DJIBOUTI, December 31, SPA -- Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed was being sworn in as the country's new president Saturday after parliamentelected him to stabilize a country wracked by violence andanarchy for nearly 20 years, Associated Press reported. Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed was elected in neighboringDjibouti early Saturday after the last president Abdullahi Yusuf _ resignedin December after failing to pacify the country during hisfour-years as president. More than 1,200 people, including the new Somaliparliament, attended Saturday's swearing-in at a hotel inDjibouti. Ahmed was chairman of the Islamic Courts Union that ranMogadishu for six months in 2006 before Ethiopian soldiersdrove them from power. His election raises hopes that hewill bring many of Somalia's Islamic factions into a moreinclusive government.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/631230