Hussen’s torture-triggered tuberculosis drove him to plan assassinating the Italian regime’s chief strategist
Evidence
After two more months in the Baidoa prison authorities moved him and others to the central prison in the capital. Once in Mogadishu the political prisoners met others from various regions and their spirit was buoyed by camaraderie with colleagues and the support of the SYL women’s group. Hussen began spitting blood because of his damaged lung and then developed tuberculosis. He was moved to the prison hospital. Nine months later the Italian authorities released all political prisoners. Hussen was not reinstated in his old job and had to fend for himself. He got employment at a Jewish-run company as a clerk. After three months he became ill again and was forced to quit. Assuming that the tuberculosis was terminal he decided to make one last nationalist effort by assassinating the Italian administrator, Belerdele, who was the chief strategist for the regime. Hussen borrowed a pistol from his cousin, but the administrator had already left for Italy on holiday. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 296
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: The assassination impulse against the Italian administrator connects to the broader nationalist-reaction theme traced through the book’s earlier chapters on anti-colonial resistance.