Cuenco finds Guardo a “strong political foe”

DILI (AFP) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta was sworn in as East Timor's president on Sunday after winning a landslide election victory earlier this month.

Ramos-Horta took the oath of office during a ceremony at parliament house in the capital Dili, attended by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and his Portuguese counterpart Luis Filipe Marques Amado.

"I swear to God, in the name of the people and for the sake of my honor, that I will duly exercise my functions, implement and abide by the constitution and the law and dedicate all my energy and capacity to the defence and consolidation of freedom and national unity," he said.

Ramos-Horta won 69 percent of the vote in the election, the first since East Timor gained its independence in 2002 following a bloody separation from Indonesia three years earlier.

The people of East Timor are hopeful that he will be able to usher in a new era of peace and stability for the impoverished former Portuguese colony.