A forewarning of the 1969 coup was dismissed when a colonel denied it

Evidence

Later when they were in prison in Afgoi, Hussen learned from Egal’s defense minister, Hilowle Macalin, that “the night before the coup, [Hilowle] received a phone call in which the caller told him that the military were planning a coup. Hilowle asked the caller who he was, but the caller hung up. Hilowle got exercised and left his office to report to Egal and Yassin. On the way he met Colonel Salaad Gabeyreh and said that he wanted to talk with him. He asked his driver to drive Salaad’s vehicle while the two talked in his vehicle on the way to the prime minister’s office. Hilowle told Salaad that he had heard they were planning to stage a coup and asked if that was the case. With apparent sincerity Salaad protested that the national army could never do such a hideous thing just when the president had been murdered. Hilowle believed him and forgot about seeing the prime minister.” — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1510

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A vivid micro-history of how intelligence warnings get neutralized through personal trust and denial; Salaad’s assurance quietly sealed the coup’s success.