New Somali president sworn in

(CNN) - Moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheekh Ahmed was sworn in as Somalia's new president Saturday after he was voted in by the country's parliament, a Somali journalist told CNN.

Journalist Omar Faruk Osman told CNN that Sheikh Sharif was sworn in at about 11 a.m. (3 a.m. ET) in Djibouti, which lies northwest of Somalia.

The vote and swearing-in took place in Djibouti because the international community wanted to be present to observe the voting process and could not do so in Somalia for safety reasons.

The Djibouti location had been chosen before radical Islamic fighters took over the Somali parliament building and the presidential palace earlier this week.