Ex-junta chief sworn in as Chad’s elected president

N’DJAMENA: General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, who has led Chad’s military junta for three years, was sworn in as president on Thursday after an election victory contested by the opposition.

Deby officially won 61 percent of the May 6 vote that international NGOs said was neither credible nor free and which his main rival called a “masquerade.”

Taking the oath of office, Deby said he swore “before the Chadian people… to fulfil the high functions that the nation has entrusted in us.”