The newly elected Somali transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, was inaugurated Thursday in Kenya's capital Nairobi, the venue of the Somali peace talks.

Yusuf took oath of office under the flag of Somalia in a stadium on the outskirts of Nairobi. His swearing-in was followed by audience' cheers and clapping, the 21-gun salute, and a series of celebrations of the African-style dancing and singing.

He said at the ceremony that this is a wonderful day for Somalia, a victory for the African people.

However, he admitted that "the task ahead is very daunting. The government will have to rebuild Somalia from scratch." He pledged to support the war-torn Horn of Africa nation back to peace and stability, "there would be a comprehensive national reconstruction program based on broad discussions (in the country)."

The new Somali president will appoint a prime minister soon, mandated to form a government and lead the former war-ravaged country in the next five-year transitional period before a general election will be held.

The stadium was hot and overwhelmed with a sea of blue, as it was packed with over 5,000 people, most Somalis, waving the national flags to express their excitement.

"A great day for Africa," read the large screen. "We wish Somalia peace, stability and equality," as can also be seen printed on the national flags in the T-shirts most the Somali spectator wore.

Marian Hassan Osman Kaif, a Somali delegate who had attended the whole peace process in Kenya, told Xinhua on site that she is "very, very happy today, because the Somalis have a president now, and I will go back to Somalia very soon."

Several regional leaders, including President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, attended the inauguration ceremony.

Veteran Somali politician and former military officer, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, won Sunday's presidential election held in Nairobi, and immediately vowed to re-establish stability in the Horn of Africa country, ravaged by factional warfare since 1991.

Yusuf, 71, who was declared winner in the run-off round of the poll by lawmakers, has served as president of the northeastern self-declared autonomous region of Puntland since 1998.

He beat his rival, former cabinet minister and diplomat Abdullahi Ahmed Addou by 189 to 79 of the votes cast by members of the transitional federal parliament which was constituted in August.

The presidential elections came after the election of the speaker of the transitional federal parliament of Somalia on Sept.15 and his two deputies on Sept. 22 and the inauguration of the transitional parliament on Aug. 29.

According to a charter signed by delegates at the beginning of this year, each of Somalia's four major clans was allocated 61 seats in the proposed 275-member parliament, while an alliance of minority clans would have 31 MPs.

Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991 when the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled, following which the country plunged into anarchy and factional violence.

Since the breakdown of the Somali central government, conflict and famine have killed hundreds of thousands of people, plunging the country into anarchy.

Under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, which groups Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia, Somali National Reconciliation Conference began in October 2002 in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret, and was moved to Nairobi in February 2003.