Ali Bongo Ondimba, son of Gabon's late strongarm leader, was sworn in as president on Friday nearly two months after his hotly disputed election victory.
Gabon opposition leaders insist the August 30 election which brought Bongo to power was rigged and say they will fight what they call attempts to smother democracy in the important oil-producing country.
"I swear to devote my energies to the good of the Gabonese people, with the aim of ensuring its well-being and protecting it from all harm, to respect and defend the constitution and the state of law, conscientiously to fulfil my duties and to be fair towards everybody. I swear it," Bongo said.
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The presidents of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Mali, Togo and Benin were among foreign leaders who watched as Bongo swore to "devote all my energy to the good of the Gabonese people."
'I swear to devote my energies to the good of the Gabonese people' "I want a Gabon free of corruption and injustice. I want a Gabon where the elites circulate and are renewed," Bongo said in his inaugural speech. "I want a Gabon where justice is at the service of everyone."
The speech was met with thunderous applause. Numerous observers contend that corruption is a considerable setback to the economy and to the development of a nation still rich in oil and manganese.
The election followed the death in June of Bongo's father, Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had ruled the former French colony on west Africa's equatorial coast for 41 years.
Bongo swore the oath wearing a black suit with a white shirt and red scarf, with his right hand raised and his left on the constitution. His oath of office was hailed with honorary cannon fire.
One of his tasks will be to maintain the ethnic balance that his father deftly juggled in a nation where the news that he had won the election led to riots September 3 in the oil hub of Port Gentil.
'I want a Gabon free of corruption and injustice'
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