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Somalia Communications
Somalia's telecommunications system was rudimentary. In 1991
a ground satellite station linked with the International
Telecommunications Satellite Organization's (Intelsat) Indian
Ocean satellite provided television, telephone, and data links
with the rest of the world. A second ground satellite station,
part of the satellite system for Arab nations (Arabsat), was
under construction. It was not known in May 1992 whether any of
these systems were operative. To improve the telecommunications
system between Somalia and European and Persian Gulf countries,
the European Development Fund in 1988 provided 5 million European
currency units (ECU). Japan contributed a further US$83 million
in 1988 for a telecommunications project to be completed in 1991;
implementation was delayed, however, by the anarchy prevailing
after the fall of Siad Barre.
Domestic communications were poor. The civil war in 1988
destroyed the Hargeysa radio station but the SNM in early 1992
continued to broadcast daily on a frequency modulation (FM)
station near Hargeysa renamed the Voice of the Republic of
Somaliland. Two factions of the United Somali Congress (USC) in
early 1992 reportedly had radio transmitters in the south with
regular transmissions. The entire country in 1990 had only 17,000
telephones, of which 14,000 were in the capital. In early 1992,
however, the telephone system was virtually inoperative.
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