Ghana’s new President John Atta Mills gestures as he speaks after being sworn in as the country’s new president during a ceremony in Accra, Ghana Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009. Ghana’s new president took office Wednesday following a peaceful but tense election that secured the country’s status as one of the continent’s few stable democracies. Tens of thousands of people crowded Independence Square for the inauguration of John Atta Mills, the opposition candidate who won the runoff election with 50.23 percent of the vote. It was the closest election in the West African country’s history. This marked the second time power in Ghana has been transferred from one legitimately elected leader to another. ((AP Photo/Olivier Asselin)