Russian
& East German Documents on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, 1977-78
Memorandum
of Conversation between Soviet Ambassador to Somalia G.V. Samsonov and Somali
President Siad Barre, 23 February 1977
EMBASSY
OF THE USSR IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF SOMALIA
From
the journal of Secret. Copy No. 2
G.V.
SAMSONOV Orig. No. 101
11
March 1977
NOTES
FROM CONVERSATION with President of the Democratic Republic of Somalia
MOHAMMED
SIAD BARRE
23
February 1977
Today I was received by President Siad.
In accordance with my orders I informed him about
the considerations of the Soviet leaders, and Comrade Brezhnev personally,
concerning the situation developing around Ethiopia.
The President thanked me for the information. Then
he pointed out that certain people in the SDR, encouraged from abroad, speculated
that Soviet cooperation with Ethiopia was allegedly carried out to the detriment
of Soviet-Somali relations. According to Siad, he had to condemn such a point
of view in his speech at the Khalan Military School in particular, he had
to say that such statements should be considered anti-Somali propaganda aimed
at subversion of the Somali revolution. The President emphasized that the
assistance that the Soviet Union and other socialist countries provide for
the Ethiopian revolution was not only justified, but also necessary. The Soviet
Union, as we understand it, the President said, is trying to help Ethiopia
stabilize on the road of socialist orientation, and those goals of the Soviet
Union completely coincide with Somali interests. The SDR has an interest in
having a socialist, not a capitalist, neighbor.
Characterizing Chairman of the PMAC H.M. Mengistu,
President Siad called him a firm and consistent proponent of the progressive
change in Ethiopia. However, according to Siad, Mengistu does not abide by
Leninist principles in the nationality issue. He must give the nations living
in Ogaden, including both the Eritreans and the Somalis, the right to self-determination.
According to the President, it is important that Mengistu resolves the territorial
problem right now, or at least gives assurances that he is ready to consider
this question positively in the future. Siad alleged that the struggle for
power in the Ethiopian leadership was still going on, and that there were
no positive changes in the state apparatus of that country. The President
thinks that Mengistu is unwilling to meet with him. He mentioned the fact
that the Chairman of the PMAC did not give an immediate response to the [Tanzania
President Julius] Nyerere letter, which was delivered to Addis Ababa by Vice
President [Aboud] Jumbe of Tanzania, and in which, according to Siad, the
idea of his meeting with Mengistu was put forth.
Responding to the Soviet remarks concerning statements
of certain Somali statesmen in Sudan, President Siad alleged that member of
the Politburo CC SRSP Suleiman had only expressed an opinion on the situation
in Ethiopia, and that Minister of Public Health Rabile God was just giving
his personal views, and that his statement was, allegedly, provoked by the
Sudanese. The main threat to Ethiopia was arising from Sudan, Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, and Kenya, not from the SDR, emphasized the President. According to
a reliable source, Siad said, the internal reaction, represented by the Ethiopian
Democratic Union headquartered in London and supported by the CIA, was carefully
preparing a broad terrorist campaign against the leadership of the PMAC and
against other progressive Ethiopian leaders. Siad denied the information that
special units trained in the Somali territory, which also included Somali
servicemen, were being transferred to the Ogaden. The SDR was not going to
start a war with Ethiopia over the Ogaden, stressed the President. Such a
conflict would be detrimental to both countries. Only imperialists and the
Arab reactionaries would win in such a case. We understand this very well,
said Siad. However, we will support the struggle for unification with the
Fatherland of the Somalis living in the Ogaden, emphasized the President.
He said that the people living in the Ogaden were their brothers and sisters,
and that his leadership could not reject them if they appeal to them for help.
The people of Somalia would not understand its leaders if they were to suppress
their struggle for liberation from the Ethiopian colonial yoke.
I explained to Siad the CPSU policy on the nationality
issue.
Responding to my question concerning Somali-American
contacts, the President told me about his meeting with USA representative
at the UN [Andrew] Young in Zanzibar in early February 1977. He mentioned
that the meeting was held at the American initiative. According to Siad, Young
informed him about the "new approach" of the Carter Administration
in their policy toward Africa, and stressed the USA readiness to cooperate
with all African countries. Siad Barre said to Young that the peoples of Africa
will judge the "new" American policy by the practical actions of
the American administration. First of all, the United States must withdraw
its support for the white minority regimes in South Africa. Responding to
Young's question, why the SDR was always acting from an anti-American position,
Siad said that it was the United States that was always conducting a vicious
anti-Somali policy. The SDR decisively condemned the USA position on the Middle
East, and also the support that the USA gave to various reactionary forces
in their struggle against progressive regimes, and the fomenting of military
conflicts in various regions of the globe.
The President told me that recently a representative
of the USA State Department visited Mogadishu, arriving from Khartoum. He
had a meeting with General Director Abdurrahman Jama Barre of the MFA of the
SDR. The American requested to have meetings with several Somali state leaders
of his choice, including First Vice President Samantar. His request was denied.
According to the President, the American left the SDR dissatisfied.
Touching upon his initiative for cooperation between
the USSR and the SDR, the President repeated the suggestion he made earlier
(17 January 1977) that the Soviet Union take on the development of the lands
of the Fanole project. According to the President, Somalia had neither the
necessary experts, nor technology, nor resources, and that it would be incorrect
to invite other countries to carry out those tasks. Siad said that the provision
about development of those lands had not been included in the original agreement
on Fanole project construction only because of the incompetence of the Somali
representatives who signed that document.
The President also reminded me of his request concerning
construction of a naval base in the region of Mogadishu, and also of docks
in Berbera and Kismayu, which was stated in the memorandum delivered to Moscow
by First Vice President Samantar. Those projects are still in force and the
Somali leadership is expecting the Soviet government to examine them favorably.
Speaking about the military airfield in Berbera
which had been opened recently, Siad said that it had been built without taking
into account the prospects of its possible civilian utilization. This airfield
should serve not only the interests of the USSR, but the interests of the
SDR also. In order for this airfield to be used by civil aviation in the future,
it would be necessary additionally to build a control tower for air traffic
controllers, a room for transit passengers, other necessary services of a
modern airport, and also a hotel for 200-300 rooms in the city, in which the
Soviet air crews and naval crews could also stay. Those additional constructions
would serve as a kind of cover for the military airfield.
Having given a high evaluation of the Soviet assistance
in the organization of fishing cooperatives, President Siad made a request
that the Soviet side provide resources in the form of commodity credits to
cover the local expenses in those cooperatives, since the SDR was experiencing
shortages not only of material, but also of financial resources for those
projects. Specifically, the Somali leadership was asking the Soviet Union
to take responsibility for providing the minimum living standard for the families
of transfer workers in the cooperatives, and to apportion up to 10 shillings
per worker per day, mentioned the President. According to the President, he
gave directives to certain Somali organizations to prepare official requests
on the questions just mentioned.
President Siad expressed his warm gratitude to
the CC CPSU for the decision to provide assistance in construction of the
party school at the Central Committee of the SRSP. He said he considered that
assistance a show of fraternal care from the CPSU for the SRSP which
was undergoing a difficult formative period. He also thanked Moscow for the
attention to the request for more Somali citizens, especially for people from
Djibouti, to be given an opportunity to study in the Soviet Union, and for
the decision to satisfy the request in the 1977-78 academic year.
AMBASSADOR
OF THE USSR
IN THE SDR /G. SAMSONOV/
[Source:
TsKhSD, f. 5, op. 73, d. 1621, ll. 10-14; translation by S. Savranskaya.]
