(Updates with EU aid commissioner's comments, paragraphs 14-15) By David Lewis KINSHASA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Joseph Kabila took office on Wednesday as Congo's first democratically elected president in over four decades, pledging to combat the corruption and violence that have crippled his resource-rich nation. Cheered by thousands of singing, dancing, flag-waving supporters, Kabila was sworn in during a colourful but heavily guarded ceremony in Kinshasa in the gardens of the presidential palace on the banks of the Congo river. The 35-year-old former guerrilla commander, who became the unelected leader of Democratic Republic of Congo in 2001 after his president father was assassinated, won a five-year mandate through the ballot box in a tense Oct. 29 presidential run-off. "A new page is opening up before us. I can see the Congo of tomorrow carrying the hopes of a renascent Africa at the dawn of this century with its great challenges," he said in a speech. Kabila, who he took the oath before members of the Supreme Court to defend the constitution and national unity, vowed to base his rule on "the trilogy of good governance, democracy and respect for human rights". This promise was likely to please the international community which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to maintain the world's biggest U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo and organise the elections. He also pledged to make fighting corruption a priority in a country where its mineral riches -- copper, gold, cobalt, diamonds, uranium and timber -- have so far brought more conflict and suffering than development to ordinary Congolese. Congo is struggling to heal the wounds of a 1998-2003 war and Kabila said another priority would be ending violence, especially in the volatile east where renegade militia and rebel bands "have not yet understood that times have changed". U.N. peacekeepers killed more than 150 rebels in heavy fighting in the east last week. INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT Security for the inauguration was tight. Heavily armed soldiers of the black-uniformed presidential guard protected the palace and patrolled the streets of the riverside capital. One major absentee was Kabila's defeated election challenger, ex-rebel chief and Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba. Foreign dignitaries present, who included several African heads of state, hailed it as an historic event. The elections crowned a peace process ending Congo's most recent war which triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises that has already killed some 4 million people. "For the first time since independence Congo (has) become a democratic state," European Union development and humanitarian aid commissioner Louis Michel told reporters. He said the international community would stand by Congo but would not interfere in its running. "Congo now has to take its destiny in its own hands and on its own shoulders." Bemba's initial refusal to accept Kabila's victory had raised fears of renewed violence in Kinshasa, where soldiers of the two rivals fought fierce gunbattles in recent months. But Bemba has since said he will go into political opposition in the interests of national peace. Bemba supporters said they felt Kabila had been fraudulently elected. "So be it. We bow down, but we'll be watching to see what he achieves. In five years' time, we'll give our verdict," said Norbert Kabuya. (Additional reporting by Willy Kabwe)
