Players of Elman FC challenge for the ball during a training session at their ground in the Hodan District of the Somali capital Mogadishu, ahead of their championship title defence when the new season kicks off in March this year. After two decades of near-constant conflict, Somalia is enjoying its longest period of peace and growing security since the Al-Qaeda-allied violent extremist group Al Shabaab was driven from Mogadishu in August 2011. Under the Shabaab's draconian rule, social pastimes and sports such as football were banned but residents of the city and elsewhere across Somalia in areas liberated by sustained operations by the Somali National Army (SNA) supported by troops of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) are now enjoying their freedoms once again. On January 19, Africa’s top football teams will meet in South Africa to contest for the continent’s most prestigious football title - the African Nations Cup – and although Somalia has never taken part due to insecurity and the hitherto ban on the playing and watching of football by Al Shabaab, the sport is once more growing in obvious evidence across the city and experiencing a surging revival of fortunes and popularity. AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE.