Public life today

Mohamed Abshir Waldo (Maxamed Abshir Waldo)

Mohamed Abshir Waldo was a Somali journalist and political activist. A Columbia University journalism graduate (1968), he worked for the BBC World Service, became director of the Somali Broadcasting Service in the 1960s, served in the 1980s as information minister and briefly head of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, and later wrote on remittances and piracy.

Last checked 2026-11-12 1 source Reading time: 1 min

Mohamed Abshir WaldoMaxamed Abshir Waldo

Known as one of
Public life today
Era
The Republic, 1960 to 1991; Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012
Sources
1 sources

Who was he?

Mohamed Abshir Waldo was a Somali journalist and political activist (Wikipedia, Mohamed Abshir Waldo). He grew up herding camels and went on to Columbia University, where he earned an MA in mass media from the journalism school in 1968 (same source).

Broadcasting

He started as a radio journalist with the BBC World Service and became director of the Somali Broadcasting Service, the main government broadcaster, in the 1960s (Wikipedia).

SSDF

In the 1980s he became information minister for the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), an armed opposition movement, and briefly served as its head (Wikipedia).

Writing

Drawing on development work in micro-finance and small business, he wrote extensively on the Somali remittance industry, and also wrote on the root causes of piracy off the Somali coast (Wikipedia). See Remittances in numbers.

In short

A broadcaster who ran Somali radio in the 1960s and later wrote on remittances and piracy.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, Mohamed Abshir Waldo · en.wikipedia.org

Mohamed Abshir WaldoMaxamed Abshir Waldo

Known as one of
Public life today
Era
The Republic, 1960 to 1991; Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012
Sources
1 sources

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