Sixty-Six Years On, the Promise of Somali Independence Remains Unfulfilled.

A Night of Hope. Aweys Addow, who was 19 years old when the flag was hoisted, was present to witness the event at Ficho Goberno, the former site of Mogadishu’s mayoral residence. At 12:00 hours (midnight) on 1 July 1960, Addow was among hundreds of jubilant Somalis who came out to celebrate the birth of the new nation, believing, with the rest of his generation, that Somalia had finally entered a new era based on unity, freedom and national pride. A unified, ethnically homogeneous Somalia…