João Lourenço has officially begun his second term in power, vowing to be the president for all Angolans after his MPLA party’s disputed win in last month’s election.
There was a strong military presence at the inauguration ceremony in Luanda’s Praça da República square, and AFP reports that many people opted to stay at home, leaving the capital’s streets unusually quiet.
The news agency says that in his speech President Lourenço echoed previous promises of economic reforms and job creation but “made no mention of his long touted anti-graft campaign”.
A number of African heads of state attended Thursday’s swearing-in, as did the president of former colonial power Portugal.
The opposition Unita party did not send a representative. It maintains that the MPLA did not win the election fair and square, despite the constitutional court rejecting all legal challenges to the result.
—BBC
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