Somalia's Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo chosen as President
Somalia's Parliament elected former Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, a dual US-Somali citizen, as the country's new President on Wednesday
Outgoing Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (left) raises the hand of newly elected President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo (centre)
Somalia's MPs have elected a Somali-US national as the country's new president in a vote held in an aircraft hangar.
Former Prime Minister Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo was named the new leader after two rounds of voting on Wednesday and quickly took the oath of office.
Incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud conceded defeat.
"History was made, we have taken this path to democracy, and now I want to congratulate Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo," Mohamud said.
The vote was held at the heavily guarded airport complex in the capital, Mogadishu, as the rest of the country is too dangerous.
Traffic was banned and a no-fly zone imposed over the city to prevent attacks by militant Islamists.
The country is currently attempting to put together its first fully functioning central government in a quarter-century.
Somalia has not had a one-person one-vote democratic election since 1969, when the vote was followed by a coup, dictatorship and conflict involving clan militias and Islamist extremists.
More than 20,000 African Union (AU) troops are stationed in Somalia to prevent militant Islamist group al-Shabab from overthrowing the weak government.
