Last updated 20/06/24: Online ordering is currently unavailable due to technical issues. We apologise for any delays responding to customers while we resolve this. For further updates please visit our website: https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/technical-incident
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2016
Postwar politics in British-occupied Somalia is usually reduced to the activities of the Somali Youth League, the foremost anticolonial nationalist movement. However, by 1947, smaller associations, pejoratively nicknamed the pro-Italia, came together in an effort to return Somalia to Italy under international mandate. Drawing upon new archival sources, the article argues that this movement did not stem from arguments supporting colonial rule, but rather from objections to the nationalist agenda and military occupation. Closer attention to these voices sheds light on the deeper meanings of political alignment during the change of regime and enhances our understanding of political developments in postwar Somalia.
In drafting this piece, I received much useful input and helpful advice. In particular, I am grateful to John Aerni-Flessner, David Anderson, Davide Chinigò, Charlotte Hastings, Sabine Höhn, Enrico Mastropaolo, Maria Christina Marchi, Jose-Maria Muñoz, Shishusri Phadran, Gajendra Singh, and Christine Whyte. I would also like to thank the anonymous JAH reviewers and editors for providing critical feedback on earlier versions of this article. Part of this research was supported by the Bayreuth Academy for Advanced African Studies and financed by the BMBF. Author's email: annalisa.a.urbano@gmail.com
With the term Somalia, this article refers to the former Italian colony Somalia Italiana and, by 1950, to the region under trust administration. With the term Somaliland, it indicates the former protectorate of British Somaliland and the de facto Republic of Somaliland. As the period under examination precedes the creation of the official script of the Somali language – completed in 1972 – names of Somalis are reported as found in the sources. Names of places and localities are written according to the Somali spelling, with the exception of Mogadishu. Names of interviewees are reported according to their choices.
2 On the international debate on former Italian colonies, see Novati, G. P. Calchi, ‘La sistemazione delle colonie italiane dell'Africa orientale e i condizionamenti della guerra fredda’, in Del Boca, A. (ed.), Le guerre coloniali del fascismo (Bari, 1991), 519–50Google Scholar; Kelly, S., Cold War in the Desert: Britain, the United States and the Italian Colonies, 1945–52 (London, 2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Rossi, G., L'Africa italiana verso l'indipendenza (1941–1949) (Milano, 1980)Google Scholar.
3 On these clashes, see Novati, G. P. Calchi, ‘Gli incidenti di Mogadiscio del gennaio 1948: rapporti italo-inglesi e nazionalismo somalo’, Africa (Rome), 3–4 (1980), 327–55Google Scholar; and Varsori, A., Il diverso declino di due potenze coloniali: gli eventi di Mogadiscio del gennaio 1948 e i rapporti anglo-italiani (Roma, 1981)Google Scholar.
4 The project of Greater Somalia called for the unification of Somali-inhabited regions in the Horn of Africa: Somalia Italiana, British Somaliland, Côte Française des Somalis, the Ogaden, the Haud and Reserved Areas, and Kenya's Northern Frontier District. See Touval, S., Somali Nationalism: International Politics and the Drive for Unity in the Horn of Africa (Cambridge, MA, 1963), 61–100 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
5 These were: the Abgal Youth Association, the Bimal Union, the HDM, the Hidaiet al Islam Shidle and Mobilen, the PBU, the Somalia Progressive Committee, and the Union of Africans in Somalia.
6 The National Archives, Kew, Richmond (TNA) Foreign Office (FO) 1015/28, C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM., ‘Tenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 23 Jan. 1948.
7 Barre, M. S., My Country and My People: The Collected Speeches; 1971–1972 (Mogadishu, 1982)Google Scholar.
8 Castagno, A., ‘Somali republic’, in Coleman, J. S. and Rosberg, C. G. (eds.), Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa (Berkeley, 1964), 512–58Google Scholar; Lewis, I. M., ‘Modern political movements in Somaliland, I’, Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute, 28:3 (1958), 244–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Touval, Somali, 61–84.
9 Zolberg, A. R., Creating Political Order: The Party-States of West Africa (Chicago, 1966), 9 Google Scholar.
10 See, for example, Laitin, D. D. and Samatar, S. S., Somalia: Nation in Search of a State (Boulder, CO, 1987)Google Scholar.
