Tandja sworn in as president

Mamadou Tandja, 61, sworn in on Wednesday as president of Niger after nine months of military rule, promised to work to improve the condition of workers and respect the principles of democracy, the BBC reported. His government, to be formed by 1 January, faces tough economic hurdles: the state is broke and has for months been beset by strikes by health workers, teachers and other public servants protesting against the non-payment of several months' salary. Tandja, a retired army colonel with some political experience, won presidential elections in November with 59.9 percent of the vote. The military regime he replaces promised on seizing power in April that it would hand over to a democratic government after nine months. Tandja heads the Mouvement nationale pour la societe de developpement, which won 38 of the 83 seats in the national assembly.