New Somali President Sees Positive U.S. Role

The Djibouti negotiations were the U.N.-backed process which helped bring about the election of Ahmed on Saturday.

The newly elected president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, said in an interview published on Sunday that he saw the United States as a positive influence for peace in his country.

Ahmed led the Islamic Courts Union before the United States backed an Ethiopian invasion meant to drive the Islamists out of power. In May 2008, Ahmed criticised the United States for a U.S. airstrike that killed an Islamic leader in central Somalia.

The last Ethiopian troops left Somalia last month and a new U.S. administration under President Barack Obama took office in Washington on Jan. 20.

"One can say that the U.S. position towards Somalia has become honest... We think that the American view of Somalia is now positive," Ahmed told the Egyptian newspaper el-Shorouk.

"In the framework of the Djibouti negotiations, America has become a force which supports peace," he added.

The Djibouti negotiations were the U.N.-backed process which helped bring about the election of Ahmed on Saturday.