Somali News Agency (SONNA)

Somali National News Agency (SONNA), Wakaaladda Wararka Soomaaliyeed / Wakaaladda Wararka Qaranka Soomaaliyeed, is Somalia’s federal government-run official news agency. SONNA was established on 5 January 1964 under the Ministry of Information in Mogadishu, where it operated across Somalia’s 18 regions before the collapse of state institutions. The agency became the official source of national news during the Siad Barre period (1969–1990), was disrupted after the collapse of state institutions in 1990–91, and was relaunched by the Ministry of Information in 2011 under successor federal-government structures. Today, SONNA operates a regularly-updated digital portal with news in Somali, Arabic, and English, and is listed by the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism (MoICT) as one of its departments. SONNA’s own institutional pages describe the agency as “one of the main pillars” of MoICT, and direct administrative integration is reflected in the agency’s institutional contact details (the official Director’s contact email is director.sonna@moi.gov.so, on the ministry’s domain).

Media assets

News agency: SONNA

Ownership and governance

SONNA is state-owned and institutionally embedded in MoICT. The ministry lists SONNA as a department, and SONNA’s own institutional pages describe the agency as one of the main pillars of the ministry. Direct administrative integration is reflected in the official Director’s contact email on the ministry’s moi.gov.so domain.

Ismail Mukhtar Omar was publicly identified as SONNA Director-General through at least February–March 2026 in UNA-OIC Federation reporting and in the Director-General role at the October 2023 ANSA agreement signing. SONNA sometimes renders the name as Ismail Omar Mukhtar; for consistency, this profile uses Ismail Mukhtar Omar. Per UNA-OIC, Omar leads efforts to develop the official media in Somalia, has overseen staff training programs, and contributed to expanding international cooperation, including the ANSA agreement.

The supervisory MoICT was historically led by Cabinet Minister Daud Aweis Jama. On 6 May 2026, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre appointed Abdifitah Qasim Mohamud as the new Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, replacing Daud Aweis. The appointment was made in consultation with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud; no reason for the change was officially disclosed. As of mid-May 2026, the implications of the ministerial change for SONNA’s leadership and operational direction remain to be observed.

No independent SONNA board, editorial council, autonomous public-service statute, or independent appointment framework was identified in the public sources reviewed.

Source of funding and budget

Detailed standalone budget disclosures for SONNA were not identified in the public sources reviewed. Core operations appear to be supported through MoICT and federal-government structures, and no standalone SONNA line-item budget or audited financial disclosure was identified in the public record.

Verified international cooperation, distinct from funding sources, includes:

• ANSA (Italy) — 30 October 2023 cooperation and partnership agreement covering news exchange, expertise, training, and equipment
• UNA-OIC — institutional federation listing and participation; UNA-OIC describes SONNA as participating in Arab, African, and international news-agency federations more broadly

Membership and participation in news-agency federations should be understood as institutional cooperation channels rather than funding sources, unless a specific grant or financial contribution is separately documented.

The broader macroeconomic context, constrained federal revenue, ongoing conflict with Al-Shabaab, and a contested constitutional environment, continues to make federation membership and bilateral cooperation institutionally important for SONNA’s capacity development.

Editorial independence

SONNA does not show meaningful institutional separation from the executive. It is housed within MoICT, is listed as a ministry department, and functions as the federal government’s official news agency. No independent editorial statute, public-service charter, editorial council, or external oversight mechanism was identified in the public record reviewed. Its institutional role and output align with federal-government communications priorities, including coverage of military operations against Al-Shabaab, national political processes, foreign-policy messaging, and government service delivery.

The 2025–26 context reinforced this classification. The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) was replaced by the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) on 1 January 2025, under UN Security Council Resolution 2767. The Federal Government’s offensive against Al-Shabaab continued through 2025–2026, and SONNA dispatches consistently amplified federal control narratives and military-operation reports. Somalia held the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council in January 2026, its first time holding the position since the 1971–72 Security Council term, a moment SONNA framed editorially as a vindication of Somalia’s post-conflict diplomatic trajectory. Mogadishu held its first direct one-person, one-vote local election since 1969 on 25 December 2025, a vote praised by the government but rejected by opposition parties as flawed and one-sided.

The constitutional context shifted further in early 2026. In March 2026, parliament approved constitutional amendments that Reuters reported could extend the president’s term and delay elections, although analysts said the legal implications remained ambiguous and did not explicitly prolong the current term. The federal government and parliamentary leadership have treated the amendments as extending mandates, while opposition actors and some Federal Member States (notably Puntland and Jubaland) dispute the interpretation and legitimacy of the process. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s original four-year tenure under the 2012 Provisional Constitution was scheduled to expire on 15 May 2026.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) report that the contested-legitimacy environment has intensified security-force pressure on journalists. On 15 April 2026, the Banadir Regional Police Commander warned journalists against discussing the “end of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s term” or criticising the constitutional amendments, threatening to label violators as “criminals.” On 16 April 2026, the South West State Minister of Security announced a ban on reporting insecurity, terrorist attacks, clan conflicts, and criticism of federal and regional officials. SONNA’s coverage during this period reflects the FGS official narrative.

AI and digital policy

SONNA operates as a digital news agency through its website (sonna.so/en/) and social platforms (X @SONNALIVE; Facebook; Telegram; YouTube). No public SONNA-specific policy on AI-generated content, synthetic-media disclosure, or content provenance (such as C2PA) was identified in this review. At the national level, Somalia maintains ICT and digital-transformation frameworks: in October 2025, the National Communications Authority (NCA) and Ministry of Communications and Technology launched consultations to validate the Digital Transformation Strategy 2025–2030, and the government-affiliated Somalia National AI Center (SNAIC) was founded in October 2024. Neither establishes a SONNA-specific AI disclosure or provenance policy. The absence of a visible SONNA AI policy is particularly notable given SJS reporting in December 2025 on AI-generated deepfake audio circulating in Somalia and warnings that such material could incite violence and spread disinformation in a fragile political and security environment — a relevant concern for a wire service whose dispatches are received by approximately 60 international media outlets per the agency’s October 2023 institutional reporting.

May 2026