Radio al-Andalus was created in 2009 as a way to disseminate Jihadist propaganda during a propaganda effort by Al-Kataib Media Foundation 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.[1] 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 and online forums.[2] Through the dissemination of propaganda, Radio al-Andalus, alongside Shadada News Agency, is used as a way to claim attacks.[3][4] Radio al-Andalus is not only used for the spreading of Jihadist ideologies but also anti-Ethiopian sentiment.[5] Radio al-Andalus relies on mostly stolen radio equipment from organizations like BBC News Somali and Voice of America Somali which they used to broadcast their radio station in the languages of Somali, Arabic, Swahili, and English.[6] 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.[7]
Radio al-Andalus is stationed at its headquarters in the small village of Bariire 50 miles west of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, that is controlled by Al-Shabaab,[8] which was raided by members of the United States Navy SEALs which led to the death of one of the SEAL team members in 2017.[9] The station went offline in March of 2012 after the militant group Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a took over the entire village,[10] there, members of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a dismantled all the transmitters that Radio al-Andalus used to broadcast the radio station,[11] but went back online and running shortly after.[12] The radio station's headquarters moved to Jilib, Somalia where it remained active until 2018 when an airstrike conducted by the United States Air Force struck and destroyed the building that the radio station was being broadcast from.[13]
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.[14]
