Archive - Socialist Somalia

Conquests, rents and state collapse

In his book Conquests and Rents, Faisal Ahmed attempts to present a political economy argument for the collapse of the Somali state.

22 hrs ago •

June 2025

Understanding Somalia’s Destruction

How democracy and the post-independence ‘romance of the state’ gave way to disillusionment and a ruinous civil war.

Jun 4 •

March 2025

US Losing Interest in Military Bases in Somalia (LA Times, 1985)

In the early 1980s, Somalia pitched itself as a possible host for a US base in Berbera, but after a careful assessment, the Americans weren’t so keen.

Mar 19 •

Siad Barre obituary: Architect of misery (The Guardian, 1995)

Siad Barre died in exile in Nigeria in 1995. The Guardian published this obituary for him.

Mar 17 •

February 2025

How Somalia embraced socialism: notes from a minister's memoir

Mohamed Aden Sheikh served in the civilian component of Siad Barre's socialist government as a health minister. He was a key part of the governing…

Feb 5 •

January 2025

Somalia Trys to Live by Both the Koran and ‘Das Kapital’ (NYT, 1977)

Somalia's socialist leaders had a vision for the country in which religion did not play such a prominent role in public life. That vision for Somalia…

Jan 21 •

Why some Somalis don't like Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter’s decision not to arm Somalia in its struggle against a Soviet-backed Ethiopian army nourished feelings of abandonment.

Jan 3 •

November 2024

Somali diplomat on his time in 1980s Turkey

Hussein Mohamed, a former Somali diplomat who served in Turkey in the mid-1980s, speaks about his time there and the ties between Mogadishu and Ankara…

Nov 25, 2024 •

September 2024

Ethiopia Worried by Coming Vote On Independence in French Colony – NYT

As Djibouti's independence loomed officials in Addis Ababa, stills struggling to stabilise their new revolutionary regime, were anxious that it would…

Sep 10, 2024 •

August 2024

Don't aid Somalia, Hussein Abdilahi Bulhan (1982)

Hussein Abdilahi Bulhan, a Somali psychologist and Fanon scholar wrote a NYT article warning the US against aiding the Barre regime.

Aug 27, 2024 •

February 2024

'The Arabs and Somalis need each other': Barre's speech as Somalia joins Arab League

Barre told an audience that Somalis and Arabs had strayed from one another during the colonial era, but adding there would be no more straying

Feb 29, 2024 •

January 2024

Mohamed Isa Trunji on Somalia's lack of a "father of the nation" and the collapse democracy in 1960

Mohamed Isa Trunji is one of Somalia’s most prominent historians. He reflects on the collapse of Somali democracy in the late 1960s, the lack of a…

Jan 28, 2024 •

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