Burundi's former Hutu rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza became president on Friday with a pledge to honour the peace accord that brought him to power and ended a 12-year civil war which killed 300,000 people.
"In front of all Burundians, I, Pierre Nkurunziza, swear that I will always respect the Burundian constitution and the peace agreement," he said, touching the Burundian flag with one hand and placing another on the copy of the constitution.
"I swear to ban all ideologies of ethnic division and genocide. I swear to work for the development of all Burundi."
Nkurunziza's inauguration after a series of democratic polls was a huge step forward for the small central African nation, battered by war, ethnic division and poverty that forces many of its 7 million people to survive on as little as 25 cents a day.
Securing peace in Burundi is seen as crucial to overall stability in the volatile Great Lakes region, racked by ethnic conflict, fights over resources and refugee problems.
The former physical education lecturer, whose narrow escape from death at the hands of rampaging Tutsi soldiers turned him into a guerrilla fighter in 1995, became only the second elected Hutu president in Burundi's post-independence history.
He was sworn in briefly in Burundi's legislature, in front of dignitaries including the presidents of South African, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Mozambique.