(Mogadishu) Somali sports authorities have suspended the president of their athletics federation, accused of abuse of power and ridiculing the country by fielding a representative “without any sports training” who finished comfortably last in a 100 meters in Summer University Games in Chengdu (China).
A video that has gone viral shows the young woman in sky blue outfit, the Somali national color, painfully crossing, after an interminable race, the finish line of a series of 100 meters run on Tuesday, more than 10 seconds after the winner.
The clip sparked mockery and outrage on social media, including among Somalis who accuse the young woman – later identified as Nasro Abukar Ali – of being a family member of athletics federation president Khadijo Adan Dahir.
“After obtaining evidence indicating how Nasro Abukar Ali […] was selected, we have confirmed that Khadijo Adan Dahir committed abuse of power and nepotism by selecting a person without any athletic background,” said the chairman of the committee. Somali Olympic national Abdullahi Ahmed Tarabi in a press release, which does not however mention a possible family link.
“I have therefore temporarily suspended Khadijo Adan Dahir and his case will be presented to the next meeting of the Somali National Olympic Committee for further decisions,” the leader added.
Youth and Sports Minister Mohamed Barre Mohamud had called for her suspension, accusing the leader of “abuse of power, nepotism and defaming the name of the nation on the international stage” by sending someone who is “neither athletic nor runner” to represent Somalia.
“We apologize to the public for the embarrassment this has caused the country and we are investigating how this happened,” he said at a press conference Wednesday evening, denouncing “a process of unfair selection” in which “the department had no role”.
In an interview with a Somali journalist posted Thursday on Facebook, Nasro Abukar Ali attributed his poor performance to a “sprain” contracted before the race.
Asked about her selection and accusations of kinship with Khadijo Adan Dahir, she claimed to have “been selected through a competitive process by a university athletic association”.
“They accuse the president for nothing. They are looking for ways to tarnish her image and get her out of office, she has nothing to do with it,” she said, saying, “The ministry knew I was going to race and I met them at the airport with the Chinese Ambassador to Somalia”.
“These negative comments (on social media) started when I left Mogadishu and decided to ignore them,” she said.
A country in the Horn of Africa plagued by an Islamist insurgency and a historic drought, Somalia is ranked last out of 180 nations on the NGO Transparency International’s corruption index in 2022.