ENDING THE COMMODITY CURSE:

Sierra Leone's new President Julius Maada Bio on Saturday called on the public to help him transform the West African nation, which is struggling to recover from an economic downturn and a deadly Ebola epidemic.

Tens of thousands of supporters packed into a municipal stadium in the capital Freetown alongside regional dignitaries participating in the inauguration ceremony for Maada Bio, who won a presidential run-off April. [...]

Dressed in flowing white robes, the former army officer, who briefly ruled Sierra Leone as head of a military junta in 1996, said he would wage a three-front war against indiscipline, corruption and poverty.

"The strategic objective of the policies and programs is to transform Sierra Leone into a country we can all be proud of," he said.

"I cannot do it alone. So today I ask all of you to believe in your capacity as citizens that together we can change Sierra Leone," he added.

The largely peaceful election process that brought Maada Bio to power came as a relief to Sierra Leone's 7 million people, who in the 1990s endured a brutal civil war fueled by the diamond trade and notorious for its drug-addled child soldiers and punitive amputations.

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