Somalia’s first ATM

The first automatic teller machine (ATM) in Somalia began accepting transactions in September 2014 in the capital, Mogadishu. Owned by Salaam Somali Bank and located at the luxury Jazeera Palace Hotel (Airport Road, Mogadishu; phone +252 1 857500, www.jazeerapalace.com), the ATM accepts Visa and MasterCard (including debit cards) and American Express and provides only US dollars. (Somalia’s currency, the shilling, has almost no value.)

Salaam Somali Bank has plans to add ATM locations. Also, the African money transfer company Dahabshiil plans to install ATMs in Mogadishu and Hargeisa.

Somalia is currently embroiled in a decades-long civil war. Much of the country outside the capital is under control of the militant Islamist organization al-Shabaab.