The election of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, leader of the Islamists-dominated opposition coalition Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS), is seen as the beginning of a new chapter in Somali politics but analysts warn "huge daunting challenges" are laying ahead for the new administration.

The file photo taken on Dec. 10, 2008 shows Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, leader of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, arrives at an airport in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, after a two-year exile. Moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed won the Somali presidency in a parliamentary vote in Djibouti early Saturday, paving the way for a national unity government for the war-torn Horn of the African nation. [Xinhua/Abdurrahman Warsameh]

Ahmed won the presidential election on Saturday after a long night of voting in neighboring Djibouti where the enlarged Somali transitional parliament, which includes nearly 200 Members of Parliament from the ARS, has been holding sessions.

It is widely seen here that the election of Ahmed as the new president is only the beginning of a long process of stabilizing the war-torn Horn of African country which has been hit by nearly two decades of civil strife.

"The new leader for Somalia, despite his popular support at the grassroots level within Somalia, particularly in the south-central Somalia, faces formidable opposition from hardline groups within the Islamist camps including the Al-Shabaab movement," Yusuf Harun, a senior academic in Mogadishu told Xinhua.

The Al-Shabaab group has not officially reacted to the election of the new Somali President but the group has been opposed to the peace talks which led to a power-sharing deal between Ahmed's moderate faction of the ARS and the Somali transitional government.

The other splinter group of the ARS led by the firebrand Islamist cleric Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys has voiced their opposition to the sharing of power with what they term as "the apostate government of Somalia", saying it makes no difference to them between Ahmed and former Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed who resigned last month.

The other task facing the new administration now is the ability of the new ruler to unite the parties within the Somali parliament which is apparently divided along the line of the former MPs from the transitional government and the newly accommodated members from the opposition.

"The division is very clear for everyone to see because nearly 123 MP, possibly from the old guard, so to speak ,have apparently voted against the new president who needs to have the cooperation of all MPs, whether the new or old guard," Harun said.

The new Somali leadership will have to convince the international community and the Somalia' neighbors that the country is not turning heaven for terrorist organizations and that the country is not at war with its neighbors, a stance the new president has reaffirmed.

There has been lot of talks in the media, particularly foreign media, that Somalia is being used as a base by organizations linked to terrorism and that will be one of the challenges facing the new administration, said Harun.

As Somalia's political dynamics is centered around division of power along clan lines, it will require some sort of political dexterity on the part of the new president to strike a balance between having a Government of National Unity while preserving the political affiliation.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2009)