By Abdi Guled MOGADISHU, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Somali women danced in the streets and anti-aircraft missiles were blasted into the air on Saturday to celebrate the election of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as president. The moderate Islamist leader won the presidency in an all-night parliament session in neighbouring Djibouti on Saturday and vowed to end conflict in the Horn of Africa nation, make peace with neighbours and rule with honesty and justice. "We are supporting our newly elected president of Somalia, because he is a peaceful man we expect him to practice our religion. We love him and that is why we are supporting to him," Ali Hashi Hirsi said. Thousands of supporters converged in the capital Mogadishu's war-battered stadium chanting "long live Sheikh Sharif". In Mogadishu and some central parts of the country, not under the control of Islamist militants, people stayed up all night to watch television or listen to the radio. "Welcome Sharif, we are tired of war. Let Somalis join hands," Farhia Hassan, a mother of three, said as she waved a green branch symbolising peace. The spokesman for some 3,500 African Union peacekeeping troops stationed in Mogadishu and long the targets of attacks by Islamic insurgents also welcomed Ahmed's victory. "President Sheikh Sharif is no doubt committed to the peace process and we will do what it takes to support him and his government," said spokesman Barigye Ba-Hoku. Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, an Islamist group, said they would support Ahmed but warned him not to reach out to their arch-foe al Shabaab -- which is seeking to impose a strict version of Islamic law and is on Washington's list of foreign terrorists. PEACE "Being the ideal peace loving religious fathers, we shall support President Sharif if he is not inclined to al Shabaab," spokesman Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf said. "Welcome to your country and make it peaceful. But your success will melt like ice if you do not keep off al Shabaab." The group, which has been fighting al Shabaab, said it was not interested in politics but in the protection of Islam. Ahmed has said he will try to correct what he sees as the misinterpretation of Islam by some insurgents and will welcome fighters in a new national security force, as long as they are committed to peace. Not all in Somalia celebrated. "Sharif's election was illegitimate and we shall never recognise him and his government," Warsame Abdi Samatar, information minister for Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland, told Reuters. Some politicians from Puntland said they interpreted the comments as a warning to the new president to make sure the semi-autonomous region is given senior government positions. Analysts say Ahmed has a real possibility of reuniting Somalis, given his Islamist roots, the backing of parliament and support from once hostile Western nations. In Kismayu, a stronghold of al Shabaab, the group's spokesman said the election was "not something to be supported". But residents who have borne the brunt of al Shabaab's tough version of sharia law such as cutting off the hands of thieves and stoning adulterers to death said they were happy. "President Sharif will obviously make Somalia peaceful" Faduma Yusuf, a 64-year-old woman said in Kismayu. "He will get support from most of the Somalis as well as the international community. And those who are naturally against peace will be smashed this time," she said. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Abdi Guled in Mogadishu; Writing by Wangui Kanina; Editing by David Clarke and Elizabeth Piper)
The French naval frigate, the Floreal, sails near Somalia's northern port town of Bosasso, January 29, 2009. French navy handed over nine suspected pirates to the authorities in Puntland on Thursday. ...
