Abane could have become the Mao of Africa had he lived.

Evidence

If postcolonial times in Africa have been hostage to these categories of aspirants, have there been African leaders who have valued legitimacy, good governance, ethical behavior, and most certainly the will to leave office when their tenure ended? I suggest Somali leaders in the 1960s offered a different model of leader. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 104 (#responds-to, via linked claim)

Wadad al-Qadi convincingly argues that this narrative fits into a genre of “the Arab rediscovery of Europe—books quite in fashion in the second half of the nineteenth century,” as the success of al-Tahtawï’s Takhlïs al-ibriz in 1834 had shown. But Mubärak, unlike al-Tahtawï, did not just inform his Egyptian readers about affairs and customs in the West. Instead, Alam al- Dïn "put the East in a direct situation of actual confrontation with the West, so that the East, before the West, knows its proper place in world civiliza- tion." This is why Africa was so important, for it too was in confrontation with the West and the East. Only through the strengthening process of con- fronting Africa through scientific exploration, reform of education, and colonialism could Egyptians possibly maintain themselves in what had become a new world order. — <cite>Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 271</cite> (#responds-to`, via linked claim)

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

Related

• Somali leaders of the 1960s offered a democratic countermodel to Africa’s personal rulers. (similarity 0.84)
• Somalia’s early democratic practice differed from other African leaders in its systematic nature (similarity 0.81)
• Africa saw twenty coups before 1969 while Somalia stayed democratic (similarity 0.80)
• Scholars overlooked postcolonial Africa’s democratic leadership and imported foreign models (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Somali leaders of the 1960s offered a democratic countermodel to Africa’s personal rulers. #responds-to (0.25) — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 104
• Mubärak urged Egyptians to confront Africa through exploration and colonialism to hold their place #responds-to (0.25) — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 271
• Somalia staged Africa’s first peaceful transfer of presidential power in 1967 #responds-to (0.20)