Somali president makes peace plea

Ana K. and Perry

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7879754.stm

Somali president makes peace plea

Somalia's new President, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has offered an olive branch to Islamist hardliners during a tour of the capital, Mogadishu.

The new president told crowds of people that he was wiling to discuss peace with groups apposed to UN-sponsored piece efforts, he also went to a police base and talked with traditional and civil society leaders. A quote from the new Somali president, "The new period the country is going through is for peace. We will say to everyone who is opposing us: 'We are ready to discuss with you about our problems, we are open to peace, we welcome peace and no-one's role will be ignored.'"
A BBC reporter thinks that this particular quote was amid at the hardline Islamism al-shabab militia. The group in question just recently gained a seat in their parliament so they now control much of the southern part of Somalia. They openly detest the newly elected president. So the president was given security on Monday by African union peacekeepers, troops and forces from the president’s army, and the Alliance fro the Re-liberation of Somalia. The president is forty-four, and used to be a schoolteacher. He was elected by mps in Djibouti in January. He is replacing the former president, Abdullahi Yusuf, who resigned in December after a power struggle. There has been no stable government in Somalia since 1991.