Speaking at his formal inauguration in Beirut, he said the people wanted an administration "in which they get service by paying taxes and not by paying bribes and taxes".

General Lahoud - the first elected president since civil war ended in 1990 - said: "It is the people's right, before anything else, that they see how the decent are rewarded and how a thief's hand is chopped off, whoever that may be."

The general, who was unanimously elected by parliament on 15 October, also said the country had to develop its democratic parliamentary system of government.

Syria's influence

BBC Foreign Affairs Correspondent Fergus Nicoll says President Lahoud is seen as a dynamic and visionary figure, but his scope for manoeuvre will be restricted by Syria's strong influence on Lebanese affairs.

Checkpoint: 35,000 Syrian soldiers in Lebanon

Syria treats Lebanon as a satellite state, exerting political and military control, and using southern Lebanon as a proxy battle-ground against Israel.

It has 35,000 troops on Lebanese soil and General Lahoud is expected to further co-ordinate efforts against Israel.

But the general also has support from France and the US, which appears determined to return to Lebanon.

He is now expected to resign his post as the commander of the Lebanese army.

The inauguration ceremony took place at the presidential palace in Baabda, north-east Beirut.

General Lahoud is Lebanon's 11th president since the 1943 independence from France.

Lebanon's traditions

Like his predecessor and according to tradition, he is a Maronite Christian.

The tradition, dating back to independence, also requires that the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim and the parliamentary speaker a Shi'ite, so that the country's three main communities are represented.

Rafiq al-Hariri, a well-connected billionaire, was expected to be re-appointed prime minister.

House Speaker Nabih Berri was also expected to continue to wield considerable influence.

Outgoing President Elias Hrawi, who oversaw the end of the 1975-1990 civil war during his nine-year tenure, urged the nation to throw its support behind his successor.

"[I am] proud of what we have accomplished by working together and saddened by what we did not," he said in a televised address on Monday.