In the highly attended ceremony held at the Houphouet Boigny Foundation, Ivorians expressed their gratitude by giving standing ovation to the three countries and the UN.

Ouattara also took time during his speech to pay special tributes to the three countries and the UN.

“Jonathan Goodluck, President of Nigeria and the Chairman of ECOWAS, is my friend.

“I am grateful for the unique role the country and ECOWAS played in the Ivorian political crisis.

“Nicholas Sarkozy, we remain grateful to you for the grand role you played during the trying moment of the country,’’ he said.

Ouattara recognised the Burkinabe president, Blaise Compaore, for taking a stand for democracy in the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the investiture was conducted by the Ivorian President of the Chancellory, Henriette Dagri Diabite.

Ouattara was declared winner of the presidential election held on November 28, 2010, but his opponent, former president Laurent Gbagbo, refused to hand over power.

Gbagbo said the election was rigged in Ouattara’s favour, while the former president’s friends in the Constitutional Council declared him winner and was sworn in on December 5, 2010.

However, Ouattara had earlier sworn himself in as president at a small ceremony at the Golf hotel in Abidjan on December 4, 2010, pushing the country into a political deadlock for five months.

Ignoring international pressure and advice, Gbagbo ordered his army to besiege the Golf hotel where Ouattara was held up for five months.

Ouattara was, however, protected by the UN military force.

Gbagbo turned down offers and invitations from the U S, French and Nigerian Governments for political asylum, with seven heads of state visiting the country to persuade him to hand over power.

Rebels in the Northern part of the country fought their way into Abidjan on March 27, 2011, and supported by French soldiers and the UN military force, arrested Gbagbo on April 11, 2011.

He was arrested in his bedroom with his wife, Simeone, who had been a firm and open supporter of the former president holding on to power.

The UN said more than 3,000 people were killed in the five-month political crisis which grounded the economy, especially the main stay of the Ivorian economy, Cocoa.

NAN reports that Ivorians had struggled to pick up the pieces of their lives after the crisis, with Ouattara assuring of speedy recovery of the economy.

Ouattara had directed all public hospitals to treat citizens for free, but the queues forced many to go to the private hospitals.

-Punch