FREETOWN, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Sierra Leone's new leader Ernest Bai Koroma is keen to have a national unity government with officials of the outgoing administration, a top official of the ECOWAS regional bloc said on Thursday.

'Koroma pledged to work for a government of national unity to fulfil the task of economic revival and consolidation of democracy,' Mohamed Ibn Chambas, commission chief of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) told state radio after talks with Koroma in Freetown.

FREETOWN, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - The west African regional bloc ECOWAS has warned Sierra Leone's political parties and security forces against violence as the country awaits complete results from last week's watershed elections.

ECOWAS commission chief Mohamed Ibn Chambas urged all parties in a statement received Monday to exercise restraint and not to 'overheat the political atmosphere as we await the verdict of the people.'