Ex-international footballer Weah was sworn in on Monday at a stadium surrounded by ecstatic supporters, and filled some key ministerial posts later the same day.

In his inaugural speech, Weah vowed to crack down on entrenched corruption and encourage the private sector. But the picks from his party come from outside the establishment and do not have significant government experience, potentially setting up a struggle with entrenched interests in the national congress.

The lack of women so far in the cabinet may also raise eyebrows after 12 years under Sirleaf, who pushed for women to enter public life and strengthened protections against abuse and female genital mutilation as her final act in office.

Weah's right-hand man is the Chairperson of his Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) party, Nathaniel McGill, who becomes minister of state and chief of staff.  He guided the president through a bruising electoral campaign last year and was already his top aide.

Senior CDC figure Samuel Tweah becomes finance secretary, while Liberian lawyer Charles Gibson, a friend of Weah's, becomes Justice Minister.

Sam Mannah, the president's press aide from his years as a senator, becomes his press secretary.

The handover from Sirleaf to Weah represents Liberia's first democratic transfer of power since 1944, and cements impressions Liberia has finally moved on from a war that killed around a quarter of a million people between 1989 and 2003.

--AFP--