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DRC's new president forced to cut short inauguration speech

DR Congo's new President Felix Tshisekedi was taken ill as he was delivering his inauguration speech in the country's first peaceful handover of power.

"I don't feel well," he said on live TV before halting his speech.

Tshisekedi was sworn in on Thursday as president of Democratic Republic of Congo, marking the country's first-ever peaceful handover of power after chaotic and bitterly disputed elections.

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Tshisekedi, 55, took the oath of office before receiving the national flag and a copy of the constitution from outgoing president Joseph Kabila, who is stepping aside after 18 years at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest country.

Thousands of Tshisekedi supporters, many of them dressed in white, celebrated the historic event outside the Palace of the Nation, the seat of the presidency.

Among foreign nations attending the ceremony, Kenya and Zambia were represented by their presidents and Tanzania by its vice presidents, according to the RTNC state television, while China, France, Japan and the United States sent their ambassadors.

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