Egal promised the SNC would oppose Hussen at every opportunity

Evidence

The announcement of Hussen’s nomination as prime minister was a political bombshell, and politicians moved from Sharmarkee’s home and office to the new center of gravity. … Among those who were vehemently opposed to Hussen was Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, one of the leaders of the SNC, who told a senior American diplomat at the US embassy that [Hussen] is unpopular and has many enemies, including himself, and that the SNC would certainly vote against him at every opportunity that presented itself. Egal stated that the Italians also don’t like [Hussen] because he is not corruptible and that he has many foes among provincial governors because of his arbitrary and high-handed way of forcing decisions and acting without any sense of compromise… . Egal stated that [Hussen] is rather tactless person and was not a good politician because he was very willful. This was in reply to my suggestion that [Hussen] would probably go slow in changing policies of [Sharmarkee] especially the drift towards the Sino-Soviet bloc. Egal states that [Hussen] would give no consideration for political tactfulness if he wanted to change the policy and he wouldn’t do it slowly and that once [Hussen] wants to do something nothing deters him. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 729

Categorization

• XREF: Egal’s assessment anticipates the Sino-Soviet bloc policy drift theme that recurs through the First Republic narrative.