Radio al-Andalus (, , ) or sometimes called Radio Andalus is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

that was created by Al-Shabaab's media outlet,

Al-Kataib Media Foundation Al-Kataib Media Foundation () is the official media wing of the insurgent group Al-Shabaab which is based in Somalia. It produces media featuring original sermons and speeches by senior Al-Shabaab commanders and leaders as well as footage of op ...

in 2009.

History

Radio al-Andalus was created in 2009 as a way to disseminate

Jihadist Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

propaganda during a propaganda effort by

to expand its methods of spreading propaganda and a way to gain a financial outlet with donations, it was created alongside Quran Karim Radio FM, Somali Wayen Radio FM, HornAfrik Radio though Radio al-Andalus is the largest. Radio al-Andalus provides al-Shabaab with a large financial platform, and can be considered the largest, in Somalia as it operates all throughout Somalia and internationally through

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

and online forums. Through the dissemination of propaganda, Radio al-Andalus, alongside Shadada News Agency, is used as a way to claim attacks. Radio al-Andalus is not only used for the spreading of Jihadist ideologies but also anti-Ethiopian sentiment. Radio al-Andalus relies on mostly stolen

radio equipment Radio-frequency (RF) engineering is a subset of electrical engineering involving the application of transmission line, waveguide, antenna, radar, and electromagnetic field principles to the design and application of devices that produce or use ...

from organizations like

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

Somali and

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

Somali which they used to broadcast their radio station in the languages of Somali,

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

, and English. Radio al-Andalus, besides the Jihadist sentiments and the use of it for recruitment by Al-Shabaab, runs like an ordinary radio station that plays music (though music is forbidden in Islam so it plays nasheeds), talks about local and international news, and has ways for viewers and news figures to call in. Radio al-Andalus is stationed at its headquarters in the small village of Bariire 50 miles west of the Somali capital,

Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

, that is controlled by Al-Shabaab, which was raided by members of the

United States Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main func ...

which led to the death of one of the SEAL team members in 2017. The station went offline in March of 2012 after the militant group

Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a (ASWJ) () is a Somalia-based paramilitary group consisting of moderate Sufis opposed to radical Salafism. The group opposes extremist interpretations of Islam, as well as laws banning music and khat. The group seeks to pr ...

took over the entire village, there, members of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a dismantled all the

transmitters In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna with the purpose of signal transmissi ...

that Radio al-Andalus used to broadcast the radio station, but went back online and running shortly after. The radio station's headquarters moved to

Jilib Jilib is a city in the Middle Juba region of Somalia. It currently serves as the ''de facto'' capital of the Islamic Emirate of Somalia controlled by al-Shabaab. Jilib has an estimated population of around 100,000 inhabitants and covers an area ...

, Somalia where it remained active until 2018 when an airstrike conducted by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

struck and destroyed the building that the radio station was being broadcast from. It continues to exist with radio transmitters in most major towns under the control of al-Shabaab. Radio al-Andalus is considered an alias and a financer of Al-Shabaab by the Australian National Security and is designated as a terrorist organization.

References

{{Jihadist media 2012 establishments in Africa 2012 establishments in Somalia Al-Shabaab (militant group) Al-Shabaab (militant group) activities Jihadist propaganda Somali-language mass media Radio stations in Somalia Somali-language radio stations Arabic-language mass media Arabic-language radio stations Swahili-language mass media English-language mass media English-language radio stations