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Burundi swears in new president

Burundi swears in new president

BUJUMBURA – Burundi’s new President, Pierre Nkurunziza, was sworn in Bujumbura on Friday as the country’s first elected leader after 12 years of war at a ceremony attended by several other African heads of state.

The 40 year-old Hutu ex-rebel leader took oath of office for a five-year period under the terms of the country’s power-sharing Constitution endorsed in February. “I pledge to fight all ideology and acts of genocide and exclusion, to promote and defend the right of individual and collective freedom of the citizen,” swore Nkurunziza.The swearing-in also marked the end of an extended four-year transitional period that ushered in democratic rule in a country struggling from the devastation of a civil war that has claimed the lives of 300 000 people.Nkurunziza called on the National Liberation Front (FNL) rebels, who have continued with deadly raids against civilians and army positions, to resume talks with the new government immediately.All of Burundi’s former seven rebels have taken part in the country’s marathon elections that begun on June 3, with the exception of the FNL.Outgoing president Domitien Ndayizeye handed over the country’s flag and the baton of the army commander in a symbolic gesture of power transfer before the national anthem was played to usher in Burundi’s new leader.- Nampa-AFP”I pledge to fight all ideology and acts of genocide and exclusion, to promote and defend the right of individual and collective freedom of the citizen,” swore Nkurunziza.The swearing-in also marked the end of an extended four-year transitional period that ushered in democratic rule in a country struggling from the devastation of a civil war that has claimed the lives of 300 000 people.Nkurunziza called on the National Liberation Front (FNL) rebels, who have continued with deadly raids against civilians and army positions, to resume talks with the new government immediately.All of Burundi’s former seven rebels have taken part in the country’s marathon elections that begun on June 3, with the exception of the FNL.Outgoing president Domitien Ndayizeye handed over the country’s flag and the baton of the army commander in a symbolic gesture of power transfer before the national anthem was played to usher in Burundi’s new leader.- Nampa-AFP

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