Personal life: its inaccurate not factual just hearsay .← Previous revisionRevision as of 02:41, 14 October 2026 Line 78: Line 78: ==Death== ==Death== Egal died on 3 May 2002, in [[Pretoria]], [[South Africa]], while undergoing surgery at a military hospital. His body was returned to Somaliland for a [[state funeral]], whereafter his three sons laid him to rest next to his father, in accordance with his last wishes. Around 4,000 mourners reportedly attended his burial in [[Berbera]], and the parliament declared seven days of mourning. [[Dahir Rayale Kahin]] was sworn in the next day as the new president.{{Cite news |date=2002-05-06 |title=Somaliland leader buried |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1970340.stm |access-date=2025-12-27 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Egal died on 3 May 2002, in [[Pretoria]], [[South Africa]], while undergoing surgery at a military hospital. His body was returned to Somaliland for a [[state funeral]], whereafter his three sons laid him to rest next to his father, in accordance with his last wishes. Around 4,000 mourners reportedly attended his burial in [[Berbera]], and the parliament declared seven days of mourning. [[Dahir Rayale Kahin]] was sworn in the next day as the new president.{{Cite news |date=2002-05-06 |title=Somaliland leader buried |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1970340.stm |access-date=2025-12-27 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} == Personal life == During his term as [[President of Somaliland]], Egal was accused of alcoholism by some of his critics. In 1995, Egal himself confessed that although it had been a long time since he drank whiskey, he still periodically drank wine.{{Cite news|title=Tribale vernietigingsdrang slaat ook toe in Somaliland|url=https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/1995/06/16/tribale-vernietigingsdrang-slaat-ook-toe-in-somaliland-7271168-a864557|work=NRC|date=1995-06-16|access-date=2026-01-31|language=nl-NL|first=Koert|last=Lindijer}} A 1968 memo from [[United States Under Secretary of State|U.S. Under Secretary of State]] [[Nicholas Katzenbach]] to President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] mentions that Egal was a heavy drinker despite being Muslim.{{Cite web|title=Historical Documents - Office of the Historian|url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v24/d346|website=history.state.gov|access-date=2026-01-31}} The US Consul in Hargeisa, Gordon Beyer, similarly mentioned routinely drinking with Egal at Hargeisa Bar Club, a venue Egal especially enjoyed.{{Cite book|title=Interview with Ambassador Gordon R. Beyer|last=Torbert|first=Horace G.|publisher=The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project|year=1989|pages=16|url=https://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Oakley,%20Robert%20B.toc.pdf}} Egal was close friends with Hollywood star [[William Holden]]. At the time of the assassination of Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, Egal was partying and gambling with Holden in Las Vegas. The [[Somali Ambassador to United States|Somali Embassy]] struggled to contact him following the news of the assassination and eventually, sought the help of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] to locate him.{{Cite web|title=The slow agony of a regime and the 1969 military takeover in Somalia.|url=https://www.hiiraan.com/op4/2018/Oct/160724/the_slow_agony_of_a_regime_and_the_1969_military_takeover_in_somalia.aspx|website=Hiiraan Online|access-date=2026-01-31|language=en}} During his premiership Egal used public revenue to build his private villa, Villa Baidoa, on the road to [[Afgooye]]. This was a break from the conduct of his predecessors such as [[Aden Adde]] who only used private funds to build the presidential retreat at Afgooye.{{Cite journal |last=Samatar |first=Abdi I. |title=International Crisis Group Report on Somaliland: An Alternative Somali Response |url=https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=bildhaan |journal=Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies |volume=5 |pages=113}} ==References== ==References==