Jubaland wins Somalia Inter States Football Tournament

Mogadishu, December, 22 2017 - Thousands of Somali football fans thronged the Stadium Banadir in Mogadishu to witness the finals of the second edition of Inter States Football tournament organized by Somalia Football Federation and which pitted last years winners Puntland against the loosing finalists Jubaland who went a step further this year by winning the match one goal to nil to lift this year trophy in a scintillating match watched by Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheyre and other leaders.

The match was aired live by Universal TV, a Somali satellite channel and relayed by other Somali satellite television stations including national broadcaster Somalia National Television SNTV. A Somali music band including the police band was at hand to entertain the thousands of fans who came to watch the final match with patriotic songs encouraging peace and a special Somali version of the 2010 South Africa World Cup official anthem song Raise Your Flag by Somali Canadian Hip hop star K'Naan.

Jubaland's triumph brought back memories of their yesteryear's record of 8 regional trophies they won during the past in Somalia cementing their maestro as Somalia's best region in football. The Jubaland win today was confirmed by a brilliant goal scored by their captain Yonis Abdirahman Mohamed in the 74th minute after the first half ended in stalemate. the Jubbaland goal scorer unleashed a beautifully curved culling shot outside the box after a brilliant run evading two Puntland players.

Jubaland displayed a mature game and withered a Puntland pressure hitting their opponents with deadly counter attack football that could have resulted in several goals had they took the many chances they created. As time elapsed Puntland seemed to have accepted the outcome and never really threatened the Jubaland goal.

"We scored a beautiful goal. Am really happy we won this tournament making it overall 9 times winners of the regional cup in Somalia. We will be celebrating our win and wish to thank Puntland for their professionalism and grace in defeat. We deserved to win today because our team played very well," Jubaland fan Abdulkadir Ali said.

The referee blew the whistle after 3 minutes of extra time much to the jubilation of Jubaland fans some of who run into the stadium to join in the celebrations giving heavily armed security officers a hard time in containing them.

A medal ceremony was quickly set up and immediately Prime Minister Kheyre was joined by Minister of Sports and Youth Khadija Mohamed Diriye, Mogadishu mayor Thabit Mohamed and Somalia Football Federal President Abdiqani Said Arab to hand over medals to both teams including the winning trophy to Jubaland which also walked away with the top scorer's trophy handed to their number 9 striker who scored 3 goals to finish as top scorer in the two week long football bonanza that saw 5 Federal States and the capital Banadir Region compete.

Speaking after the game SFF President Abdiqani Said Arab said the tournament was a good indicator that Somalis love footbal and was glad the federation successfully hosted the tournament.

"We are thrilled for organizing this tournament which brought together all the regions. Football is a very important that unites people and you saw how many fans have been thronging the stadium whenever there is a tournament. People don't realize that there are no entertainment opportunities for Somalis and football can play a key role in healing the nation. We urge the government, private sector and the donors to support football," he told this blog.

Suicide attack targets Turkish in Mogadishu

A suicide car bomb laden with explosives rammed into a Turkish guesthouse where Turkish diplomats and aid workers in Mogadishu were living opposite the Turkish red crescent hospital and the their embassy in the seaside Somali capital city in a spate of increased violence witnessed in Mogadishu

just hours after a remote controlled roadside bombed killed another Somali government official in a spate of renewed violence by suspected Al-Shabaab operatives.

This is not the first time for the Turkish to be targeted in Mogadishu presumably because of their increased presence and much fancied and visible aid and assistance to the Somali people.

Al-Shabaab recently said it was increasing its attacks in Somalia during the holy month of Ramadan and true to their words thhave carried out attacks against government forces and African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu, Baidoa, Kismayu and Beletweyne in a synchronized manner aimed at undermining the little peace the Somalis have been enjoying in the recent past.

There is something with missed opportunities in Somalia that does not augur well with me. Every time the right step is taken to correct the past mistakes and things start moving smoothly someone somewhere who is probably NOT happy with seeing Somalia back on its feet pulls a plug and erodes all the good work dampening people's hopes.

Whether "that bad person" is Al-Shabaab or whether its somewhere else is yet to be clear and come what may one day the Somalis will know who the bastard is and he or she will be shamed.

London conference revives Somalia optimism

A lot has been written or said about the recent international conference on Somalia hosted by the British government. This conference had many "firsts" than the dozens of conferences held for Somalia.

This was the first ever conference hosted by Britain, a former Somalia colonial master. The former British protectorate of Somaliland, which broke away from the rest of Somalia, also attended the meeting for the first time since it seceded in 1991.

I have covered Somalia since 2004 but I have never seen such a positive optimism from Somalis before. The renewed hope seems to have spurred patriotism among Somali forces as government forces and their AU backers AMISOM are winning on the ground. They have just kicked out Al-Shabaab from their last hideout in the outskirts of Mogadishu which acted as a base and a killing or assassination base for civilians.

This latest sense of hope reminds me of the Islamic Courts days when Mogadishu was pacified for the first time. I just hope the latest sense of revival and hope will not dash like it did in 2006 when the ICU took over power. Sheikh Sharif who was the then chairman of the ICU is currently the President.

The London conference has also for the first time united the international interests in Somalia. Before the meeting, the world seemed not to read from the same script when it comes to Somalia. That is now history largely due to the dangers posed by extremists groups in Somalia, who as expected, recently admitted to have officially joined Al-Qaeda.

If you have noticed, I have gone into a lull in updating my post. I must admit that I have carefully been analyzing the situation and trends because one thing I have learnt during my many years of covering Somalia is that the situation in the Horn of African country is very unpredictable.

I just hope the latest sense of hope mixed with renewed patriotism among Somalis will eventually lead to the resuscitation of the once great nation called Somalia that is at peace with itself and the rest of the world...simply because the people of Somalia have suffered many a times.

The one million question mark is whether the Somalis can sustain and protect the latest opportunity to end the long overdue war and destruction in the country.
I sincerely hope so.