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
is what I wanna see happen.
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