Somali region once riddled with pirates sees peaceful power transfer

(Reuters) - A region of war-ravaged Somalia elected a new president on Tuesday, a peaceful transfer of power in a part of the country notorious for piracy and Islamist militias.

Said Abdullahi Deni, who is likely to continue Puntland’s close cooperation with the United States, defeated his closest rival, Asad Osman Abdullahi. He was sworn in for a new five-year term.

Puntland, on the tip of the Horn of Africa, considers itself a semi-autonomous region that comes under the federal government, although the relationship between the two parties has at times been tense.

Six years ago, it was a hotbed of piracy, and hundreds of attacks cost the shipping industry billions of dollars.

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