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DJIBOUTI (AFP) - Newly elected Somali President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan headed to New York for a UN General Assembly session, after his visit to Cairo, Egypt, where he addressed a ministerial meeting of the Arab League on the Middle East peace process. Somalia has lacked a central government since the 1991 fall of President Mohamed Siad Barre. Since then, rival warlords have ruled the country. Hassan is first head of state since 1991. He was elected last weekend by a meeting in exile of a transitional parliament for Somalia, in a peace move that failed to win the support of all the militia leaders who control parts of his country. Al though warlords opposed to the reconciliation process that led to his election by members of a new transitional assembly had threatened to block the return of any official emerging from the Djibouti-led process, thousands of people, including many armed factional fighters, showed their support and solidarity to Hassan's victory. |
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