Africa's First Democrats (2016) by Abdi Ismail Samatar: Aden Abdulle Osman and Abdirizak Haji Hussein

The book

Africa's First Democrats: Somalia's Aden A. Osman and Abdirazak H. Hussen is by Abdi Ismail Samatar, a professor of geography at the University of Minnesota who has written widely on the Somali state. Indiana University Press published it in 2016, with about 300 pages (Project MUSE). It is a political biography of two men: Aden Abdulle Osman, president of the Somali Republic from 1960 to 1967, and Abdirizak Haji Hussein, his prime minister from 1964 to 1967.

What is in it

After an opening chapter on leadership in Africa, the book follows the two men's early lives: Osman "from orphan to nationalist leader" and Abdirizak "from camel boy to freedom fighter". It then covers the Somali Youth League and the nationalist project from 1943 to 1960, the "First Republic" from 1960 to 1964, the "Second Republic" from 1964 to 1967, and what Samatar calls "the march toward dictatorship" from 1967 to 1974 (Project MUSE). The decade is described on The civilian era, 1960 to 1969, and what followed on The Siad Barre era, 1969 to 1991.

Its argument

Many African states began independence under authoritarian rulers, and scholars have often treated this as normal. Samatar argues that Somalia had a genuinely democratic leadership in its first years, which built democratic institutions after the years of Italian fascist rule. Although this period did not last, he sees its legacy as a possible model of good government (Project MUSE).

The book shifts attention from clan identity, which much writing uses to explain Somali politics, to leadership and institutions. Samatar contrasts statesmen who build institutions with autocrats (Horn Diplomat). Examples he gives, as summarised by the reviewer Bashir Goth, include:

• After an attempted coup by army officers in 1961, Osman's government let the case go to an ordinary court, the officers were allowed foreign lawyers, and they were freed when the court dismissed the case.
• In 1967 Osman lost a close presidential vote in parliament to Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, accepted the result and handed over power.
• As prime minister, Abdirizak pushed for appointments based on merit in the civil service and challenged officials who used public office for private gain.

How it was received

Reviewers disagreed. Bashir Goth, in Horn Diplomat in 2017, called it "well argued, well documented, well written", while noting that the memoir of the politician Abdullah Qablan accuses the same government of corruption and nepotism (Horn Diplomat). A review in Pambazuka argued that the book contains errors and inconsistencies, that its subtitle is misleading because it is not mainly about the two men, that it overlooks much earlier scholarship, and that leaders in British Somaliland and the Trust Territory had handed over power earlier (Pambazuka).

Where to read it

It is sold in hardback, paperback and ebook by Indiana University Press and is available on Project MUSE through subscribing libraries. Abdirizak Haji Hussein's own memoir, My Role in the Foundation of the Somali Nation-State, appeared in 2017.