Self-Reliance Betrayed: Somali Foreign Policy, 1969-1980

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Periodical article

Title:	Self-Reliance Betrayed: Somali Foreign Policy, 1969-1980
Author:	Samatar, Ahmed I.
Year:	1987
Periodical:	Canadian Journal of African Studies
Volume:	21
Issue:	2
Pages:	201-219
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Somalia
Subjects:	foreign policy 1960-1969 1970-1979 1980-1989 Politics and Government international relations Economics and Trade
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/484371
Abstract:	When the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) headed by General M. Siyaad Barre came to power in Somalia at the end of October 1969, it proclaimed that its foreign and domestic policy would be guided by the concept of self-reliance ('iskoo filaan'). The author examines significant aspects of Somali foreign policy during the first decade (1969-1980) of military rule to see if this promise has been kept. He concludes that this national effort has failed despite some successes in diversification of donor aid and diplomatic relations. Basically, this failure is a result of the confluence of three main factors: stagnation of export production, misuse of revenues, and the powerful pull of atavistic and belligerent nationalism. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French.