Annan welcomes election of transitional president

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has welcomed the election of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as Somalia's transitional president and pledged that the world body would fully support efforts to restore stability in the war-torn, Horn of Africa country. Yusuf, a 69-year-old politician and former military officer, was elected president by members of a 275-strong transitional federal parliament created in August following a two-year reconciliation conference in Kenya. The election was held on Sunday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. In a statement released by his spokesman on Monday, Annan said that he looked forward to "the formation of a transitional federal government capable of beginning reconciliation and reconstruction in a spirit of consensus and dialogue". He emphasized the UN's readiness "to do its utmost to support the return of normalcy and good governance in Somalia" and urged all Somalis to "be part of the effort to restore peace and security in their country". Annan also commended the efforts of those involved in the negotiation process, particularly Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his government, as well as other members of the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Yusuf, who was declared winner in the run-off round of the poll, has served as president of the northeastern self-declared autonomous region of Puntland since 1998. He beat his rival, former cabinet minister and diplomat Abdullahi Ahmed Addow by 189 to 79 votes. Somalia ceased to function as a modern state in 1991 when armed groups overthrew the regime of Muhammad Siyad Barre, precipitating a ruinous civil war that saw numerous warring warlords and their militias curve the country into fiefdoms. Numerous earlier attempts to end anarchy in Somalia failed. A reconciliation conference in Djibouti in 2000 led to the appointment of Abdulkassim Salad Hassan as president, but his administration was only able to exert authority in some parts of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and a few pockets of territory in the south of the country. The newly elected president is expected to appoint a prime minister, who will form a cabinet before the new administration can relocate to Mogadishu. The president and his government have a five-year mandate, after which, general elections will be held inside Somalia. The administration of the self-declared republic of Somaliland in the northwest, which announced its break away from the rest of Somalia following Barre's overthrow, refused to take part in the two-year reconciliation conference in Kenya. Somaliland has said they are an independent entity with a sovereign government. In a related development, Somaliland's cabinet met on Monday and warned that any attempt by Somalia's embryonic government to lay claim on Somaliland's territory would be opposed through the use of force, the official Somaliland radio reported. "If the administration, which was set up in Mbagathi [name of the venue of the Somali peace talks in Nairobi], dares to claim Somaliland territory or disputes its secession, the government of Somaliland and its people will see it as interference and a flagrant violation and will oppose such a move through force," Radio Hargeysa said, quoting a statement issued after the cabinet meeting, chaired by Somaliland's President Dahir Riyale Kahin. The statement said that Somaliland's cabinet had "briefed IGAD, the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union, USA government and the international community that they had a responsibility to provide clear assurance that no one would encroach on Somaliland's peace and its territory or interfere with it". The announcement further mentioned that the cabinet had asked the attorney-general to bring charges against any indigenous Somalilanders who are known to have taken part in the elections held in Nairobi and to treat them, legally, as criminals. Meanwhile, the Acting United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Jesper Morch, has urged the international community to contribute to the Humanitarian Response Fund for Somalia where hundrends of thousands of people are suffering from the effects of a prolonged drought. "The humanitarian community working in Somalia is doing all it can to respond to the devastating drought that is affecting an estimated 700,000 people and will be appealing for wider donor support in the near future," said Morch. "However, support for the Humanitarian Response Fund would help us to put urgent projects into place, and save the lives and livelihoods of thousands of drought-affected people without delay." In a statement issued on Monday, Morch said that the Fund has distributed over US $1 million to international non-governmental organisations since April this year for projects in drought and conflict-affected areas of Somalia, including Gedo, Lower Juba, Sool, Sanaag, Bari and Nugal regions. The Humanitarian Response Fund was established earlier this year as a means of providing rapid funding for emergency interventions in Somalia and is administered by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs through an Advisory Board made up of UN Agencies and International NGOs.