11 Touval, Somali, 85.
12 Castagno, ‘Somali’, 523–4.
13 Ahmed, A. J. (ed.), The Invention of Somalia (Lawrenceville, NJ, 1995)Google Scholar. For a historiographical review of Somali Studies, see Hoehne, M. V. and Luling, V., ‘Introduction: Lewis and the remaining challenges in Somali Studies’, in Hoehne, M. V. and Luling, V. (eds.), Milk and Peace, Drought and War: Somali Culture, Society and Politics: Essays in Honour of I. M. Lewis (London, 2010), 1–15 Google Scholar; and Kapteijns, L., ‘The disintegration of Somalia: a historiographical essay’, Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, 1 (2001), 11–52 Google Scholar.
14 Barnes, C., ‘The Somali Youth League, Ethiopian Somalis and the Greater Somalia idea, circa 1946–48’, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 1:2 (2007), 277–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Aidid, S., ‘Haweenku wa garab (women are a force): women and the Somali nationalist movement, 1943–1960’, Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, 10 (2011), 103–24Google Scholar. See also Kapteijns, L., ‘Discourse on moral womanhood in Somali popular songs, 1960–1990’, The Journal of African History, 50 (2009), 101–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
15 On Italy's late colonial rule, see Morone, A. M., L'ultima colonia: come l'Italia è tornata in Africa 1950–1960 (Bari, 2011)Google Scholar; and Tripodi, P., The Colonial Legacy in Somalia: Rome and Mogadishu: from Colonial Administration to Operation Restore Hope (New York, 1999)Google Scholar. On new interpretation of existing scholarship, see Issa-Salwe, M., The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy (London, 1996)Google Scholar.
16 Cooper, F., ‘Conflict and connection: rethinking colonial African history’, The American Historical Review, 99:5 (1994), 15–19 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
17 On the limited archival sources, see Barnes, ‘The Somali’, 288, fn. 64; Cassanelli, L., ‘The partition of knowledge in Somali Studies: reflections on Somalia's fragmented intellectual heritage’, Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, 9 (2011), 5–7 Google Scholar; and Hess, R. L., Italian Colonialism in Somalia (Chicago & London, 1966), 214–15Google Scholar.
18 Dower, K. C. Gandar, The First to Be Freed: The Record of British Military Administration in Eritrea and Somalia, 1941–1943 (London, 1944)Google Scholar.
19 For different critiques of Lewis's scholarship, see Hoehne and Luling, ‘Introduction’.
20 Lewis, I. M., A Modern History of the Somali: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa (4th edn, Oxford, 2002), 120 Google Scholar.
21 Controversially, Lewis adopted a similar perspective to discuss British rule in the neighbouring Protectorate of Somaliland. See Geshekter, C., ‘Interview with Professor Ioan Lewis at his home in London’, Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, 1 (2001), 58–9Google Scholar.
22 Mukhtar, M. H., ‘The emergence and role of political parties in the inter-river regions of Somalia from 1947 to 1960’, Ufahamu, 17:2 (1989), 78 Google Scholar.
23 Prunier, G., ‘Benign neglect versus La Grande Somalia: the colonial legacy and the post-colonial Somali state’, in Hoehne, and Luling, (eds.), Milk, 44–5Google Scholar.
24 Del Boca, A., Gli Italiani in Africa orientale: nostalgia delle colonie (Bari, 1992), 201–305 Google Scholar. For a comparison with Eritrea, see Negash, T., ‘Italy and its relations with Eritrean political parties, 1948–1950’, Africa (Rome), 59:3/4 (2004), 417–52Google Scholar.
25 The HDM fared particularly well in the 1956 national election. For details, see Natali, G., Le prime elezioni politiche in Somalia: 1956 (Mogadishu, 1957)Google Scholar.
