Loss of a great African statesman

I have followed on your site the developments of Somaliland over the past few days. Thanks for the updated news of the late president.

Very few people remember the achievements of Mr Egal. When Somaliland got its independence on June 26, 1960 he became the youngest African leader.

He is the only African leader who gave up his country and position without preconditions and for the benefit of a union with Somalia. When the union was formed, he resigned from the ministerial post he had because of south Somalia's corrupt Italian system.

In 1963 he formed an opposition party. He was against the severing of diplomatic ties with the UK on the question of NFD, but the south Somalia government did not listen to him - thus was the sort who brought Somaliland into Somalia.

They lost 150 scholarships to the United Kingdom, BBC workers in Berbera were laid off, £3.5 million were lost - but the south did not care, because they spoke no English!

Egal sold his houses (a very great number) in Somaliland and used this money to make a political comeback... He hit the south and by 1967/68 he became prime minister of the whole Somalia.

He was the first black leader to give a speech in the joint congressional session in Washington. He solved the problem with Jomo Kenyata on the Arusha meeting in 1967. He told General De Gaulle that Djibouti would be much better off on its own, and shouldn't join Somalia. As a matter of fact, he was the one who broke the great Somalia dream.

For those Somalis living as refugees in your country: Ask them of their origin... I hope their Italian corruption and Mafia practices don't infest your beautiful country, which I visited in 1995.

Dr Hussein Abdillahi
Utrecht, The Netherlands