In Mogadishu it's safe to go to the beach again - for now

They're back ... for the first time in several years Somalis are returning to Mogadishu's beaches but it is unclear how long the respite will last. Photo: AP

An unexpected sight has been seen along the shores of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. In a city known for shelling, suicide bombs, sharia and public executions, and in a country where famine is widespread in the south, last weekend hundreds were out enjoying the scenery and sunning themselves at the beach.

''For the first time in years,'' said Mohamoud Abdi, who came to Mogadishu's Lido beach with his two sons. ''People are feeling delightful.''

In a city torn by fundamentalism and fighting, a return to the beach is a symbol of how far peace seems to have come, as government forces and African peacekeepers have pushed Islamist rebels out of the capital over the past several months.

For many residents, the past five years have been spent under a particularly oppressive regime, the militant Islamist group known as al-Shabab, which rose up in 2006 as a popular nationalist movement to kick Ethiopian troops out of the country.

But al-Shabab soon turned against Somalis themselves and it became evident that its brand of Islam was not congruent with Somali culture.

The group banned music, soccer and even bras; it swore allegiance to al-Qaeda. As for going to Mogadishu's idyllic beaches - between radical Islamist laws (women were banned from swimming in 2006) and constant fighting, such an outing was akin to a death wish.

No more. Since al-Shabab largely retreated from Mogadishu in early August, the city has cautiously been stirring to life. Vendors are moving back into the central market. People dine in outdoor cafes.

Maybe most cathartically, they are going back to the beach, men and women alike.

''I had never thought of coming here,'' Said Yare, rolling in the sand at Lido, said.

Going to Lido beach on a Friday used to be a weekly pastime for Somalis. Before the fall of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Lido beach was packed with clubs and cafes.

Somalia has the longest coastline on the continent of Africa, and Mogadishu was known as the ''pearl of the Indian Ocean''.

But civil war gutted leisure activities and, by 2005, with Mogadishu carved up under the control of competing warlords, Lido beach was a veritable ghost of its former self.

The African Union operation in the country has taken the opportunity to promote Lido beach's resurgence as a testament to the peacekeeper's triumphs over al-Shabab.

But in a country used to war, it is unclear how long the respite will last. ''Al-Shabab is down but not out,'' says E.J. Hogendoorn, a Horn of Africa analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Mogadishu still is not safe. Two suicide bombers, one believed to be an American citizen, blew themselves up at an African Union peacekeeping base last month, killing an untold number. Early last month, a suicide bomber killed about 100, many students, at the Ministry of Education.

As for going to the beach, some still profess caution.

''We are finally back to our homes; now we are trying to test the delicacy of peace,'' said Shankaron Mohamoud, a young woman at Lido.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald