Somalis elect veteran politician as president

ARTA, Djibouti (Reuters) -- Somalia's new parliament on Saturday elected veteran politician Abdiqassim Salad Hassan as president, the country's first since it collapsed into anarchy nine years ago.

Abdiqassim Salad, 58, served as deputy prime minister and interior minister in the government of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, whose ouster in 1991 was followed by civil war between rival clan-based factions.

Moments after being elected from among 24 presidential candidates, he gave a brief speech and called on all Somalis "to pray for the success of our collective mission."

The parliament, which has been meeting in neighbouring Djibouti since its formation less than two weeks ago, elected Abdiqassim Salad in three rounds of voting in the early hours of Saturday morning.

When it was over, everyone in the huge white tent that serves as the parliament's temporary home stood up and sang the national anthem. Abdiqassim Salad draped a Somali flag over his shoulders.

The voting was broadcast live to Somalia, where many residents stayed up all night to watch an election they hope will bring an end to a decade of misery.

Warlords vow to oppose new government

But a dozen previous attempts to end the country's crisis all failed, and the new president and his government will face serious challenges in trying to restore peace.

Several warlords in the Somali capital Mogadishu have already vowed they will not allow the new government to take office and it is not clear how their heavily-armed militias can be demobilised without their leaders' cooperation.

As a member of the Hawiye clan which dominates in Mogadishu, Abdiqassim Salad was seen as having a greater chance of establishing a new government than someone from another clan.

He is to serve as president for a three-year interim period during which a central government has the task of assuming control over the fractured country, establishing peace and organising elections.

Abdiqassim Salad was to be inaugurated here on Sunday and his first task will be to pick a prime minister and a cabinet.

The 245-member parliament was set up as part of a peace conference in Arta, a small resort town on Djibouti's coastline.

Rival clans talk peace

The conference, which began in early May, brought together about 1,000 traditional elders and political leaders from all of Somalia's clans to hammer out their differences.

It has won broad international support, largely because it has not been dominated by the warlords who effectively divided Somalia into rival fiefdoms after Siad Barre was ousted.

A massive U.N. force landed in Mogadishu in 1992 in a bid to restore peace and end a famine but the U.N. troops came under intense attack from militiamen and they pulled out in early 1995, their mission in tatters.

While most of the warlords have vowed to resist the new government, opposition has also come from the leaders of Somaliland and Puntland, two northern regions which have succeeded in restoring a degree of stability in recent years.

They say they will not sacrifice their gains to support a new national government that could collapse or, alternatively, try to limit their autonomy.

But Somalia's new government is expected to win support from the United Nations, the United States, Arab League nations, the European Union and Somalia's neighbours in the Horn of Africa.

The European Union said on Friday it welcomed the formation of the parliament and commended Djibouti's efforts to resolve a conflict which has destabilised the whole region.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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