Sri Lanka's newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse(R) hands his affirmation of office to Chief Justice Sarath Silva(L)) while a senior official looks on in Colombo Nov.19, 2005.  (Xinhua/Reuters)

COLOMBO, Nov. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Sri Lanka's new president Mahinda Rajapakse pledged to revive peace talks with the Tamil Tigers and consult all parties to end the ethnic separatist conflict after being sworn in as the country's 5th president Saturday.

    Rajapakse took his oath as the 5th elected president of the island country at 1:20 p.m. (0720 GMT) Saturday before Chief Justice Sarath N.de Silva at the Presidential Secretary.

    Addressing the nation after being sworn in, Rajapakse pledged to revive peace talks with the Tamil Tigers and achieve national consensus for a "honorable peace" to end the ethnic separatist conflict.

    Rajapakse said that he would venture into peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) when the Tigers say they would be ready to return to the negotiating table.

    "I will start talks with the LTTE and consult all political parties to achieve peace," Rajapakse said, adding that he will continue getting international assistance for the peace efforts.

    The new government's policy would be to maintain the ongoing cease-fire, the new president stressed.

    Rajapakse, 60, became Sri Lanka's fifth executive president by winning Thursday's presidential election, narrowly beating the main opposition challenger Ranil Wickremesinghe.

    He had polled 4,887,152 votes or 50.29 percent of the 9.82 million votes declared, while the main opposition leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, had polled 4,706,366 votes.

    Rajapakse gained heavily in the Sinhala majority dominated south of the country while Wickremesinghe's votes came mainly from the ethnic and religious minorities, analysts pointed out.

    Rajapakse, outlining his policies, said "I am a new leader and mine will be a new government, and will build new Sri Lanka."

    

New Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse addresses the nation while Sri Lankan military leaders stand behind during the country's fifth executive Presidential swearing-in ceremony in Colombo, Sri Lanka November 19, 2005. (Xinhua/Reuters)

The new government's action to revive the peace talks will come under focus as Rajapakse was supported in the election campaign by two extremist Sinhala majority parties who are bitterly opposed to a negotiated settlement to the ethnic separatist armed conflict.

    Born in 1945 in the rural hinterland of Giriwapattuwa in the deep south Hambantoda district, Rajapakse was the youngest member of parliament in the 1970 parliament.

    When he was a lawyer, he was very much a darling of the working-class and he has been in the forefront of many a struggle to safeguard workers' rights.

    In 1992, as an opposition MP he led a 182-km protest walk from the capital Colombo to the deep south Kataragama.

    He was jailed on what he claimed on a murder charge, forcing him to miss his mother's funeral in 1984.

    Years of long struggle in the opposition culminated in 1994 when he was appointed the minister of labor. Later he was made the minister of fisheries, and the minister of ports.

    In 2002 he became the leader of the opposition and in April 2004 became the country's prime minister.

    A man ever ready with his flashing smile, Rajapakse is married to Shiranthi, a former Sri Lankan beauty queen. He is the father to three teenaged sons. Enditem