Daniel Chapo From Mozambique The long-ruling Frelimo party was sworn in as president on Wednesday in a sparsely attended ceremony after months of protests against his controversial election win.
A local civil society monitoring group says more than 300 people have been killed in clashes with security forces since the October 9 election, which the opposition says Frelimo won through vote-rigging and Western observers say was not free and fair.
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Frelimo denies accusations of election fraud.
It has ruled Mozambique since the end of the war against it Portuguese colonial rule In 1975, it clung on throughout a 15-year civil war that claimed a million lives before a 1992 truce.
Social and political stability will be his government's top priorities, Chapo told a group of about 1,500 supporters from a podium in the capital, Maputo.
He also promised to reduce the size of the government by reducing the number of ministries, addressing youth unemployment and prioritizing health and education.
Reuters witnesses said the city center was largely deserted, with a heavy police and army presence.
Cyril Ramaphosa, President Neighboring South AfricaHe was one of the few heads of state to attend Chapo's inauguration.
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Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who official results say came second to Chapo in the presidential election, returned from self-imposed exile last week and urged his supporters to continue demonstrating.
The post-election protests are the largest against Frelimo in Mozambique's history and have affected foreign companies operating in the resource-rich southern African nation of 35 million. It also disrupted cross-border trade and forced some to flee to neighboring countries.