26 Gramsci, A., Quaderni del carcere, Volume 1: Quaderni 1(XVI)–5(IX) (Turin, 1975), 311–12, 443, and 476Google Scholar. See also, Femia, J., ‘Hegemony and consciousness in the thought of Antonio Gramsci’, Political Studies, 23:1 (1975), 32 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Comaroff, J. and Comaroff, J., Of Revelation and Revolution, Volume 1: Christianity, Colonialism and Consciousness in South Africa (Chicago, 1991), 21–31 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Engels, D. and Marks, S. (eds.), Contesting Colonial Hegemony: State and Society in Africa and India (London, 1994), 1–53 Google Scholar; Feierman, S., Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania (Madison Wisconsin, 1990), 17–22, 31–4Google Scholar.
27 Glassman, J., Feasts and Riots: Revelry, Rebellion and Popular Consciousness on the Swahili Coast, 1856–1888 (Portsmouth, NH, 1995), 12–20 Google Scholar.
28 Quoted in Touval, Somali, 79–80.
29 Drysdale, J., The Somali Dispute (London, 1964), ch. 6, 63–76Google Scholar.
30 Barnes, ‘The Somali’, 279.
31 TNA FO 371/53526, F. R. W. Jameson, ‘Administration of a Greater Somalia’, Nairobi, 3 May 1946, ref. no. EAC/1996/1996/265/CA.
32 Drysdale, The Somali, 68.
33 TNA FO 1015/27, D. H. Wickham, ‘Disorder in Mogadishu on 20 Aug. 1946’, Mogadishu, 23 Aug. 1946, ref. no. 3456/23.
34 TNA FO 371/63220, H. Q. BMA, ‘Advisory councils’, Mogadishu, 17 Dec. 1946, ref. no. 3468/59; TNA FO 1015/90, D. H. Wickham, ‘Annual report on the administration of Somalia – for the year ended 31 Dec. 1946’.
35 The nickname Jumiya was a reference to the religious settlements that had flourished in southern Somalia since the nineteenth century. Colucci, M., Principi di diritto consuetudinario della Somalia italiana meridionale (Florence, 1924), 82 Google Scholar.
36 On the issue of education, see Castagno, A. A., ‘Somali republic’, in Kitchen, H. (ed.), The Educated African (London, 1962), 87–107 Google Scholar.
37 On sociopolitical activities in postwar Mogadishu, see Kapteijns, L. and Boqor, M. M., ‘Memories of a Mogadishu childhood, 1940–1964: Maryan Muuse Boqor and the women who inspired her’, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 42:1 (2009), 110 Google Scholar.
38 The British announcement came as a surprise to Italian informers that asked Rome to confirm and clarify. Archivio Storico e Diplomatico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Rome (ASDMAE), Ministero dell'Africa Italiana (MAI) IV Fondo Santangelo (FS) 88, ‘Primo rapporto da Mogadiscio’, 10 Dec. 1946.
39 Venosa, J. L., Paths toward the Nation: Islam, Community, and Early Nationalist Mobilization in Eritrea, 1941–1961 (Athens, OH, 2014)Google Scholar; on Somalia, see Aidid, ‘Haweenku’; and Barnes ‘The Somali’.
40 Urbano, A., ‘Between occupation and liberation: Italian Somalia under British rule, 1941–1945’, in Jackson, A., Khan, Y., and Singh, G. (eds.), An Imperial World at War: Aspects of the British Empire's War Experience, 1939–1945 (Abingdon & New York, forthcoming 2017), 30–6Google Scholar.
41 Dower, The First.
42 I draw upon Terje Østebø’s discussion of the construction of a dualist image of Islam in Ethiopia: Østebø, T., ‘Islam and state relations in Ethiopia: from containment to the production of a “governmental Islam”’, The Journal of American Academy of Religion, 81:4 (2013), 1029–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
43 TNA Colonial Office (CO) 537/3641, ‘Memorandum on native clubs in Somalia’, n. d.
44 TNA FO 1015/51, R. W. Mason to E. Bevin, Asmara, 26 June 1948, ref. no. 1(S/PA/36/7).
45 TNA CO 537/3641, ‘A note on native societies in the Somalilands’, 27 June 1947.
46 Ibid ; ASDMAE MAI IV FS 87, L. Bruno-Santangelo, ‘Relazione sulla situazione generale della Somalia Italiana all'ottobre 1946’, Rome, 20 Nov. 1946.
