koroma on Monday exhorted his countrymen to put their bloody past behind them.

"Let us begin the process of healing the wounds, let us resolve to reconcile ourselves as one nation," he said.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday congratulated Koroma and hailed Sierra Leoneans for holding a largely peaceful election.

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