JEDDAH, 24 July 2004 — Four Somali teenagers are attending a camp this month with Spanish football powerhouse Real Madrid under a campaign by the United Nations and its partners to foster peace at the grassroots level in Somalia, the UN Media Center in Mogadishu said. The training camp, which began last week, will continue until July 31. The youngsters, aged 15 to 17, were selected following a month of tournaments involving 384 members of 24 football teams in different parts of Somalia.
According to the UN country team for Somalia, the Real Madrid scholarships were an important part of the ‘Sports for Peace’ pillar of the ‘Somalis for Peace’ campaign that calls on each of the country’s citizens to work for peace and to demand the same from those who are in a position to deliver it. The campaign comes at a crucial time in the ongoing peace process in Kenya, and was being steered by the Somali Aid Coordination Body with the participation of the UN, the European Commission and international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to encourage a ‘bottom-up’ approach to peace building.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for the four boys,” said Jesper Morch, acting Resident Coordinator for the UN Somalia Country Team. “We need to harness youthful energy and provide a positive alternative for the youth in Somalia. Upon their return they will share their skills and experience with their peers and become sport ambassadors and messengers of peace for their country.”
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Farah Addo, a former president of the Somali Football Federation and critic of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, has been banned from soccer for 10 years after being found guilty of corruption by the world governing body, press reports said yesterday. A statement released by FIFA following a disciplinary committee meeting said that Addo took money provided to the Somali federation as part of FIFA’s financial assistance program and used it partially for his own interests. He was fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($40,030) and ordered to pay a further 50,000 francs to cover the costs of the proceedings at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich.
FIFA has also instructed the Somali federation to recover from Addo the money paid by FIFA. In January 2003, Addo was given a two-year ban from soccer following comments he made in February 2002 about irregular financial practices he claimed were intended to assist Blatter’s election to the FIFA presidency in 1998.
Addo, once a vice-president of CAF, the African football confederation, also made accusations against FIFA Executive Committee member Mohamed ibn Hammam of Qatar, now president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and questioned Blatter’s integrity but was unable to substantiate his claims. Addo was ordered to pay Blatter 10,000 Swiss francs in compensation for defamation by a Swiss court.
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Somali faction leader Hussein Aidid has challenged the Kenyan court’s power to try him, a Nairobi-based paper Daily Nation said. Aidid claimed through lawyer Mathew Oseko that a reconstruction contract that led to a 15 million Kenyan Shilling judgment against him had been signed between Kenyan businessman Ijaz Ganijee and the Somali government.
The case was before High Court judge Mohammed Ibrahim for the hearing of an application by Aidid. “The issue of jurisdiction is being raised and, according to Mr. Aidid, we will be pursuing an exercise in futility. We want all the proceedings put on hold until the issue is sorted out,” said Oseko.
Last month, the faction leader, who is out of jail pending the hearing of the case, has urged the court to set aside the judgment against him. Aidid, a delegate to the Somali peace talks in Kenya, has argued that the debt was incurred by the ousted Somali government and not by him as an individual.
