Arts, heritage and media
Radio Mogadishu (Radio Muqdisho): Somalia's state radio since 1951
Radio Mogadishu is the Somali federal government's radio station. It began in 1951, under the Italian-run UN trusteeship, broadcasting in Somali and Italian. It went off air when the civil war began in 1991, reopened on 23 August 2001, and in 2013 began digitising archives that go back to 1951.
Founding under the trusteeship
Radio Mogadishu was set up in 1951, when southern Somalia was the Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian administration. It first broadcast news in Somali and Italian (Radio Mogadishu, Wikipedia). In the north, Radio Hargeisa had already been on air since the 1940s (Geeska, 2025).
After independence
After independence in 1960 the station was modernised with Soviet help and added a home service in Somali, Amharic and Oromo (Wikipedia). It became the home of Somali music: the Waaberi group of singers and musicians was the troupe of Radio Mogadishu and the National Theatre, with singers such as Magool, Saado Cali and Xasan Aadan Samatar (Music In Africa).
1991 to 2001
The station closed when the civil war broke out in 1991 (Wikipedia). In mid-1993 a radio station in Mogadishu was at the centre of tension between the UN operation UNOSOM II and the Somali National Alliance. The 5 June 1993 clash there led to a UN military offensive in the city (Wikipedia).
The Transitional National Government of President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan officially reopened Radio Mogadishu on 23 August 2001 (Wikipedia; IRIN).
Working under threat
Until the capital came under government control in August 2011, the station worked from a walled compound guarded by soldiers. Its staff kept broadcasting news, talk shows and music despite threats (Wikipedia). NPR reported in March 2011 that reporters in the city risked their lives to cover the news (NPR, 2 March 2011). The New York Times reported on the station in 2010 (New York Times, 30 March 2010).
The station today
Radio Mogadishu now broadcasts from central Mogadishu. In the late 2000s it started a website with news in Somali, Arabic and English, and in 2013 it began digitising its archives, which go back to 1951 (Wikipedia; Radio Muqdisho). It has expanded its transmitters to reach more cities (Mareeg). In January 2022 La Repubblica reported that the station had restarted a programme in Italian (La Repubblica, 4 January 2022).
Wikipedia lists Abdiaziz M. Guled "Afrika" as director and Abdilahi Qorshe as chief editor; a former director was Mohamed Abshir Waldo (Wikipedia).
Read more
Sources
- Radio Mogadishu, Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Geeska, 2025 · geeska.com
- Music In Africa · musicinafrica.net
- IRIN · irinnews.org
- NPR, 2 March 2011 · npr.org
- New York Times, 30 March 2010 · nytimes.com
- Radio Muqdisho · radiomuqdisho.so
- Mareeg · mareeg.com
- La Repubblica, 4 January 2022 · repubblica.it
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Where this matters
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