Somali Government Appoints National Theatre Director

Osman Gure has been appointed the Director National Theatre, Information Ministry announced on Wednesday.

Information Minister Abdrahman Yonis also announced that the name of the theatre had been change into National Theatre and Arts Culture Awareness Center.

The institution closed down after the start of the civil war in 1991 with the fall of the Siad Barre government until in  2013 when  the Somali and Chinese governments signed an official cooperation agreement that was to see reconstruction several major infrastructural landmarks in Mogadishu including the National Theatre

Gure is charged with the task of overseeing the Theatre which today has been turned into a military base.

The National Theatre was opened in 1967 and served as an important cultural landmark in the capital Mogadishu. The building of the National Theatre of Somalia was built by Chinese engineers as a present from the Communist leadership in China in the 1960s. The building was finished and opened in 1967.

After Siad Barre  came to power the National Theatre became an important institution within the socialist vision of a new Somalia.

Todays move by the ministry of Information is seen as a step towards reclaiming the lost glory of this landmark in Mogadishu that entertained the nation.