Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed was being sworn in as the country's new president Saturday after parliament elected him to stabilize a country wracked by violence and anarchy for nearly 20 years, Associated Press reported. Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed was elected in neighboring Djibouti early Saturday after the last president Abdullahi Yusuf _ resigned in December after failing to pacify the country during his four-years as president. More than 1,200 people, including the new Somali parliament, attended Saturday's swearing-in at a hotel in Djibouti. Ahmed was chairman of the Islamic Courts Union that ran Mogadishu for six months in 2006 before Ethiopian soldiers drove them from power. His election raises hopes that he will bring many of Somalia's Islamic factions into a more inclusive government.
