Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Somalia’s new transitional president has vowed to end piracy that has plagued the Gulf of Aden and bring peace to the Horn of Africa nation.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist who was elected president by Somalia’s transitional parliament on Jan. 31, called for international assistance to help rebuild the country’s army in order to stop pirates organizing attacks.

The problem of piracy off Somalia’s shores “is not on the sea, it’s on the land,” Ahmed told reporters today at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. “Only the Somali government can deal with those who are on the land.”

A total of 43 vessels were hijacked last year, peaking at 10 in November alone. The European Union, the U.S., Russia and China all increased their naval presence in the area late last year to help suppress Somali pirates.

Somalia has been without a functioning central government since the ouster of Mohamed Said Barre in 1991. An estimated one million people have been forced from their homes by fighting between Islamist and clan-based militias in the past two years, and 3.2 million people are in need of emergency relief

“I think we can improve the situation in Somalia and establish genuine peace and reconciliation in my country,” Ahmed said. “We should first establish an inclusive national unity government and get urgent aid to those who are suffering and those who are in need.”

Islamic Law

  Ahmed, who formerly chaired Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union that controlled Mogadishu in the second half of 2006, also said that Somalia did not need to impose Islamic law.

The hardline Islamist Al-Shabaab militia, which is opposed to Ahmed’s government and controls much of southern Somalia, has imposed Shari’a law in towns it controls.   “There is no need to change the law of the country,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed did not rule out inviting more radical elements of Somalia’s opposition into his government, including Hassan Dahir Aweys and Hassan al-Turki, two Somali leaders the U.S. State Department has placed on its list of foreign terrorists.   “We are trying to build bridges to everyone in Somalia, to talk to them, engage them, and bring them to the peace process,” he said

Ahmed also vowed to build better relations with neighboring Ethiopia, which invaded Somalia in Dec. 2006, ousting Islamic Courts Union from Mogadishu. Ahmed fled ahead of Ethiopian troops and was captured by Kenyan security forces.

He later moved to Djibouti, where he headed the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, a grouping of moderate Islamist and clan leaders opposed to Ethiopia’s occupation of Somalia and former transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf, who resigned in December.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at jkew1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 3, 2009 11:04 EST