MOGADISHU —The President of Federal Republic of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi (Farmaajo) has laid on Saturday a foundation stone to re-build the National Theatre in the capital of Mogadishu.
Speaking to the journalists, Abdinur Mohamed Ahmed, Director of Communications at Villa Somalia, said President Farmajo had laid foundation stone at National Theatre, in a bid to be re-built.
Mohamed says the President pledged that the National Theater in Mogadishu would be reconstructed within a year.
He told journalists that the National Theater would be re-built under the self-help called as ‘Isxilqaan’ programme launched by government last month.
“The theatre is symbolic – we’re saying that Mogadishu is our capital”, he said.
“We expect the artists to present their creativity”.
Mohamed added: “We’re seeing art and culture returning to the lives of the Somali people.”
The theatre was closed in July 1991 when Somalia descended into conflict and was nearly destroyed in fighting over subsequent decades.
But, in March 20, 2012, Somali musicians staged a concert for the first time in 20 years, a sign of a marked improvement in security in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa country.
The National Theatre of Somalia is located in central Mogadishu, Somalia.
It was opened in 1967, and served as an important cultural landmark in the national capital.
The institution was closed down after the start of the civil war in the early 1990s, but was later intermittently renovated by the local authorities in 2013.
The Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, which battled for control of the capital from 2006 onwards, banned forms of public entertainment like movies and musical ringtones in areas under their sway.
Somalia has been mired in turmoil since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, leaving militants, militia groups and clan leaders all fighting for control of parts of the anarchic country.
