Somalia: Death of a President

Since the Somali Republic became independent in 1960, it has never experienced a coup—military or otherwise. There have been political killings aplenty, however. In last March’s national elections, at least five officials of the ruling Somali Youth League were assassinated, and 16 persons died in a scuffle at Las Anod, a remote settlement in the nomadic grazing lands of the north. Last week Las Anod’s bloody reputation was reinforced. As President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, 49, stepped from his car in Las Anod on the last stop of a ten-day tour of the drought-stricken north, he was shot dead by a 22-year-old policeman, who then quietly surrendered.

Little Unrest. It seemed a pointless killing. Shermarke had gained a mild reputation abroad as a troublemaker when he served as the nation’s first Prime Minister between 1960 and 1964, largely because of his efforts to obtain sovereignty over those parts of northern Kenya and eastern Ethiopia roamed by Somali nomads. His domestic policies, however, had produced little unrest. After a three-year period out of office, he was elected President in 1967. He chose as his Prime Minister Mohammed Haji Ibrahim Egal, 41, who promptly proceeded to end the border frictions.

Despite this seeming reversal of Shermarke’s “Greater Somalia” policies, there was no evidence of friction between President and Prime Minister. Nor, for that matter, were there important political tensions in the nation itself. Then why was Shermarke killed? The assassination might have resulted from a personal or tribal grudge: the alleged killer, Abulkadir Abdi Mohammed, belongs to the same tribal family as Shermarke, though not to the same clan.

Within a month, the National Assembly is scheduled to meet to elect a new President. No matter who wins, Somalia is expected to continue its recent policy of live-and-let-live with neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.