By Shafici Mohyaddin Abokar
Thursday, Sept 11, 2008
First vice president and head of international relations, SSPA
President of the Olympic Committee of Somalia, Abdul Kadeer Ibraahim Gaal (Abkow) is pictured speaking to AIPS president Gianni Merlo via telephone. Photo/SSPA
MOGADISHU, September 11, 2008 - Following the election of the new president of the Somali Sports Press Association Mr Abdi Aziz Godah Barre, the president of the International Sports Press Association Gianni Merlo and the Somali National Olympic Committee Abdul Kadeer Ibraahim Gaal (Abkow) had a telephone conversation during which they talked about the desperate situation in Somalia under which journalists particularly, the SSPA are working.
Both presidents sent their congratulations to the newly- elected SSPA President Mr Abdi Azizi Godah Barre and his colleagues.
Both presidents pledged to help and give a moral support to the SSPA which has been working under tough conditions in the lawless nation of Somalia.
During the phone conversation Somali NOC president Mr Abdul Kadeer Ibraahim praised the AIPS president and his international organisation for the great help and huge collaboration which it has given the SSPA which has been working in a chaotic country with no central administration for 18 years.
Earlier, AIPS president Merlo sent an e-mail message of congratulations to the new President:
“Please allow me to be among the first to congratulate you on your appointment as president of the Somali Sports Press Association,” Mr Merlo said in his electronic message to new Somali Sports Press Association President, Mr Abdi Aziz Godah Barre.
”Despite the turmoil in your country, the SSPA is one of our most active and enthusiastic associations and I greatly respect the work that is done and achieved by you and your esteemed colleagues under such harsh circumstances,” the AIPS president continued.
Merlo urged the new president to promote the sports journalism profession as a beacon of stability, ethics and respect, and as a vehicle for peace through sport.
Born in Mogadishu on October 6, 1978, Abdi Aziz Godah Barre, a former Somali National basketball player, is a young gentleman whose "addiction is sport", and who has for the last 15 years been busy working as a sports journalist in Somalia. In January he was elected to the position of SSPA vice president of finance and developmental affairs.
The new president has pledged to invest in a seminar for Somali sports writers before the end of this year in order to upgrade the knowledge of national sports writers.
“Before the end of the year we want to achieve more things in developing the SSPA,” the new president said following his election on Wednesday.
Mr Abdi Aziz Godah Barre extended his best wishes to the international fraternity of sports journalists under the umbrella of AIPS.
Source: AIPS, Sept 11, 2008