2.000 unge deltog i Mogadishu Music Festival – den første større offentlige musik-event i hovedstaden, siden borgerkrigen brød ud for to årtier siden. Hjemvendte forretningsfolk mindes byen, som den var engang: “Et paradis på jord”.
MOGADISHU, 10 April 2013 (IRIN): Organizers of the Mogadishu Music Festival, a string of events held last week in the Somali capital, hoped to inaugurate (indlede) a new era of openness and development in the war-scarred country, and to lure impressionable (let bevægelige) youths away from radicalism.
The festival was Mogadishu’s first major public music event since civil war erupted (brød ud) two decades ago. The war had culminated in the rise of Al-Shabab, an Islamic militant group that outlawed music entirely.
Although Al-Shabab was driven from Mogadishu in 2011, they remain an active threat, claiming responsibility for recent bombing attacks in the capital.
“There are two types of threat from Al-Shabab: one is real, one is psychological,” said Farah Abdullahi, the general manager of Kau Media Corporation, which filmed one of the festival’s concerts for national broadcast.
“Sometimes they are not doing anything, but everyone is scared,” added he.
For Abdullahi, broadcasting the event was an important signal to the country:
“Eventually people will realize they are scared of something that is not a reality. Then they will be confident enough to stand up to them. I want to show Shabab and the people who believe in them that they are defeated.”
Promoting development
The festival, funded by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the US State Department, brought in musicians from seven countries.
According to organizers, some 2.000 young men and women attended the event, and Abdullahi’s live broadcast reached a national and international audience of 300.000.
The festival’s logistical challenges were compounded (generet) by the absence of a local music industry – all equipment had to be brought in from Somaliland, the self-declared republic to the north – and the continued influence of Al-Shabab.
“Al-Shabab knows where this is. They are still part of the system, part of the community,” Abdullahi said.
Abdullahi is one of many Somali businessmen to return from abroad, breathing life into the economy. He spent much of his life in the UK, but is now based in the port city of Hargeisa.
Abdullahi hopes events such as this will help Somalia redevelop its once-thriving private sector.
“It was one of the best cites in the world,” he said of Mogadishu in the 1960s. “Very cheap, very peaceful, the best nightclubs in the world, beaches and drinks.”
Reaching youths
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97818/Somali-music-festival-takes-aim-at-Al-Shabab
