Siyaad Barre courted Hussen with promises of military loyalty after the election

Evidence

Hussen’s first encounter with the new men was uneasy, but one could not have predicted the course events would take and his political trajectory from those initial days. One of the first people to come and visit him soon after the election was the commander of the national military. General Siyaad Barre came to the caretaker prime minister’s office and invited the prime minister to join him for a short trip out of the city. Using the general’s private car, they went to the agricultural town of Balad, less than thirty minutes’ drive north of the capital. Their conversation centered on the change of national leadership, and in the end Barre made the following promise to Hussen: “Speaking in the name of the military, we would never forget what you have done for the defense forces, and we will stand by you in the future.” — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 987

Categorization

• XREF: Deep irony given Barre overthrew the very democratic system two years later; strong echo for the standard narrative of Barre’s 1969 coup.