The United States avoided directly backing Egal against President Osman

Evidence

Mohamed Haji Ibrahim telephoned [the US embassy] the morning of April 17, 1966, to request if we might talk. Egal arrived at my home about 6:15 p.m., was en route to a dinner at the Syrian Embassy. Egal asked if I’d relayed our earlier conversation to the Ambassador. I replied I had and the Ambassador had commented that it is not proper for the United States to intervene in the internal affairs of another country. President Aden [Osman] is a fine man and it would be inappropriate to contribute to his defeat. If Egal became Prime Minister after the elections, the United States would seek to cooperate with his government. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 910