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Rajpakse takes charge as Sri Lanka's new President

     Colombo: Mahinda Rajapakse, who won Friday's presidential election in Sri Lanka, was sworn into office in Colombo on Saturday. A former prime minister of the country, Rajpakse won just over 50 percent of the vote against his main rival, Ranil Wickramasinghe. Rajapakse was sworn in by Sri Lanka's top judge, Sarath Silva, at a ceremony overlooking the Indian Ocean. Rajapakse has vowed to take a tough stance in any talks with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE). After his victory, he said that he would pursue a path of "honourable peace", but warned simultaneously that he was ready to review a ceasefire arrangement with the LTTE and rejected suggestions of granting total autonomy to Sri Lanka's minority Tamil population. Erik Solheim, a Norwegian politician who has tried to mediate between the government and the rebels, said he feared for the stalled peace process. "The situation is now very difficult," Mr Solheim told NRK public radio. There may be a danger that Sri Lanka can slide further into uncontrolled violence in considerable parts of the country," he was quoted by the BBC, as saying.

    The turnout in the Sri Lankan presidential polls was put at 75 percent in the south and west, but almost no Tamils voted in some minority Tamil areas. At the end of counting on Friday, Rajapakse had secured over 4.8 million votes, about 180,000 ahead of Wickramasinghe. There were 11 other candidates in the presidential poll fray. Rajpakse is expected to name a prime minister and new cabinet soon. Meanwhile, the LTTE have warned Rajapakse not to use his victory to adopt "military means to occupy our land or wage a conflict". Tamils make up about 20 percent of Sri Lanka's 19-million strong population.