Sunday, October 10, 2004 12:06 p.m. ET

By C. Bryson Hull

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A presidential election aimed at restoring national government to lawless Somalia for the first time in 13 years went into a second round Sunday after no outright winner emerged in the first ballot.

Somalia, which is seen as a haven for militants suspected of al Qaeda links, remains so dangerous that the interim parliament is holding the vote in neighboring Kenya.

Hundreds of thousands have died from famine, disease and violence since 1991 when warlords ousted then military ruler Mohamed Siad Barre.

The 275 lawmakers are voting in a second round contested by the three top candidates from the first ballot.

Abdullahi Yusuf, 69, the Ethiopian-backed military ruler of Somalia's self-declared breakaway region of Puntland, came top in the first round with 80 votes, officials said.

Former finance minister Abdullahi Addou came second with 35 and Mogadishu warlord Mohamed Qanyare was third on 33, according to an official tally.

The election, the culmination of a two-year-old reconciliation process, is intended to provide Somalia with an executive head of state equipped to reimpose order on a country long a byword for anarchy.

"Everything has been destroyed. They are starting from ground zero," Kenya's ambassador to Somalia Mohammed Affey said.

Thirteen previous peace conferences have failed to stabilize the country of up to 10 million which is divided into clan-based fiefdoms.

WEAPONS PLEDGE

The interim parliament, made up mainly of militia bosses and traditional elders, held the vote in a converted basket ball court at a Nairobi sports complex ringed by paramilitary police armed with assault rifles.

All the candidates signed a solemn pledge to respect the result and hand over any weapons held by them or their supporters to the new government.

They also promised not to disrupt the voting process itself. Fistfights, scuffles and walkouts have marred the few sessions the parliament has held since it was selected at a reconciliation conference in August.

Among the many possible pitfalls is the danger that a sore loser could decide to play a spoiling role as the new president prepares to establish his rule in militia-infested Mogadishu.

"If this government goes to Somalia without a consensus among the participants, particularly those with big guns, it will be very difficult to do anything good on the ground," said Somali analyst Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle.

Apart from Yusuf, Addou and Qanyare, the others in the top six from the first round were Abdirahman Jama Barre, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, and Mohamed Hussein Adou.

All six had the right to contest the second round but officials said Barre, Abdiqassim and Hussein Adou voluntarily withdrew from the race.