Mozambique's president swears in for new term

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza was sworn-in for a second five-year term after winning a landlside victory last year.

MAPUTO, January 14, 2010 (AFP) - Mozambican President Armando Guebuza was sworn-in for a second five-year term Thursday after he and the ruling party Frelimo won a landslide election victory last year.

Speaking in the capital Maputo to a crowd that included heads of state from around southern Africa, millionaire businessman Guebuza promised to answer voters' calls to fight poverty in Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world.

"The electoral results show that in our Mozambique, the will to fight poverty goes beyond party lines," said Guebuza.

"With this wealth of confidence and legitimacy, we want to bring to the attention of the Mozambican nation that the time has come to set aside political differences, which characterised the competition for votes, and to devote ourselves, with all our strength, to the fight against poverty."

Guebuza took a record 75 percent of the vote in Mozambique's October 28 election, easily fending off long-time opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama of the Renamo party and the founder of an opposition breakaway party, Daviz Simango.

Guebuza said his first term had brought better schools, more health centres, potable water, computers, electricity and jobs to Mozambique -- improvements he pledged to continue during his second term.