(Adds U.S. reaction, paragraph 10)

By Katrina Manson

FREETOWN, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Fresh from a bruising campaign that saw him barred from part of his own country, Sierra Leone's new President Ernest Bai Koroma must turn an ambitious manifesto into reality and his campaign machine into a government.

The former insurance executive, sworn in on Monday within hours of being declared winner of a Sept. 8 run-off vote, has promised to tackle widespread unemployment and stubborn graft in an impoverished country still scarred by a 1991-2002 civil war.

"The people have very, very high expectations that this electoral process they have just gone through will mean something for the quality of their lives," said Engilbert Gudmundsson, representative for the World Bank.

"The President and his government will have to deliver something for the common man. People want to have water, roads, electricity and jobs more than anything else ... We need to do everything and we need to do it yesterday," he told Reuters.

Despite an economic recovery, mining investments and public reforms backed by former colonial power Britain and the United Nations, the West African country ranks second from bottom of the U.N. human development index and poverty is widespread.

"People are looking for an electoral dividend. Since his campaign was based on change, people are going to want to see change in the next few months," said Chris Fomunyoh of the U.S. National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

Endemic corruption by government officials and civil servants laid the ground for the vicious civil war, which was funded by "blood diamonds" and saw drug-taking child soldiers cut off the limbs, ears and lips of terrified civilians.

"He made some very courageous promises in his election campaign ... and he needs to look at how he delivers on that," said Carolyn Norris, West Africa project director for the International Crisis Group think-tank.

"The major thing for me has to be economic growth, and to do that he has to take a strong line against corruption," Norris said. "The anti corruption commission is not working and it needs a fresh look."

The U.S. said it was encouraging that the election and handover of power had passed off without any major unrest:

"Thanks to former President Kabbah's leadership in ensuring the successful conduct of elections, Sierra Leone has taken an historic step toward a more democratic, peaceful, and prosperous future," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

FEAR OF CHANGE

Alpha Kanu, spokesman for Koroma's All People's Congress, urged ministers in the outgoing government and civil servants to go back to work, saying they should not feel threatened.

But some were clearly apprehensive of the future. A senior border guard said more than 100 government vehicles had been prevented from crossing the borders to Guinea and Liberia, saying government officials had wanted to sell the vehicles.

Koroma's selection of his promised unity government could be crucial to allaying the fears of those public officials.

A broad-based cabinet could also help close regional and ethnic rifts opened up by a sometimes violent election campaign in which hostile stone-throwing crowds forced Koroma to turn back from a tour of the country's southeast -- home to the Mende people who traditionally backed the previous ruling SLPP party.

"I think the first priority is to tackle tribal divisions ... Koroma needs to look at what he can do to bring people together -- in his cabinet and other appointments," said Valnora Edwin, director of the Campaign for Good Governance, a local civil society group.

At least one man was killed when a hostile crowd sacked the SLPP party headquarters in the capital Freetown after Koroma's victory on Monday, but at least some of the crowd claimed to be SLPP supporters angry with party leaders for losing the poll.

"There might be some uncomfortable moments," said Edwin. "If he attempts reform of the civil service it will be misunderstood as an attack on the Mendes, since most of the appointments before were made on tribal lines." (Additional reporting by Christo Johnson and Alistair Thomson)

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