British Military Administration in Somaliland
1941–1950
Flag of British Military Administration (Somaliland)
Flag
GovernmentMilitary administration
Chief Administrator 
• 1941–1943
William Scupham
• 1943–1948
Denis Wickham
• 1948
Eric de Candole
• 1948–1950
Geoffrey Gamble
History 
25 February 1941
1 April 1950
Currencypound
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Italian East Africa
Trust Territory of Somaliland

The British Military Administration of Somaliland was the control of the regions of British Somaliland and of the former Italian Somaliland by the British from 1941 until 1949. At the end of 1949, it became a United Nations trust territory which would last from 1950 until 1960 whilst under Italian administration.[1]

Overview

A voting registration card in Mogadishu during the British military administration (1949).

During the Second World War, Britain occupied Italian Somaliland and militarily administered the territory as well as British Somaliland. Faced with growing Italian political pressure inimical to continued British tenure and Somali aspirations for independence, the Somalis and the British came to see each other as allies. The first modern Somali political party, the Somali Youth Club (SYC), was subsequently established in Mogadishu in 1943; it was later renamed the Somali Youth League (SYL).[2] The SYL evolved into the dominant party, and had a moderate ideology. The league was also the organization primarily behind the Somali independence movement. The Hizbia Digil Mirifle Somali (HDMS) party served as the principal opposition to the right, although its platform was generally in agreement with that of the SYL.[3]

In 1945, the Potsdam conference was held, where it was decided not to return Italian Somaliland to Italy,[4] and that the territory would be under British Military Administration (BMA). As a result of this failure on the part of the Big Four powers to agree on what to do with Italy's former colonies, Somali nationalist rebellion against the Italian colonial administration culminated in a violent confrontation in 1948. 24 Somalis and 51 Italians died in the ensuing political riots in several coastal towns.[5]

The Royal Air Force was used for demonstration of force against unrest across the territory.[6]

Transfer to UN Trusteeship

In November 1949, the United Nations finally opted to grant Italy trusteeship of the former Italian Somaliland, but only under close supervision and on the condition — first proposed by the SYL and other nascent Somali political organizations, such as Hizbia Digil Mirifle Somali (later Hizbia Dastur Mustaqbal Somali, or HDMS) and the Somali National League (SNL), that were then agitating for independence — that Somalia achieves independence within ten years.[7][8] The Somali Youth League had proposed a UN Trusteeship to lead Somalia to independence, under the condition that it was not under Italian administration and that the Trusteeship managed all Somali territories. In a memo to the UN the SYL stated:

"We do not pretend we can stand on our own feet for the moment, but ask the United Nations Trusteeship council to decide questions relating to the formation, boundaries, and administration of a Somali Trust Territory known as Somalia, this territory to consist of all areas present predominantly populated by Somalis."[9]

The Somali Youth League fiercely opposed the transfer of Somalia back to Italian control and accused Britain of bartering with the country in order to appease Italy.[10][11] The League would campaign against the return of Italian rule with the slogan, "No matter what the color, a wolf is always a wolf."[11] The decision to put Somalia back under the control of its former colonial ruler was highly controversial as Somalis widely felt that the Trust Territory was being established for Italian interests.[10][12][13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Barker, A. J. (1971). Rape of Ethiopia, 1936. London: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-02462-6.
  2. ↑ I. M. Lewis, A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa, (LIT Verlag Münster: 1999), p.304.
  3. ↑ Samatar, Ahmed Ismail (1988). Socialist Somalia: Rhetoric and Reality. Institute for African Alternatives. p. 54. ISBN 9780862325886.
  4. ↑ Federal Research Division, Somalia: A Country Study, (Kessinger Publishing, LLC: 2004), p.38
  5. ↑ Melvin Eugene Page; Penny M. Sonnenburg (2003). "Colonialism: An International, Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia". p. 544. ISBN 9781576073353.
  6. ↑ Flintham, Vic (2008-10-15). High Stakes: Britain's Air Arms in Action 1945-1990. Pen and Sword. pp. 39–42. ISBN 978-1-84415-815-7.
  7. ↑ Zolberg, Aristide R., et al., Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World, (Oxford University Press: 1992), p.106
  8. ↑ Gates, Henry Louis, Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, (Oxford University Press: 1999), p.1749
  9. ↑ Drysdale 2000, p. 63-64.
  10. 1 2 Pankhurst 1951, p. 323.
  11. 1 2 Hussein 2017, p. 58.
  12. ↑ Ismail), Samatar, Abdi (Abdi (2002). Somalis as Africa's first democrats: Premier Abdirazak H. Hussein and President Aden A. Osman. p. 19. OCLC 773806045.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Ismail 2010, p. 45.

General references

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