Somalia Sets Up Its First Postal Services In Over Two Decades
The government of Somalia has launched the country’s first postal services, after its collapse during the end of Siad Barre’s regime back in 1991. The introduction of the postal services is among other new latest developments that are strong indications that the country is steadily returning to some normalcy after more than two decades of clan and religious wars.
Mohamed Ibrahim, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications expressed his joy that now Somalis will be able to send and receive letters from abroad. Ibrahim told BBC Africa, that many Somali youths have never used postal services before, and he is happily looking forward to teaching them how to use it.
Currently, the majority of Somalis rely on emails, mobile phones messages and handwritten letters sent through friends to communicate with families and friends living abroad. Ibrahim said, the youths will be excited to use postal services, “something that is taken for granted around the world.”
Related: Somalia gets its first Fibre optic connection and first ATM machine.
The Somalia government forces backed by soldiers from the African Union (AU) have been fighting the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab. So far, they have been able to drive out the insurgents from most urban areas, with their most notable conquest yet, perhaps being the taking out the al-Shabab leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane last month, in a US-led drone attack. But the insurgent group still keeps making sporadic attacks in cities and still has control of most rural areas.
