Siad Barre's mistakes/What Somalia needs

[eliteSomali]

He wasn't as ruthless as he could and should have been.

[Caesar]

He wasn't as ruthless as he could and should have been.

Why should he have been more ruthless?

[Marques]

Caesar, tbh his one and only main problem was qabiil. When that poison seeped into the nation, no one was safe from it, not even the scholars of religion. Even with qabiil i don't think the problem was him per se, but he had a really bad PR squad. You can't walk around in public with someone like General Morgan and be expected to be taken seriously.

[Caesar]

Agree Marques, his tribalism really wrecked it towards the end. I was reading on how he moved people from Pland to the south to make them farmers or something and how that was a tribalist measure extending his influence all over the country. I think it was a waste imo, because

Instead of doing that
he should have just build infrastructure in Pland or where ever.
Moving people up and down and around the country would just cause conflict and it did, now everyone's back in their own spots.

[Marques]

Somalis are simple people. No one would really bother enough to start a rebellion if it was about khat, Ethiopia, socialism etc it was ultimately down to qabiil bro and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is a liar. Problem is, his qabiilism wasn't limited to just filling up office space with his tribesmen like Hassan Sheikh and the rest of these weak modern leaders do, he tried to misplace people, steal land from natives, corrupt the Army, bankrupt tribes, rewrite historical notations etc if people had let him gone on longer i'm certain he wudda tried institutionalizing his tribesmen as the only tribe allowed to be in power

[JamalAddow]

Agree Marques, his tribalism really wrecked it towards the end. I was reading on how he moved people from Pland to the south to make them farmers or something and how that was a tribalist measure extending his influence all over the country. I think it was a waste imo, because

Instead of doing that
he should have just build infrastructure in Pland or where ever.
Moving people up and down and around the country would just cause conflict and it did, now everyone's back in their own spots.

Lool Bro who told you these lies.

We MJs were always in the South, we were traders, merchants and sailors. Kismayo, Merca, Xamar and Barawe etc. you'll find MJs that came 100 years ago, actually you'll find 5th generation MJs as far as Oman that only speak Arabic now.

If Somalis had a colony in Mozambique 1000 years, what do you think about Somali seafarers like the MJs 100 years.

[Caesar]

Lol no one mentioned mj yo. But all right.

To my knowledge he moved Ogaden around Hargeisa and around there etc. ( i know more about his northern colonies then his southern ones.)

And also he moved some people to the south (forget their specific subclan spare me I'm galbeedi)

he gave them other people's land, (Don't know if they were mj or anything but if you say so)

but the original owners regained it props to them.

It's historical fact Siad Barre moved people around what is there to deny? It's just what happened no one's dissing or anything.

The only reason people leave is for opportunities,food,shelter etc, so people constantly leaving home means there's nothing in your home base bro lol (usually)

Anyways since Siad Barre's tactic failed what can we implement as a solution?

Building infrastructure in all the regions equally is what I wanna see happen.

[Sophisticate]

Caesar all your points are valid. It reminds me of the issues Somalis have systemically I disagree with the jail sentencing of ayeeyos though .

[Hawdian]

Siad Barre (AUN) tried very hard to wear shoes too big for his own size. He really did try it but he lacked all the basics. While he was too busy idolizing the Soviets, he failed to study the basics of state building. He was a man behind his time and on top of that he tried very hard to mimic others. Eventually what he had cooked up ultimately failed and he died in a foreign land with no relatives nearby to even attend his funeral.

He did however succeed two areas and I applaud him for that. First he campaigned for Somali literacy and introduced the Latin Somali alphabet (even though it was not his idea). He succeeded in this area because Somali Republic was close to 0 literacy. He ended up taking that up to 30-40% in short time. KUDOS to him.

The other area he understood was the Ethiopian rebels. He knew the Gallas (Oromo) were abundance in number but useless in action. He eventually dropped the Abow Oromo and replaced with the Tigringya speakers (TPLF and EPLF). These two end up over running Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Other than those two he achieved zero. All the roads that you guys talk about were built by the Italians. The Italians were like machine when it came to building. In less than a year they stretch a decent road from Mogadishu to Harar to Hargeisa...all while on the offensive against British, Somaliland and Abyssinian forces.

All Siad Barre did was little re-patching with the help of China (Chinese builders and China financed it). They improved the Sheikh-Berbera road.

Siad Barre was way behind of his time and the men of his era. Even the 19th century Atse Menelik, the lion of Judah, was way ahead of Siad Barre. Menelik understood the politics and geography of the entire world. He played the French using the British, he played the British using the Russians, he played the Italians using the British and so forth. Eventually he got arms, wealth and treaties with each and everyone of them just by playing them against each others.

That is how he won Somali region, much of Oromia, southern regions, Gambella etc. He was also investing heavily in American stocks in the late 19th century. African leaders never heard of stock market let alone invest in one. He bought many shares. He built railways and roads. He built power stations and universities. He found newspapers, print houses and his personal library had more books than Somalia does today. He played the politics of the European powers toe for toe. Barre could not even figure that out in 1980.



Menelik did not come to Somali Region with an army, he won her by simply signing piece of paper in Lake Tana. Barre on the other hand tried to get it back with foreign relics in front of him and he did not even know how to fix them. Once all his tanks and arms dug deep into the mud he was stuck for good.

If you really want to understand an African leader who thought of it all, you should read about Emperor Menelik. Remember he was once himself a prisoner and he had to fight so many Habesha and non-Habesha warlords. He defeated 200,000 strong Italian army with simple spears.

Siad Barre is good role model for people with little ideas such as what Barre himself achieved; a little Somalia that prematured.


Ras