47 TNA FO 1015/51, H. Q. East Africa Command, ‘Monthly intelligence review, no. 3’, Apr. 1947.
48 Barnes, ‘The Somali’.
49 TNA CO 537/3641, ‘Memorandum on native clubs in Somalia’, n. d.
50 TNA CO 537/3641, ‘A note on native societies in the Somalilands’, 27 June 1947. On the link between the SYL, the police and the BMA, see Castagno, ‘Somali’, 522. On southern communities’ limited representation in the police force, see Cassanelli, L. V., ‘Somali land resource issues in historical perspective’, in Clarke, W. and Herbst, J. (eds.), Learning from Somalia: The Lessons of Armed Humanitarian Intervention (Boulder, CO, 1997), 70 Google Scholar.
51 TNA CO 537/3641, E. C. S. Reid to E. D. J. Scott-Fox, London, 3 Mar. 1947, ref. no. CA2a/DM/480.
52 TNA FO 1015/90, D. H. Wickham, ‘Annual report on the administration of Somalia – for the year ended 31 Dec. 1946’.
53 TNA FO 1015/29, Four Power Commission of Investigation for the Former Italian Colonies, ‘Volume II. Report on Somalia’, 1948, 10–12 and 112–22.
54 Touval, Somali, 77–83. On the early years of the SYL, see also Samatar, A. I. and Samatar, A. I., ‘Somalis as Africa's first democrats: Premier Abdirazak H. Hussein and President Aden A. Osman’, Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, 2 (2002), 15–16 Google Scholar.
55 ASDMAE MAI IV FS 87, L. Bruno-Santangelo, ‘Relazione sulla situazione generale della Somalia Italiana all'ottobre 1946’, Rome, 20 Nov. 1946.
56 TNA CO 537/364, ‘Memorandum on native clubs in Somalia’, n. d.; TNA War Office (WO) 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somalia political intelligence report, no. 3’, Mogadishu, 31 July 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/66.
57 TNA CO 537/3641, ‘A note of native societies in the Somalilands’, 27 June 1947.
58 TNA CO 537/3641, E. C. S. Reid to E. D. J. Scott-Fox, London, 3 Mar. 1947, ref. no. CA2a/DM/480.
59 TNA CO 537/3641, ‘Memorandum on native clubs in Somalia’, n. d.
60 TNA CO 537/3641, ‘A note of native societies in the Somalilands’, 27 June 1947.
61 See the SYL statements before the UN Commission: TNA FO 1015/28, ‘CFM/D/L/47/I.C.COM Second hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 20 Jan. 1948. See also the party's statute: TNA CO 537/3641, ‘The General Commission of the Somali Youth League’, n. d. A copy of the statute is discussed in: Abuhakema, G. and Carmichael, T., ‘The Somali Youth League constitution: a handwritten Arabic copy (c. 1947?) from the Ethiopian Security Forces Archives in Harär’, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 4:3 (2010), 450–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
62 TNA FO 1015/51, H. Q. East Africa Command, ‘Monthly intelligence review, no. 16’, May/June 1948; ASDMAE, Amministrazione Fiduciaria Italiana della Somalia (AFIS) 19/11, R. Manzini to Ministero degli Affari Esteri (MAE), Mogadishu, 6 Oct. 1948.
63 TNA WO 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somali political intelligence report, no. 3’, Mogadishu, 31 July 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/66.
64 At least two Somalis were killed by the police. ASDMAE MAI IV FS 87, L. Bruno-Santangelo, ‘Relazione sulla situazione generale della Somalia Italiana all'ottobre 1946’, Rome, 20 Nov. 1946.
65 TNA FO 1015/27, D. H. Wickham, ‘Disorder in Mogadishu on 20 Aug 1946’, Mogadishu, 23 Aug. 1946, ref. no. 3456/23.
66 Archivio Storico del Comune di Casale Monferrato, Casale Monferrato (ASCCM), Fondo Brusasca (FB) 71, MAI, ‘Relazione sull'attività svolta dal ministero dell'Africa italiana fino al 15 ottobre 1948’.
