Alshabaab Orders Closure Of Over 20 Football Pitches In Mogadishu

Somali militant group Alshabaab has issued an order to close all privately owned football playgrounds in three districts in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

More than twenty playgrounds in Karaan, Yaqshid and Heliwaa districts are reported to have complied with the order.

Reports say that the orders were issued at a meeting between some of the stadium managers and Alshabaab leaders in Tora Torow, Lower Shabelle.

According to a local radio station, one of the managers is an official in the Heliwa district administration.

Mogadishu has more than a dozen of privately operated stadiums that charge for its usage.

In Mogadishu’s Deynile district Alshaabad is reported to have banned the use of security lights on the streets.