FORT PORTAL (Uganda) The “world's youngest king” assumed his official duties with an apparent air of reluctance on Saturday in a quiet town at the foot of Uganda's Rwenzori mountains.

Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, 18, was crowned as head of the Kingdom of Toro in a traditional ceremony in his hilltop palace overlooking his capital of Fort Portal.

Draped in a long embroidered gown of blue and gold, the tall, lean Oyo hardly smiled through much of the ceremony, often staring straight down at the floor.

His symbolic authority covers the area known as the Mountains of the Moon straddling the borders of Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.

The young king had officially succeeded to the throne at the age of three when his father died of a heart attack in 1995, but coronation takes place only upon reaching adulthood.

Those who know Oyo suggested that he is far more comfortable when he is not surrounded by animal skin wearing, spear wielding tribal chiefs from across Africa.

“He's a teenager! He loves Arsenal!” proclaimed Princess Dorothy Kagoro, when asked to describe the king's nature.

During a ritual characterized by king- dom officials as the most important part of the coronation, clan leaders lined up to present Oyo with a range of traditional gifts.—AFP