1978 Somali coup attempt

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1978 Somali coup attempt - Wikipedia

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1978 Somali coup d'état attempt

Part of the Cold War

Location of Somalia within the African Union.

Date

9 April 1978; 46 years ago

Location

Mogadishu, Somalia

Result

Coup attempt fails

Siad Barre remains in power
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed fled to Kenya
First anti-Siad Barre rebel group founded SSDF

Belligerents

Government of the Somali Democratic Republic

Military faction
Alleged support:

Commanders and leaders

Siad Barre

Mohamed Osman Irro
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed

Strength

24 officers^[1]
2,000 soldiers^[1]
65 tanks^[1]

Casualties and losses

17 plotters executed.

The 1978 Somali coup d'état attempt was a violent military coup attempt that took place in Somalia (then Somali Democratic Republic) on 9 April 1978,^[2] against the regime of President Siad Barre. The United States Central Intelligence Agency estimated that the coup, led by Colonel Mohamed Osman Irro, involved around 24 officers, 2,000 soldiers, and 65 tanks. Following the failed coup, 17 alleged ringleaders, including Osman, were summarily executed by firing squad.

Background

The coup attempt was staged by a group of disgruntled Army officers, led by Colonel Mohamed Osman Irro, in the aftermath of the disastrous Ogaden War against Ethiopia (then ruled by the Mengistu-led Derg). The war was initiated by President Siad Barre, who had himself come into power a decade earlier in the 1969 Somali coup d'état.^[3]

A United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) memorandum written the following month speculated that the coup was in response to Barre ordering the arrest and execution of officers that participated in the Ogaden War. The officers believed that Barre had intentionally used troops from other clans as "cannon fodder" while officers from his own Marehan clan were given safer orders. The report concluded that the officers involved in the coup "were motivated at least as much by long-standing ethnic animosities toward Barre as by disenchantment with his regime in the aftermath of the Ogaden debacle".^[1]

Coup

The coup was launched on 9 April 1978.^[3] The bulk of the fighting concluded within the day.^[1]

Gunfire broke out at the village of Afgoy, south of the capital Mogadishu, and small-arms fire and explosions were heard on the outskirts of the capital.^[3] The coup was originally planned to start in Hargeisa, but Barre likely knew of the attempt in advance and was able to disrupt the coup before it launched, as well as position forces loyal to himself in the capital.^[1]

The CIA estimated that the coup involved around 24 officers, 2,000 soldiers, and 65 tanks.^[1]

Aftermath

Following the failed coup, 17 alleged ringleaders, including Osman, were summarily executed by firing squad.^[4] Barre used the coup as justification to purge members of the clans involved in the coup from government and military positions.^[1]

One of the plotters, Lieutenant Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, escaped to Ethiopia^[5] and founded an anti-Siad Barre organization initially called the Somali Salvation Front (SSF; later the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, SSDF),^[6] initiating the Somali Rebellion and eventually the Somali Civil War.

Allegation of Eastern Bloc involvement

Barre blamed the coup attempt on the Eastern Bloc, namely Soviet Union and Cuba, countries that supported Ethiopia in the Ogaden War, calling them "new imperialists".^[3] The CIA determined that the Soviet Union was not behind the coup attempt, but were seeking to remove Barre.^[1] Immediately following the coup, Somalia began receiving foreign aid from the People's Republic of China.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "The Coup Attempt in Somalia: Background" (PDF). cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. 8 May 1978. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 15, 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
^ "Coup in Ethiopia Seems to Be a Failure, Diplomats Say". The Washington Post. 10 April 1978. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "SOMALI REGIME SAYS IT CRUSHED A REVOLT BY MILITARY OFFICERS". The New York Times. 10 April 1978. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
^ "1978: Seventeen officers in Somalia". ExecutedToday.com. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
^ New People Media Centre (Nairobi, Kenya), New people, Issues 94–105, (New People Media Centre: Comboni Missionaries, 2005).
^ Nina J. Fitzgerald, Somalia: issues, history, and bibliography, (Nova Publishers: 2002), p.25.
^ "28. Somalia (1960–present)". uca.edu. University of Central Arkansas. Retrieved 16 June 2020.

