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Samdhong Rinpoche, the new prime minister of Tibet's government-in-exile, speaks to the press in Dharamsala, 05 September 2001, after taking his oath of office from the Dalai Lama. Samdhong secured 84.5 percent of the 30,000 votes polled in the election, which was the first time that Tibetans had directly elected a head of their exiled government in India. The premier fled to India along with the Dalai Lama and hundreds of compatriots when China crushed an anti-Beijing uprising in Tibet in 1959. --AFP PHOTO