Liberated From Al-Shabaab, Somalis Tune Into World Cup for First Time Since 2002
Mogadishu — After being banned from watching or playing football for years under al-Shabaab rule, Mogadishu residents and Somalis in liberated areas are now readying themselves to watch the World Cup 2014 like the millions of other fans around the world.
In 2006, al-Shabaab ordered local cinemas where people use to watch World Cup matches closed, and killed cinema owners who ignored the directive, said Mogadishu resident Dahir Aideed, a 28-year-old football fan who said he supports the French national team.
“Many people did not get an opportunity to watch football [at that time] because most Somali households did not have a television set,” he told Sabahi. “Only the few who did have televisions in their homes could watch the games [but] felt unhappy and fearful.”
Fans would gather in homes equipped with televisions and hold secret viewing parties under the constant fear of being discovered, he said.
“We would mute the sound of the television when we were watching football and were unable to hear the reporter,” Aideed said. “Likewise, when the team we were supporting scored a goal we could not clap because we were afraid that [al-Shabaab fighters] were listening by our windows and would come in.”
“During the last two World Cup tournaments, I felt as though I was living in a remote area and cut off from the rest of the world,” he told Sabahi. “When youth are forbidden from watching or playing football, it is like they have been thrown into jail.”
In 2010, Ali Osman, a 49-year-old football analyst, lived in Mogadishu’s Bondhere neighbourhood, which was one of the few places that was under the control of the former Transitional Federal Government.
“The young people who lived in neighbourhoods of the city controlled by al-Shabaab would come to our houses so that they could watch the football with us,” he said.
Even at the height of Somalia’s civil war, during the tournaments between 1994-2002, Osman said fans felt more freedom and secure watching the games than under al-Shabaab’s rule, which ended in Mogadishu in August 2011.
“Even though a civil war was going on in the country, there were no restrictions. Sometimes the warring militia used to watch [the games] with us,” said Osman, an avid fan who has been following the games since 1982.
However, that atmosphere changed when al-Shabaab came to power in 2006.
‘I feel free this year’
As the games opened Thursday (June 12th), Nasra Kin Hashi, a sports reporter with radio station Gool FM, said residents can freely watch this year’s World Cup and feel safe since al-Shabaab’s ban is no longer in effect.
“Another thing that is helping the mood of this year’s games is that most families can access affordable TV channels that broadcast sports that they did not have before” and radio stations are broadcasting the games live, she told Sabahi, adding that families pay between $5 to $8 dollars a month for a package of up to 50 channels.
Hashi said that in the past Somalis had great difficulty in finding a place to watch the games.
“Now every family, mother, father and child, can watch [the games] in their homes without stepping outside,” she said.
The youth that follow football are happy about the current environment in which they are watching the World Cup, according to Yahye Amalow, a 27-year-old Mogadishu resident.
“I feel happy this year. I feel free this year. It is the first time in eight years that I am free to watch football without fearing al-Shabaab,” he told Sabahi.
Although the World Cup can be watched without restriction across most of Somalia, many people in al-Shabaab-controlled areas still cannot still watch the games. In addition, despite the overall excitement felt throughout Mogadishu, security continues to be a concern. Restaurant and cafe owners in the capital who spoke to Sabahi said they do not plan to host watch parties out of fear of being targeted.