Supreme Revolutionary Council (Somalia)

The Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) (Somali: Gollaha Sare ee Kacaanka, Arabic: المجلس الثوري الأعلى‎) was the governmental body that ruled Somalia from 1969 to 1976.

History

Main article: Somali Democratic Republic

Establishment

On October 15, 1969, while paying a visit to the northern town of Las Anod, Somalia's then President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards. His assassination was quickly followed by a military coup d'état on the afternoon of October 21, 1969 (the day after his funeral), in which the Somali Army seized power without encountering armed opposition — essentially a bloodless takeover. The putsch was spearheaded by Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, who at the time commanded the army.[1]

Alongside Barre, the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) that assumed power after President Sharmarke's assassination was led by Lieutenant Colonel Salaad Gabeyre Kediye, General Mohamed Ainanshe Guleid and Chief of Police Jama Korshel. Kediye officially held the title of "Father of the Revolution," and Barre shortly afterwards became the head of the SRC.[2] The SRC subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic,[3][4] arrested members of the former civilian government, banned political parties,[5] dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution.[6]

Functions and political programme

Following the 1969 coup d'état, the Supreme Revolutionary Council took over all the duties of the President, the National Assembly and the Council of Ministers through the proclamation of the Law Number 1. Essentially a military junta, the SRC became the de facto executive organ of the new state and consisted of 25 almost exclusively military officials. The old constitution nominally remained under perpetual suspension until the SRC later repealed it in 1970.[7]

The revolutionary army established large-scale public works programs, including construction of the Mogadishu Stadium.[8] It also sought to improve the social position of women, using Islamic precepts as a reference point.[7] In addition to a nationalization program of industry and land, the new regime's foreign policy placed an emphasis on Somalia's traditional and religious links with the Arab world, eventually joining the Arab League (AL) in 1974.[9]

The Supreme Revolutionary Council also attempted to resolve the outstanding issue of which of the various writing systems then in use in Somalia should be officialized as the main national orthography. In October 1972, the government unilaterally elected to use the modified Latin script of the linguist Shire Jama Ahmed for writing Somali instead of the Arabic or Osmanya scripts.[10] It subsequently launched a large urban and rural literacy campaign designed to ensure the orthography's adoption, which helped dramatically increase the literacy rate.[9]

The SRC further enacted a number of reforms designed to weaken the influence of traditional lineage structures and processes, which Barre regarded as a potential threat to his rule. Offences deemed clan-related were punished with fines and prison sentences, and traditional headmen employed by the previous civilian administration were substituted with hand-picked government peacekeepers (nabod doon). Orientation centers were likewise established, which took over hosting duties for marriage services. Over 140,000 nomadic pastoralists were also resettled in littoral towns and agricultural areas with the additional aim of increasing productivity.[7]

Dissolution and reinstatement

In July 1976, Barre's SRC disbanded itself and established in its place the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), a one-party government based on scientific socialism and Islamic tenets. The SRSP was an attempt to reconcile the official state ideology with the official state religion by adapting Marxist precepts to local circumstances. Emphasis was placed on the Muslim principles of social progress, equality and justice, which the government argued formed the core of scientific socialism and its own accent on self-sufficiency, public participation and popular control, as well as direct ownership of the means of production. While the SRSP encouraged private investment on a limited scale, the administration's overall direction was essentially socialist.[6]

After the unsuccessful Ogaden campaign of the late 1970s, a new constitution was promulgated in 1979 under which elections for a People's Assembly were held. However, the Politburo of Barre's Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party continued to rule.[4] On 23 October 1980 Barre reinstated the Supreme Revolutionary Council via Presidential Decree No. 3,[11][6] and five subcommittees were established, including Defence & Security and Political.[12]

Members

The following is a list of members of the Supreme Revolutionary Council in February 1970:

Chairman
Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Siad Barre
Vice Chairman
Maj.-Gen. Jama Ali Korshel
Members
Lt.-Col. Salaad Gabeyre Kediye
Lt.-Col. Muhammad Ali Samatar
Capt. Ahmed Mohamoud Farah
Brig.-Gen. Hussein Kulmiye Afrah
Lt.-Col. Abdullah Mohamed Fadil
Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Ainanshe
Lt.-Col. Abdullah Mohamed Fadil
Lt.-Col. Ali Matan Hashi
Capt. Ahmed Hassan Musa
Maj. Muhammad Sh. Osman
Maj. Ismail Ali Abucar
Maj. Muhammad Ali Shirreh
Maj. Ahmed Suleiman Abdulle
Maj. Mohamud Gelle Yusuf
Maj. Farah Wais Dulleh
Capt. Musa Rabille Goede
Capt. Muhammad Omer Ges
Capt. Osman Mohamed Jelle
Capt. Abdi Warsama Isaak
Capt. Abdirazak Mahamud Abubakar
Capt. Abdulkadir Haji Muhamad

See also

• History of Somalia

The following is a list of members of the Supreme Revolutionary Council in October 1969: 1. Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Siad Barre 2. Maj.-Gen. Jama Ali Korshel 3. Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Ainanshe 4. Brig.-Gen. Hussein Kulmiye Afrah 5. Colonel Ahmed Mohamoud Ade 6. Lt.-Col. Salaad Gabeyre Kediye 7. Lt.-Col. Muhammad Ali Samatar 8. Lt.-Col. Abdullah Mohamed Fadil 9. Lt.-Col. Ali Matan Hashi 10. Lt. Colonel Mohamoud Mirre 11. Maj. Muhammad Sh. Osman 12. Maj. Ismail Ali Abukar 13. Maj. Muhammad Ali Shirreh 14. Maj. Ahmed Suleiman Abdulle 15. Maj. Mohamud Gelle Yusuf 16. Maj. Farah Wais Dulleh 17. Capt. Ahmed Hassan Musa 18. Capt. Musa Rabile Good 19. Capt. Ahmed Muhammad Farah 20. Capt. Muhammad Omer Ges 21. Capt. Osman Mohamed Jelle 22. Capt. Abdi Warsama Isaak 23. Capt. Abdirazak Mahamud Abubakar 24. Capt. Abdulkadir Haji Muhamad 25. Lt. Bashir Yussuf

Notes

1. Moshe Y. Sachs, Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, Volume 2, (Worldmark Press: 1988), p.290.
2. Adam, Hussein Mohamed; Richard Ford (1997). Mending rips in the sky: options for Somali communities in the 21st century. Red Sea Press. p. 226. ISBN 1-56902-073-6.
3. J. D. Fage, Roland Anthony Oliver, The Cambridge history of Africa, Volume 8, (Cambridge University Press: 1985), p.478.
4. The Encyclopedia Americana: complete in thirty volumes. Skin to Sumac, Volume 25, (Grolier: 1995), p.214.
5. Metz, Helen C. (ed.) (1992), "Coup d'Etat", Somalia: A Country Study, Washington, D.C.: Library of CongressCS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link).
6. Peter John de la Fosse Wiles, The New Communist Third World: an essay in political economy, (Taylor & Francis: 1982), p.279.
7. Supreme Revolutionary Council
8. Daily report: People's Republic of China, Issues 53-61, (National Technical Information Service: 1986)
9. Benjamin Frankel, The Cold War, 1945-1991: Leaders and other important figures in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China, and the Third World, (Gale Research: 1992), p.306.
10. Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, (Greenwood Press: 2001), p.73
11. https://www.ifes.org/sites/default/files/con00170.pdf
12. Abdi Sheik-Abdi (March 1981). "Ideology and Leadership in Somalia". Journal of Modern African Studies. 19 (1): 167–68.

References

• The Europa World Year Book 1970