The newly elected president of Somalia’s national unity government Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has asked the leaders of the Somali Football Federation (SFF) to help his government establish sports for peace programs to achieve peace and public integration in the country through football games.
The Islamist president delivered this speech during a meeting with the general secretary of SFF Abdi Qani Said Arab at the Campinski Hotel in Djibouti late on Saturday night.
President Sheikh Sharif praised the federation for having done a good national task in the past and he requested the SFF leaders to work with his government in the field of peace building throughout the war-ravaged nation of Somalia.
“Sports, particularly football is the most popular, and it is one of the major elements that can be used to easily achieve peace and public integration in our war-devastated country,” the president added during the meeting.
“Sport is very important for congregating people, peace building and even guiding the youths to the right path, because it protects juveniles from using drugs, so we can say sports is also fitness,” said President Somalia’s first Islamist president.
The President says he is very confident that the football federation will help his government to introduce law and order into Somalia which has been under going anarchy and bloody clan clashes for nearly two decades.
“I am very happy that the Somali Football Federation became the first civil society organization I met after my election as the nation’s president,” he told the general secretary. “My government will help sport and so we need sporting organizations to work with us in the field of peace,” he added.
For his part the federation’s general secretary congratulated the new president on his recent success in the presidential election, adding “The main point of the meeting I had with President Sheikh Sharif was to show him that the federation supports and will work with the national unity government. I pledged to the president that we will help his new government to introduce peace and stability into the country through ‘football for peace’ games.
In mid-January, the Islamic Courts administration under the chairmanship of Sheikh Sharif handed over Somalia’s largest football facility in Mogadishu to the Somali Football Federation a day after the Ethiopian troops vacated it, thus ending their two years occupation of the place.
Source: APA, Feb 01, 2009
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