I will finish my notes on this book
I will finish my notes on this book
I will finish my notes on this book
I will finish my notes on this book
I will finish my notes on this book
I will finish my notes on this book
I will finish my notes on this book
I will finish my notes on this book
I will finish my notes on this book
p.200 19th century explorer Sir Richard Burton described Somalia as the “land of give me something.”
Aiden on Somali’s: “The Somalis were as tough as nails, they were as exasperating as the camels they loved, the women were beautiful, and their bloody sense of clan honor entangled them in feuds of Byzantine complexity.
Somalis called Aiden a heathen or ‘gal’
p. 201 The Somalis rejected the notion of being called black and called Bantu Africans “slaves”
Whereas arbitrary colonial boundaries had lumped disparate and unrelated tribes together elsewhere in Africa, in Somalia, it scattered a people who had one common language, culture and religion.
p.201-2 Galkacaayo: “The place where the white man ran away”. This is where Sayyīd Muhammad `Abd Allāh al-Hasan defeated colonial force (something he did for 2 decades). Sayyid’s quote: “I like war. You do not. God willing, I will take many more rifles from you, but I will not take your country. I have no forts, or cultivation, no silver or gold for you to take. I have no artificers. The country is desert and of no use. There is wood and stone and many ant heaps. But all you will get from me is war, nothing else.
p.202 1969 General Sid Barre takes power and has the Somali language set down in Roman script to replace Arabic script.
p.203 1970’s he played both sides, first siding with communist bloc and later with US. Failed in attacking his neighbors and went bankrupt in the 80’s. His regime slowly imploded.
p.204 In late 1990, he demolished whole districts from his holed position in the presidential palace with artillery.
By late 1991 ‘Somalia slipped further into war and insanity’’ The west missed the boat then because we were in the middle of the Gulf War
Jonathan and Aiden christen the Somali militia leaders “warlords”…this is where we get the term we use today!
p.205 All of the Warlords fighting for power had nicknames: Sid Barre was Big Mouth; Bililiqo was the Plunderer; Mohamed Farah Aydiid was Mister Proud. Barre fled to Nigeria in 1992 where he died.
Carlos Mavroleon on warlords fighting: “When it comes down to it, this is no different from the turf wars between the Crips and the Bloods in South Central LA. Only these fuckers have heavy artillery.”
p. 206 Advent of heavy weapons and technology catapulted Somalis from smaller clan fights with knives and spears into destrctuion.
p. 207 Militia weapon of choice was Toyoya 4x4 with a 23 mm anti aircraft gun mounted to the back.
p. 208 “But without the payment of compensation, there was no question of ending the bloodshed.” Aiden on faceless killing that occurred with advanced weapons.
p. 210 Aydiid and others kill and accelerate as many deaths as possible to get foreign AID and to offer security (and get paid for it) to those workers.
p. 211 An American surgeon comments on the amount of blood needed in Feb 1992 to treats patients: “Imagine an Olympc swimming pool, full of blood, that’s how much IV we need”
p. 215 Aiden tracks down Mogadishu stringer named Mohamoud Afrah. He has written several books, one of them called: Mogadishu: a hell on earth . Following are a few links to give a little more background on the man. I can’t find anything he’s written recently. He seems to have dropped off the internet around 2006.
p. 219 From Afrah’s diary: War, famine and disease can cause anarchy in a country, but they cannot change what people feel. Afrah on love.
p. 220 The wars have scattered the Somalis all over the globe.
p. 222 The Somalis hated most people, but especially Bantu Africans.
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