Jaallee Mangistu's memory about Jaalle Siad

[bareento]

Mangistu recalls his last encounter with Siad Baarre in Addis Abeba.
he says Siad paid him a visit to diffuse tension between two countries (at the time ethio was helping the then rebelle somali groups).

After official dinner they were suposed to take together breakfast next morning.
Mangistu learns that night after leaving Siad, that somali rebels has taken the third city of somalia (Baidoa); and he recalls how embarrassed he felt.
Next morning when meeting Siad he expected an angry Siad, but Siad had no angry face; Siad just told him that he learned the news from the very same radio Mangistu gave somali opposition and that has to go backhome and left!

B.

[youtube]NEXnnDNZBUs&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[Voltage]

Doesn't seem historically accurate. Siad and Menguiste were having these meetings in 1988-1989. At that time only the SNM was the only credible rebel group functioning in Somalia and they are based in the northwest. Even then they didn't hold any towns. It was only after the agreement was concluded between Siad and Menguiste that the SNM was forced into Somalia where the clashes there sped up in the north.

Baidoa was neither the third largest city in Somalia and nor outside of government hands until the fall of Mogadishu in 1991.. And even to the point of Mogadishu's fall, the government was still in control of Hargeisa, Burco, and Berbera.

That Bariya seems totally confused if that is what he said.

p.s. I dislike how the Ethiopians pronounce the name Barre. It is not "Bari", it's Bar-re. And they should never be allowed to call him "Siad Barre". The cayriin-cunayaal should style him the Father of Modern Somalia, The President of the Somali Republic and the Chairman of the Somali Revolutionary Party, His Excellency Maj Gen Jaalle Mohamed Siyad Barre.

[bareento]

With supporters like yourself, no wonder that Siad Barre had all the oppositions he had!


B.

[Voltage]

Cry me a river.

[globetrotter2]

You can accuse Siad Barre on everything but his hatred of Ethiopian hegemony and in the extension Haile Mariam is not in dispute.

His meeting with Mengiste in Djibouti was perhaps one of the biggest regrets he had; in order to make a case, he travelled through out somalia.


Long live Siad for bringing secularism and institutions to somalia.

[Warsame101]

Despite the modus vivendi with Ethiopia in 1988, Mengistu tacitly supported the SNM withg intelligence and hardware.

This is evident in the facts (1) that Mengistu never disarmed SNM as part of the agreement, (2) the planned attack on Burco came at a time when the president, the defence minister and the top military officials were outside the country, (3) the Derg regime prepared in advance huge refugee camps in anticipation of the displacement that would be caused if the rebel faction attacked these towns.

Furthermore, the Derg regime deliberately exaggerated (10x) the number of hosted refugees in Ethiopia in order to discredit the Somali government.

In spite of the fact that Mengistu was being pressured by the Eritrean/Tigray rebel groups and his end was at sight, his level of hatred for Somalia and Maxamed Siyaad never decreased.

[AbdiWahab252]

Mengistu and Siyaad both lost out heavily. They should have struck a deal to save both their skins.

The only difference was that Mengistu walked away saving his nation from absolute destruction.

[Voltage]

Rebels surround Ethiopia airport // Fighting may strand foreigners in Addis Ababa

ADDIS ABABA Rebels of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front claimed Sunday to have surrounded Addis Ababa International Airport, less than five miles east of the city.

The announcement was broadcast over rebel radio after heavy gunfire was heard from the direction of the airport. The broadcast warned air carriers not to try to land at the airport.

The warning is certain to strand many of the hundreds of foreign residents here who have been leaving the country in recent days as rebel forces closed in on this capital city. The country's military forces have collapsed.

The insurgents' claim to have surrounded the airport, if true, puts the rebels at the gates of the ...

At about 5.30am yesterday, convoys of tanks and armoured vehicles carrying troops swarmed into the centre of Addis Ababa from all directions. They climbed the hill towards the presidential palace where only four hours earlier government tanks were seen taking up defensive positions.

A few minutes later the people of Addis Ababa were woken by the first heavy cannon fire from the rebel tanks. It was followed by a series of loud explosions as an ammunition store inside the palace compound was hit. Flames leapt 30ft into the air behind a line of eucalyptus trees which shield the palace from the public eye.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/1 ... thearchive

Let's be real. The post-overthrow outcome in Somalia and Ethiopia is not because of Siad or Menguste, it is about the caliber, ambitions, and the principal of the rebel groups. One group was interested in saving their nation, the other was interested for tribal reasons.

[bareento]

There were no battle in addis, mere skirmishes!

The last real fight was in Ambo followed by major battle in Wallaggaa.
Since then in Addis and oll over the country Darg had no support!
Darg and Mangistu were political adventurers,they were not representing any tribe thus they had no clan/ethnic of their own to fall back to.
It was impossible for them to mount any resistance!

The same will happen to TPLF.
In 2005 the overwhelming majority of Tigrayans in Addis voted for the opposition and were the most vocal anti TPLF (some say that is because they thought TPLF is lost);
This shows that when its times comes no ethio ruling class can count on its ethnicity to get support!
Probably this is the major difference between ethio and somalia.

its amazing to litsen Mangistu insisting how courteous his encounter with Siad at the official dinner was...but yet they were both the instrument of each others fall!

B.

[Voltage]

As was the case with Somalia also Bareento. Siad Barre left Mogadishu after the rebels had broken through. Only little skirmishes took place as you see happened in Tripoli when Gaddafi was leaving. You are 100% right Somalis will always have the ingredients to destroy themselves as opposed to the Ethiopians.

Just look at USC, which is one of many tribal rebel groups in Somalia, itself breaking up into two major clans led by Aydiid and Mahdi whose fierce fighting to replace Siad Barre destroyed Mogadishu as we understand it to be.