New African soccer boss open to Somalia hosting games again
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - New African soccer confederation president Ahmad says he is open to Somalia hosting international games again and has invited the country to start with a friendly against neighbor Djibouti.
Ahmad made a two-day visit to Somalia on Monday and Tuesday, his first official trip as president of the Confederation of African Football after beating Issa Hayatou in an election last month.
Ahmad says holding friendlies first in the Somali capital Mogadishu "will help a lot."
In this Monday April 17, 2017 photo, Confederation of African Football President Ahmad Ahmad, right, and Somali Sports Minister Khadija Mohamed Dirie, left, poses for a photo during a tour to a soccer stadium in Mogadishu, Somalia. Ahmad arrived in the Somali capital on Monday in a historic visit by the highest-ranking soccer leader to the long-chaotic horn of African nation. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed used Ahmad's visit to request his country be allowed to host international soccer again. The last international in Mogadishu was in 1988.
Somalia has been wracked by violence and chaos since the early 1990s, first because of a civil war and now deadly attacks by Islamist extremist group al-Shabab.