Mogadishu Memoir (Part VII): The Cultural Milieu

Presidents Adan Abdulle Osman (1960 - 1967 (top)) and Abdirashid Ali Sharma'arke (1967 - 1969 (bottom))

I would hear from neighbors what party won or which one was robbed from votes. Years later, my mother would tell me how I used to play with toys and make them fight with one another. Often, one of the toys represented Adan Abdille Osman ‘Adan Adde’ (the first president of the country) and the other Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke (Adan Adde’s successor). After what appeared to be a tough fight, I would make the Sharmarke toy win over the Osman one. Of course, Sharmarke belonged to the same sub-clan my mother did.  My mother always told this story in order to show off my political, and definitely, clan ‘acumen’; my toy-fights were the essence of political acculturation. I wonder how my mother would have reacted if I had made the Adan Adde toy win. I had positive feeling toward Sharmarke while growing up because he seemed to me a decent human being and a popular leader.   Read More