Villa Somalia
Villa Somalia is a building in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. It serves as the official residential palace and principal workplace of the President of Somalia.History
The edifice was built—in partially modern art deco style—by the colonial authorities in Italian Somaliland, serving as a residence for the Governors.
Villa Somalia was on high ground that overlooked Italian Mogadishu on the Indian Ocean, with access to both the harbour and Petrella airport. It was originally a large, squarish stucco building with a tiled roof.
The edifice was built in the new section of the city and it was a famous symbol of modernist architecture.
Following independence in 1960, the building became the presidential palace of the President of the Somali Republic. After the start of the civil war and the overthrow of the Siad Barre administration in the early 1990s, various local faction leaders fought for control of and installed themselves in the residence.
On 8 January 2007, Transitional Federal Government President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed entered Mogadishu for the first time since being elected to office. The government subsequently relocated to Villa Somalia from its interim location at Baidoa.
Today, it is the office of the President of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.
