Sierra Leone President wins re-election

The president of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, was re-elected yesterday in the first vote since the end of the nation's devastating civil war.

The result signals a sweeping rejection of the rebels who waged the war. Paolo Banguray, the rebel-allied candidate who stood instead of their jailed founder, Foday Sankoh, said: "We have lost, and we accept the people's verdict."

People of the bullet-pocked capital, Freetown, took to the streets singing, dancing and waving the palm-frond symbols of Mr Kabbah's supporters.

The National Election Commission said Mr Kabbah won with 70.6 per cent of the vote – well above the 55 per cent he needed to avoid a run-off.

Dr Kabbah, 70, was credited by Sierra Leone's people with resisting the rebels during the insurgents' 10-year terror campaign. The war, launched to win control of the government and of diamond fields, killed tens of thousands of civilians and left countless others injured.

Dr Kabbah's party also did unexpectedly well in parliament, winning 83 of the 112 seats.(AP)