Guinea-Bissau's former military ruler, Joao Bernardo Vieira, was sworn in as president on Saturday, two months after winning a bitterly disputed election in the coup-prone West African country, Reuters reported. The ruling PAIGC party refused to admit defeat after Vieira was declared winner of the poll, meant to usher in a new era of democratic rule after a 2003 putsch, but finally accepted the outcome on Tuesday. "I will base my mandate on the principles of reconciliation and national unity," Vieira said during a ceremony attended by ministers from neighbouring Guinea and Senegal and former colonial power Portugal. Vieira, who is also known as "Nino", won elections in 1994 but was overthrown in 1999 following a civil war in a nation rocked by coups and uprisings since independence in 1974.
