In the aftermath, a rich oral tradition emerged among the Somali people—a culture of maanso (poetry) and hees (songs) that turned modern warfare into legend. One such fragment of street poetry allegedly contained the phrase "Dhibic roob ah oo ku dhacday madoobaan" – "a drop of rain that fell on a dark place."
At first glance, it appears to be nonsense. Dhibic Roob is Somali for "a drop of rain." Omar Sharif was an Egyptian-born, Oscar-nominated actor famous for Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago . Black Hawk Down refers to the 2001 Ridley Scott film about the 1993 U.S. military raid in Mogadishu. And Hit could mean a musical hit, a physical strike, or a targeted assassination. Dhibic Roob Omar Sharif Black Hawk Down Hit
(A drop of rain that fell, Omar Sharif was walking with it, The Black Hawk crashed inside it, The whole world wept.) In 2014, a Somali-Canadian DJ named Dhaga Bacay released a digital single titled "Black Hawk Down Hit (Dhibic Roob Remix)" featuring a vocal sample saying "Omar Sharif" over a trap beat. The song got 50,000 plays on YouTube before being taken down for copyright (it sampled the Black Hawk Down film score by Hans Zimmer). In the aftermath, a rich oral tradition emerged
One former militia member told journalist Mark Bowden (author of Black Hawk Down ): "We did not know who the white men were. But when the tall one with the moustache fell from the burning helicopter, I said to my brother: 'That is Omar Sharif, but he is hurt.'" The white man was actually CW3 Cliff Wolcott, pilot of Super 61. He died immediately. Somali is a language of metaphor. Dhibic means droplet; Roob means rain. Combined, Dhibic roob is a poetic way of saying "a small, singular event that precedes a flood." In the context of the Black Hawk shoot-down, that single RPG was the dhibic roob that changed U.S. foreign policy (leading to the withdrawal from Somalia in 1994). Black Hawk Down refers to the 2001 Ridley
Veterans of the battle, both American and Somali, later recalled that during the peak of the firefight, a brief, inexplicable rain shower occurred. According to Somali militiamen, this rain was an omen. Some called it "Dhibic Roob Omar" – "the rain of Omar." Here is where Omar Sharif enters the fray—by accident. There was no Egyptian actor in Mogadishu. However, there was a senior Somali technical advisor to the UNOSOM II forces named Omar. More critically, one of the Somali National Alliance's most effective field commanders during the battle was a man called "Omar" (full name Omar Hashi Aden, later a Somali defense minister).