Different perspectives on Somalia. Part VIII.

Welcoming U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs!

Once we used to have diplomatic warriors….  This is Part VIII of the reflections of a former diplomat and a friend of mine who after many years decided to share with me some of the interesting experiences he encountered while working for the Somali Foreign Affairs Ministry (FAM) in the early 1980s and during his diplomatic career.

My Friend Hussein* told me the following… in his own words.

One day in early 1984, The then Chief of Protocol Ambassador Abdulhamid A.Yusuf  called me to his office and handed me a telex from our Embassy in Nairobi – advising the arrival of U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs on a Kenyan Airways flight that day, asking me to welcome on behalf of the Foreign Office. I asked if it will be wise for him or at the least the Deputy Chief of Protocol to welcome the U.S. official instead of just me being Protocol Officer and Head of Ceremonial Section. He shook his head, waved his hand, saying that I was perfectly equal in rank with that American Official. 

I met at the Airport the American Ambassador Mr. Robert Oakley with some of his diplomats and local staff, carrying a board with the name of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. When he arrived, I greeted him well, saying I am delighted to welcome him on behalf of the FAM and wished him a pleasant stay in Somalia. The reporter from Somali National News Agency (SONNA) namely Mr. Ali Kuus who was present at the airport prepared a news report. And next, I heard from the Radio Mogadishu news of the arrival of the American Official and mentioning my name and title welcoming on behalf of the FAM and the whole country. 

To make a long story short, that American official I welcomed was accorded a VIP treatment while in Mogadishu. First, he was received by senior officials of the FAM. Not only that, but he was then warmly received at the Presidential Palace, getting an audience with President Siad Barre, and then dined with the members of the political bureau of the central committee of the ruling Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party.  

After concluding his visit which I was sure he was so pleased with, he was seen off at Mogadishu Airport by the Chief of Protocol, Director of Europe and American Department, and me Hussein M. Mohamed, Protocol officer from the host country, as well as the American Ambassador. He was very conscious of me being perhaps the only one who welcomed him first, so he shook my hand very enthusiastically before boarding the plane.

This highlights that there was a functioning system with clear procedures and processes at the time. Hence my desire to share these reflections for current and future Somali public servants. Stay tuned for more soon.

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Hussein M Mohamed and I went to Casa Popolare Primary School, Hodan, Mogadishu in the 1970s. And later on, we were the first and second students who were admitted to the faculty of Journalism where he graduated and joined the Somali FAM. He continued to serve the country as a diplomat, but I left and continued my studies at Monash University in Australia and may rapidly add not on a Somali government scholarship! We are now working on a book about Somali Foreign Affairs, stay tuned.

Hussein M Mohamed can be contacted via hmm@somaliaaway.com