Hussen attacked Sharmarkee over unfeasible Soviet loan projects costing 173 million shillings

Evidence

The US embassy reported that Sharmarkee was outflanked during this period and that “Hussen replied to criticism of his government’s policies, immediately before the vote in a lengthy speech which castigated Sharmarkee for accepting Soviet Loan projects which has proved not to be economically feasible and whose local costs (So. Shs. 173 million) put an unbearable burden on any Somali Government; reported the USSR’s unwillingness so far to provide financing for the increased local costs; [and] noted the trade and cultural ties as well as economic assistance.” US Department of State, Airgram A-14. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1450

Categorization

• XREF: Soviet loan burdens in Africa connect to the broader Cold War aid-dependency literature and decolonization-era economic traps. — connects to: Somalia rejected Western arms for larger Soviet military aid in 1963.
• SEED: An essay angle: how supposedly cheap Soviet bloc loans became fiscal Albatrosses that destabilized fragile post-independence governments and fed domestic political feuds.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1450