Radio Mogadishu

For two decades, Somalia has been without a properly functioning government. The nation of about nine million people on the eastern coast of Africa has been embroiled in a civil war since 1991 in which competing clans and militias have fought in see-saw battles for control of the country. During this time, more than a half-million Somalis have died from famine and war. Once a great economic and cultural center, Somalia's biggest contribution to global culture in recent years has been modern-day seagoing pirates.

A more moderate transitional government has tried to take leadership of the war-weary nation, but radical Islamist militias, including one with ties to Al Qaeda called Al-Shabaab, have been its biggest adversaries. Al-Shabaab has terrorized African Union peacekeepers and humanitarian aid workers with assassinations and suicide bombings, and it has used amputations, stonings, and beatings to enforce its harsh rules against civilians.

Journalists in Somalia have not been immune from the terror. More than forty-five journalists have been killed there since 2005, earning Somalia the world’s No. 2 ranking (behind only Iraq) as a nation “where journalist murders go unpunished.”¹ The media workers under attack include radio workers, who were threatened by militias in April 2010 to stop playing foreign programs from the BBC and Voice of America, and then to stop playing all music (which was deemed un-Islamic) or face “serious consequences.”² Although most radio stations in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, have succumbed to the threats, they have found creative (and ironic) ways to jab back at the militants, like playing sound effects instead of music to introduce programs. A newscast, for example, might be introduced by recorded gunshots, animal noises, or car sounds.

One station, Radio Mogadishu, is still bravely broadcasting music and independent newscasts. The station is supported by the transitional government as a critical tool in bringing democracy back to the country, but radio work in the name of democracy has never been more dangerous than it is in Somalia today. “Radio Mogadishu’s 100 or so employees are marked men and women, because the insurgents associate them with the government,” the New York Times reported.³ Many of the journalists, sound engineers, and deejays eat and sleep at the station for fear of being killed; some have not left the radio station compound to visit their families for months, even though they live in the same city. Their fears are well-founded: Another veteran reporter was gunned down by assassins as he returned to his house in April 2013.⁴

Radio Mogadishu (in English, Somali, and Arabic on the Web at http://radiomuqdisho.net/) speaks to the enduring power of independent radio around the globe and its particular connection to Somali citizens, for whom it is a cultural lifeline. The BBC reports that Somali citizens love pop music (like that of popular Somali artists Abdi Shire Jama [Joogle] and K’Naan, who record abroad), and they resent being told that they cannot listen to it on the radio. Somali bus drivers reportedly sneak music radio for their passengers, turning the music on and off depending on whether they are in a safe, government-controlled district or a dangerous, militia-controlled area. The news portion of radio broadcasts is also important, especially in a country where only about 1 percent of the population has Internet access. “In a fractured state like Somalia, radio remains the most influential medium,” the BBC noted.⁵

For radio stations in the United States, the most momentous decision is deciding what kind of music to play—maybe CHR, country, or hot AC. For Radio Mogadishu, simply deciding to play music and broadcast independent news is a far more serious, and life-threatening, matter.