Opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma was sworn in as Sierra Leone's president within hours of being declared the winner of a tense runoff vote Sept. 17, and vowed to adopt zero tolerance on corruption.

In choosing Koroma, citizens voted against the party that ushered them out of a devastating war in 2002 and for the promise of a better peace with less corruption and more jobs.

"I inherited a bankrupt, war-torn and failing state. Today, I am handing over to you a fully stable and functional state," outgoing President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah told Koroma.