278. Memorandum From the Presidentʼs Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1 2
SUBJECT:
- Political Implication of Assassination of Somali President
We still lack detailed information on the murder of President Shermarke of Somali. But the intelligence yields the following points:
—Despite tribal resentment toward the governmentʼs detente with Ethiopia and the rancor of the losers over a bitterly contested parliamentary election in March, the assassin—a member of the Mobile Police Force—appears to have been acting on his own.
—An army (anti-detente) takeover in the near future is not likely. The possibility remains, however, that there will be some inter-tribal fighting if the assassin turns out to be from a major tribal group opposed to Shermarke on ethnic rather than political grounds.
—The National Assembly will elect a new President within 30 days. All leading candidates are pro-Western, and would probably continue Somaliaʼs ties with us as well as a conciliatory policy toward Ethiopia over the disputed border.
Prime Minister Egal, whom you saw last week, is now flying home from California. His return should have a general calming effect on the country.
- Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box TS 64, Memoranda to the President, October 1969. Top Secret; Sensitive. Sent for information.↩
- Kissinger informed the President that, according to intelligence, an army takeover in Somalia was not likely but there might be some tribal fighting. All leading candidates to succeed assassinated Somali President Shermarke were pro-Western.↩