Newly elected Somali president Abdulkassim Salat has said that top priority will be given to the issue of enhancing the pillars of security in the country, reported Saudi press agency (SPA).
In a statement to Cairo-based al-Ahram newspaper on Saturday, Silat said the neighboring countries support the Somali reconciliation, ruling out allegations that these countries might be assisting the parties plotting to escalate fighting in Somalia.
The AFP reported that Salat has returned to Djibouti after a brief trip to Somalia where people gave a rapturous welcome to their first head of state since 1991.
Salat returned late Friday to Djibouti, where he was elected last weekend by a meeting in exile of a transitional parliament for Somalia, in a peace move which failed to win the support of all the militia leaders who control parts of his country.
He is shortly due to head for Cairo to address a ministerial meeting of the Arab League on the Middle East peace process, and to travel on to New York for the UN General Assembly session, officials told AFP.
The agency added that although warlords opposed to the reconciliation process that led to Salat's 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, welcomed Salat on his trip home, which began Wednesday.
Somalia has lacked a central government since the 1991 fall of president Mohamed Siad Barre. Since then, the country has been ruled by rival warlords -- (Several Sources)
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