Twisted,
I agree with you that Somalia could've done better and we deserved a better government. My argument here is, sometimes its better the devil you know than the one you don't know. MSB was one individual, his administration consisted of numerous individuals who used it for their own personal agendas & to score personal vendettas. Its very simplistic to pin all of the mayhem on a man who was well in to his 70s.
Not to mention that we at least had a government. I was 12 years old in 1990 and remember what it was like to grow up in a peaceful Somalia, go to a free school, go to isbitaal Digfeer for medical treatment free of charge, go to Baraawe for vacations, go to a soccer match at Stadium Muqdisho, listen to Radio Muqdisho in our car, etc.
All of it was lost for the greed of a few individuals.
Koronto,
While you were enjoying peace and comfort, there were hundreds of thousands of Somalis were displaced in refugee camps in Ethiopia, cities were being laid to waste, hundreds were being killed by the Government you defend, and yet you have the audacity to praise the megalomaniac who gave you a semblance of normality ? Even in Xamar at that time, there was a brutal crack down on the Opposition who were not even USC.
Again, Mengistu Haile Mariam walked away peacefully and lives out his days in Harare. He did not fight inside Addis Ababa, he took his followers with him into exile and turned the keys to the new victorious party.
MSB fought in the city, sowed the seeds of the Darood-Hawiye war inside Xamar, fled to Gedo then asked Daniel Arap Moi for military assistance to recapture Xamar only to fail again in 1992 before being driven into permanent exile.
So, yes, as President of Somalia for 21 years, he deserves the lion's share of the blame just as some credit him with the lion's share of the progress over the same time.