Son Succeeds Somali Warlord Aidid

Hussein Mohammed Aidid, who landed as a U.S. Marine in Somalia in 1992, was named Sunday to succeed his late father, Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid, the powerful faction leader who humiliated the U.S. military.

The younger Aidid’s appointment by his father’s supporters came hours after they issued a policy document making it clear that the general’s death will not lead to reconciliation among warring factions.

Aidid will serve a two-year term as president of the United Somali Congress-Somali National Alliance. It was not clear whether he also assumed his father’s title as president of Somalia, which the elder Aidid, who was buried Friday, was awarded by his supporters last year.

His father’s death from wounds he received in recent fighting had raised hopes that peace could return to this Horn of Africa nation of 8 million people. More than 350,000 Somalis died from starvation or in fighting after the 1991 overthrow of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Hussein Aidid, 31, had lived in the United States since the age of about 14 until he returned to Somalia in late 1992 as a Marine at the start of the U.S. operation to help end famine and the militia looting of aid convoys full of food.

He says he acted as liaison between U.S. forces and his father but left Somalia in 1993. In December, he said he had returned to Somalia from Los Angeles last August to be married.