Mogadishu residents revel at safe beaches

Mogadishu residents revel at safe beaches
Hundreds of the residents of Mogadishu flocked to the beaches of the Somali capital for the first time in four years as security has improved following the August withdrawal of the Al-Shabaab fighters from the seaside city.

People of the capital have been taking to the beaches to swim, sunbath, play football on the white sands of one of the most beautiful areas of the war ravaged city as peace has been slowing return to Mogadishu where Islamist militants have been partially in control since last August.

The group which banned the mixing of the sexes and the playing or watching of football games was driven from the Somali capital after major offensive by Somali government and African Union peacekeepers.

Most of the residents come to relax at the Lido beach during weekends which in Muslim Somalia is on Thursday and Friday when schools and businesses as well as government offices are closed.

Abdikafi Warsameh Ahmed is one of the youths who regularly go to the beaches in Mogadishu. He said he is delighted that he can once again come to the seaside and have fun.

"Today I am very excited to come to Lido beach and swim in the sea. Some come here to play football while others come just to relax and loosen up. I am here to swim and I am very happy that after three years I am able to swim here," Warsameh Ahmed told Xinhua.

Mogadishu beaches has been off limit to residents as fierce battles raged between Islamist radicals and Somali government forces since 2007 following the ouster of the rule of the union of Islamic courts in the southern parts of the country including the capital Mogadishu.

Mogadishites have been experiencing a sense of normality in the capital where widespread violence has been the order of the day as suicide car-bombs roadside blasts and stray shell and bullets have forced most of the city's residents to flee their homes to the outskirts.

Thousands have returned back to their homes though and local authorities have begun to repair roads and collect rubbish from the streets and in neighborhoods of Mogadishu.

Schools have been reopening after relocating from the camps for the displaced people on the outskirts of the capital where almost half of the city's residents sought refuge from the violence that prevailed in the capital prior to the Al-Shabaab's retreat from it.

Although the radical Islamists have pledged to launch guerilla attacks on government and AU troops in Mogadishu following their withdrawal the group have managed to pull few deadly attacks that left dozens, mostly civilians, dead, the threat has been carried less frequent than most feared.

For now the residents of the Somali capital are reveling at the beaches of the city which has been dubbed as the pearl of the Indian Ocean as a sign that they sense stability is returning back to their city, albeit gradually.

Editor: yan

English.news.cn   2011-11-20 02:42:13 FeedbackPrintRSS
By Abdurrahman Warsameh

MOGADISHU, Nov. 19 (Xinhua)