El Salvador: Salvador Sanchez sworn in as president

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Former left-wing rebel leader Salvador Sanchez Ceren has been sworn in as president of El Salvador.

Mr Sanchez, 69, of the FMLN party, becomes the first former guerrilla to lead the Central American country following his March victory.

In his inauguration speech, he promised to fight corruption and violence, and to govern "for everybody".

El Salvador remains violent and deeply divided despite the end of a civil war in which some 75,000 people died.

Mr Sanchez narrowly defeated the conservative candidate Norman Quijano by 0.2% in a run-off vote on 9 March.

'No corruption'

Speaking at his inauguration ceremony in the capital, San Salvador, he pledged "to serve as president of all Salvadoreans".

He added he would lead "with honesty, austerity, efficacy and transparency" in a country with high levels of corruption.

Last month, a Salvadorean judge issued an arrest warrant for a former President, Francisco Flores, who is accused of using $10m (£6.5m) of public money for personal use. He denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Sanchez also promised that "security, employment and education" would be the priorities of his government.

El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world, a problem largely blamed on gang violence.

As a rebel leader, Mr Sanchez fought US-backed government forces during the civil conflict in which tens of thousands of people also disappeared.

His Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front became a political party after the 1992 peace accords.

It first won the presidency in 2009 with the outgoing leader Mauricio Funes (2009-2014), a former journalist who did not fight in the war.

Salvador Sanchez served as vice president in the Funes government.