The 1987 Mogadishu riots echoed the conditions that toppled Haile Selassie

Evidence

With spiralling food and fuel prices as well as shortages, the ominous implications of these urban trends were suggested by the spontaneous riots which occurred in mid-August 1987 in the capital. Some concessions were made by the government, which also arrested a number of alleged ‘agitators’. Similar disturbances in similar circumstances preceded the Ethiopian revolution which terminated Haile Selassie’s long reign in 1974. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 609

Categorization

• XREF: The analogy to pre-revolutionary Ethiopia foreshadows how Siyad’s own fall would come.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing whether the 1987 riots were a direct precursor to Siyad’s 1991 overthrow.