Mogadishu – SIMAD University defeated defending champions Mogadishu University on Tuesday to win the 2026 Somali International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Competition, securing its first-ever title and a berth at this year’s All-Africa finals. The final, hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Mogadishu on 30 June, capped a preliminary round that drew written submissions from seven Somali universities.
The victory matters beyond the trophy. It signals a shift in a competition that Mogadishu University has dominated since in-person rounds began in 2024, and it comes as Somalia formally joins the Global IHL Initiative, a push to deepen national commitment to the laws of war. For a country still shaped by conflict, contests like this one are increasingly seen as a pipeline for the legal professionals who will shape how humanitarian law is understood and applied at home.
Teams of three law students each faced two tests in the final: a simulated detention visit modeled on the ICRC’s actual prison-monitoring work in Somalia and a moot court session requiring each side to argue both prosecution and defense in a fictional IHL case.
Hafsa Jelle of Mogadishu University was named Best Oralist for her performance before the three-judge panel, an individual honor that softened the sting of her team’s runner-up finish.
For SIMAD, reaching the final for the first time was itself a milestone before the win was secured. One of the university’s students, Ayni Abdulkadir, described the team as thrilled with the outcome and thankful for what they had learned through the process, according to the ICRC.
Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC delegation in Somalia, praised both finalists, noting the intensity both teams brought reflects rising interest in humanitarian law among young Somalis, and said the organization would back SIMAD at the continental finals later this year.
SIMAD now advances to represent Somalia at the All-Africa IHL finals, a continental competition pitting national champions from across the region against one another. No date for that event has yet been announced.
The Somali IHL Competition, organized annually by the ICRC, is designed to build legal literacy among the country’s next generation of lawyers on the rules governing armed conflict, rules the organization says remain relevant even amid ongoing instability.
