Garowe brings Somalia together: Hargaysa is at war with UNIFORMS.....

[General Duke]

SOMALIA: All to play for in unifying football tournament

21 Dec 21, 2010 - 11:24:55 AM

 

NAIROBI, 21 December 2010 (IRIN) - Holding a football tournament with teams from 15 regions of Somalia is an achievement in itself - but the organizers hope it will do more than only bring players together.

 

"The footballers taking part in the tournament have never known a unified Somalia; this is an opportunity for them to interact," Abdirashid Hassan Baki, the deputy president of Somalia's Football Federation (SFF), said. "We hope the tournament will also boost peace and reconciliation in our country."

 

Somalia has been embroiled in conflict since 1990, with more than 1.4 million displaced and 600,000 refugees in neighbouring countries. The UN estimates more than two million Somalis need humanitarian assistance.

 

“The fact that we are even holding this football tournament for the first time since 1987 is in itself an achievement. This, to me, is a miracle and a beginning for peace and reconciliation. This is sport at its best. It reminds me of the ‘ping-pong’ between China and the US [when the US and China started their rapprochement under Richard Nixon]."

 

At least 290 young Somali football players are taking part in the 20-day tournament, which opened on 15 December in Garowe, capital of the autonomous region of Puntland. It is jointly organized by Puntland, northeastern Somalia and the SFF for Somali youths from 15 of Somalia's original 18 regions.

 

Somalia has, over the years, split into three distinct areas. What was the northern region of Somalia is now the self-declared republic of Somaliland, the northeastern regions are now the autonomous regions of Puntland and the south and central are controlled by the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and large parts of it by Islamist Al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam groups.

 

Baki said many of the players came from regions controlled by different groups "but they all allowed them to come and participate".

 

Emotional opening

 

Abdisamad Sheikh Hamud, a footballer representing Nugal region of Puntland, told IRIN the tournament's opening ceremony was very emotional for many players.

 

"There were a lot of people crying, mostly the older people who could remember [a unified] Somalia," Hamud said. "It is the first time for the majority of us to attend anything that brought Somalis together. We all felt like true Somalis. No clans or regions."

 

IRIN

[General Duke]

Somaliland jails Russians over weapons for Puntland

 

Thursday, December 30, 2010

 

Six Russians have been jailed in the northern Somali breakaway territory of Somaliland.

Their aircraft was seized earlier this month carrying military equipment bound for the neighbouring semi-autonomous state of Puntland.

A court sentenced them to a year in jail and fined them $500 for supplying military equipment to an enemy.

The charterer of the plane, Saracens International, denied that the cargo was illegal.

The Russians were also convicted of violating Somaliland's airspace. The uniforms and mines which were found on board the aircraft were confiscated by the court in the Somaliland capital, Hargeisa.

 

Disputed territory

 

After the arrests were made, the interior minister of Somaliland, Mohamed Abdi Gaboosi, said the cargo was in violation of the United Nations arms embargo on Somalia.

Saracens - a private military contractor, which is based in Uganda and South Africa - told the BBC at the time that the cargo was destined for its operation in Puntland, where it is training an anti-piracy force.

Somaliland declared itself independent from Somalia in the early 1990s, but is not internationally recognised. It is relatively stable, unlike the rest of Somalia, and even organises regular elections.

However, it has a border dispute with Puntland and the two security forces occasionally clash.

Unlike Somaliland, Puntland says it does not seek recognition as an independent entity, wishing instead to be part of a federal Somalia.

 

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991.

 

Source: BBC