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See also

v t e Coups d'état in Africa since 1960
1960s	Republic of the Congo (1960)^c Ethiopia (1960) Rwanda (1961) French Algeria (1961) Somalia (1961) Senegal (1962) Algeria (1962)^c Dahomey (1963)^c Togo (1963)^c Gabon (1964)^c Algeria (1965)^c Dahomey (1965) Burundi (1965) Democratic Republic of the Congo (1965) Central African Republic (1965–66)^c Burundi (July 1966)^c Burundi (November 1966)^c Ghana (1966)^c Upper Volta (1966)^c Nigeria (January 1966)^c Nigeria (July 1966)^c Republic of the Congo (1966) Dahomey (1967) Ghana (1967) Togo (1967)^c Algeria (1967) Sierra Leone (1968)^c Mali (1968)^c Republic of the Congo (1968)^c Dahomey (1969) Sudan (1969)^c Libya (September 1969)^c Somalia (1969)^c Libya (December 1969)
1970s	Lesotho (1970)^‡c Uganda (1971)^c Morocco (1971) Sudan (1971)^c Dahomey (1972)^c Ghana (1972)^c Morocco (1972) Republic of the Congo (1972) Rwanda (1973)^c Upper Volta (1974)^‡ Uganda (1974) Niger (1974)^c Ethiopia (1974)^c Comoros (1975)^c Sudan (1975) Libya (1975) Nigeria (1975)^c Chad (1975)^c Comoros (1976)^c Burundi (1976)^c Nigeria (1976) Sudan (1976) Benin (1977) Seychelles (1977)^c Sudan (1977) Uganda (June 1977) Angola (1977) Somalia (1978) Comoros (1978)^c Ghana (1978)^‡c Mauritania (1978)^c Mauritania (1979)^c Ghana (1979)^c Equatorial Guinea (1979)^c Central African Republic (1979)^c
1980s	Mauritania (1980)^c Liberia (1980)^c Guinea-Bissau (1980)^c Upper Volta (1980)^c Mauritania (1981) Gambia (1981) Central African Republic (1981)^c Ghana (1981)^c Seychelles (1981) Central African Republic (1982) Kenya (1982) Upper Volta (1982)^c Upper Volta (February 1983) Upper Volta (August 1983)^c Nigeria (1983)^c Mauritania (1984)^c Cameroon (1984) Guinea (1984)^c Uganda (1985)^c Nigeria (1985)^c Sudan (1985)^c Guinea (1985) Liberia (1985) Lesotho (1986)^c Togo (1986) Burkina Faso (1987)^c Burundi (1987)^c Republic of the Congo (1987) Tunisia (1987)^c Transkei (1987)^c Benin (1988) São Tomé and Príncipe (1988) Burkina Faso (1989) Ethiopia (1989) Chad (1989) Sudan (1989)^c
1990s	Sudan (1990) Nigeria (1990) Zambia (1990) Chad (1990)^c Ciskei (1990)^c Venda (1990)^c Mali (1991)^c Lesotho (1991)^c Sudan (1992) Sierra Leone (1992)^c Algeria (1992)^c Sierra Leone (December 1992) Burundi (1993) Libya (1993) Nigeria (1993)^c Bophuthatswana (1994)^c Gambia (1994)^c Lesotho (1994)^‡c Liberia (1994) Comoros (1995) São Tomé and Príncipe (1995) Sierra Leone (1996)^c Guinea (1996) Burundi (1996)^c Niger (1996)^c Sierra Leone (August 1996) Zambia (1997) Sierra Leone (1997)^c Guinea-Bissau (1998) Republic of the Congo (1998) Niger (1999)^c Côte d'Ivoire (1999)^c
2000s	Côte d'Ivoire (2001) Burundi (2001) Central African Republic (2001) Côte d'Ivoire (2002) Central African Republic (2002) Central African Republic (2003)^c Mauritania (2003) Guinea-Bissau (2003)^c São Tomé and Príncipe (2003) Burkina Faso (2003) Chad (2004) Sudan (2004) Equatorial Guinea (2004) Democratic Republic of the Congo (2004) Togo (2005)^c Mauritania (2005)^c Chad (2006) Madagascar (2006) Guinea (2008)^c Mauritania (2008)^c Sudan (2008) Madagascar (2009)^c
2010s	Madagascar (2010) Niger (2010)^c Niger (2011) Guinea-Bissau (2011) Mali (March 2012)^c Guinea-Bissau (2012)^c Mali (April 2012) Sudan (2012) Eritrea (2013) Chad (2013) Egypt (2013)^c Libya (October 2013) Central African Republic (2013)^c Libya (2014) Lesotho (2014) The Gambia (2014) Burundi (2015) Burkina Faso (2015) Burkina Faso (2016) Libya (2016) Zimbabwe (2017)^c Gabon (2019) Sudan (2019)^c Ethiopia (2019)
2020s	Mali (2020)^c Central African Republic (2021) Niger (2021) Mali (2021)^c Tunisia (2021)^‡^c Guinea (2021)^c Sudan (September 2021) Sudan (October 2021)^c Burkina Faso (January 2022)^c Guinea-Bissau (2022) Burkina Faso (September 2022)^c São Tomé and Príncipe (2022) Gambia (2022) Sudan (2023) Niger (2023)^c Gabon (2023)^c Burkina Faso (2023) Sierra Leone (2023) Guinea-Bissau (2023) Nigeria (2024) Democratic Republic of the Congo (2024)
^c: successful coup ^‡: self-coup no sign: attempted coup

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