President Attends Somali Presidential Inauguration [Archives:2000/35/Front Page]

President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen arrived Sunday in the town of Arta, Djibouti where he attended a grand ceremony for the inauguration of the new Somali president Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, as the first head of state in almost a decade. Leaders of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development had been invited to witness the ceremony.
The democratically elected Somali president Abdiqasim Salad Hassan was sworn in Sunday. Attending the inauguration ceremony were also the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir, Eritrean president Issias Afwerki, Djiboutian president Ismael Omar Guella and Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi.
Somali transitional parliament elected Hassan, 58, as president of the state early Saturday morning after three rounds of elections. The elections were monitored by representatives from the United Nations and Inter-Governmental Authority for Development. Also attending the elections were the ambassadors of the United States and Italy to Djibouti. Salad, belonging to Hawiye clan, had undertaken portfolios of interior, mineral resources, higher education and sport before Mohammed Siad Barres rule was overthrown in 1991.

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