By 1969 Somalia was Africa’s most politically stable democratic state

Evidence

In the arena of African politics, Somalia has fared well. No coups, no civil wars, no internecine splits have marred its nine-year history. Its people—united by language, culture, and religion—form a national state which will probably remain intact for the foreseeable future. Elections for the presidency and parliament have demonstrated the system’s ability to transfer power democratically. The country’s ex-president and two former prime ministers are today all in parliament—not imprisoned, exiled, or dead. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1075

Categorization

• XREF: Poignant irony against what the book’s later chapters establish: this stability collapsed within months, and the same ‘united language, culture, religion’ framing reads as the exact ‘commonsense narrative of the tribe’ the book criticizes.
• SHARE: Worth sending to anyone who assumes Somalia was always failed-state chaos — this 1969 diplomatic snapshot shows a functioning African democracy, ex-presidents peacefully in parliament.