Somalia: Mosque of Islamic Solidarity in Mogadishu

This is the largest mosque in the Horn of Africa and the main mosque in Mogadishu and the entire country. It was originally build with Saudi money in 1987 but closed down with the breakout of the civil war. The Islamic Courts opened it up again while they were in power, and then later the government that took over made it the main mosque and restored and renovated it with the Turkish money. The mosque can accommodate 10 thousand worshipers and it’s here where the president of Somalia comes to pray. Consequently, the approaches to the mosque are heavily fortified and barricaded like crazy. In fact, the security of the mosque first refused to let us in, and a small argument ensued (never a good thing when everybody has AK-47s cocked and loaded), and eventually they let me take some outside pictures.
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