Prime minister Sharmarkee bypassed President Osman in accepting the Soviet arms deal

Evidence

I hear that 60 officials were sent from Mogadishu to the Soviet Union, some of whom were expected here in Italy to study. It is evident that the government there has decided everything without me regarding the Soviet Union (arms, etc., etc.), purposely forgetting what I had recommended, i.e., to not involve themselves with the issue before my reentry from this state visit, during which I would have sounded out Italy as to whether it and its allies in the West were leaning towards deciding to give us the necessary arms for our army! Abdirashid [Sharmarkee] did not think that it is I who has to sign the agreement in the end, even if, naturally, I do not remotely think of refusing! — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 658

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader pattern of tension between Somalia’s first president and prime minister documented earlier in this book and in the general Somali political history of 1960s constitutional conflict.