67 TNA FO 1015/27, M. E. Thorne, ‘Report on intensive Italian propaganda within Somalia’, Mogadishu, 6 Jan. 1948.
68 TNA FO 1015/29, Four Power Commission of Investigation for the Former Italian Colonies, ‘Volume II. Report on Somalia’, 1948, 19. In the 1950s, these were the provinces of Alto Giuba, Banaadir, Basso Giuba, Uebi Scebeli. See Figure 1.
69 Morone, A. M., ‘Brusasca l'africano’, in Mantovani, L. (ed.), Giuseppe Brusasca e gli inizi della repubblica: atti del convegno di studi 27 Maggio 2006 (Chivasso, 2009), 42 Google Scholar; Morone, L'ultima, 22.
70 TNA FO 1015/31, E. Olivieri, ‘Liquidazione competenze ex ascari, loro spettanti alla data di occupazione della Somalia Italiana’, Mogadishu, 9 Feb. 1947.
71 On the Italian government's attempts to reach out to former soldiers: Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome (ACS) Ministero dell'Africa Italiana (MAI) 2025, G. Brusasca, ‘Messaggio alle popolazioni della Libia, dell'Eritrea e della Somalia’, Rome, 28 June 1947. Yet, the Associazione Militari ex-Combattenti della Somalia did not join the Conferenza per la Somalia: TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM Fifth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 20 Jan. 1948.
72 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘CFM/D/L/47/I.C.COM. Eleventh hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 23 Jan. 1948.
73 ASCCM FB 33, G. Bernardelli to MAI, Rome, 24 Feb. 1948.
74 See Dower, The First.
75 ASDMAE MAI IV FS 88, L. Bruno Santangelo, ‘Per la Somalia’, n. d.
76 See, for instance, the discussions that followed the publication of a ‘letter to the editor’ signed by an Italian journalist in The Times in December 1946 and published in Affrica: Rivista Mensile di Interessi Coloniali 1947 (II:1).
77 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Fifteenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 24 Jan. 1948.
78 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Sixteenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 4 Feb. 1948.
79 Del Boca, A., Gli italiani in Africa orientale: la conquista dell'impero (Bari, 1979), 508–9Google Scholar.
80 Interview with A. M. (pseudonym at interviewee's request), Rome, 15 Mar. 2008. ASDMAE Somalia 89.9, Scarpa, Baydhabo, 17 Oct. 1922, no. 694. See also, Graziani, R., Il fronte sud (Milano, 1938), 48–50 Google Scholar.
81 Del Boca, La conquista, 508–9.
82 TNA WO 230/7, D. G. Daniels, ‘Ugas Olol Dinle’, Mogadishu, 18 Sept. 1942, ref. no. 1706/5.
83 TNA FO 1015/51, H. Q. East Africa Command, ‘Monthly intelligence review, no. 17’, July 1947.
84 ASDMAE AFIS 19/11, MAE to Mogadishu, 11 Sept. 1948.
85 Other former colonial servants involved in these activities were Baschieri, Biase and Occhipinti. TNA FO 1015/27, M. E. Thorne, ‘Report on intensive Italian propaganda within Somalia’, Mogadishu, 6 Jan. 1948; ASCCM FB 33, R. Manzini, ‘Funzionari italiani in Somalia’, Mogadishu, 30 July 1948, no. 1030; ASDMAE AFIS 19/11, MAE to Mogadishu, 11 Sept. 1948.
86 ACS MAI 2025, ‘L'Italia in Africa in un'intervista di De Gasperi’, Il Popolo: Giornale del Mattino (Firenze), 9 Apr. 1947; ACS MAI 2025, G. Brusasca, ‘Messaggio alle popolazioni della Libia, dell'Eritrea e della Somalia’, Rome, 28 June 1947.
87 TNA FO 1015/27, Inspector Daud Mohamed ‘Statement’, Mogadishu, 23 Dec. 1947; ASCCM FB 33, R. Manzini, ‘Radiotrasmissioni per la Somalia’, Mogadishu, 30 July 1948, no. 1031.
88 ASDMAE AFIS 19/11, MAE to Mogadishu, 11 Sept. 1948.
89 TNA FO 1015/51, H. Q. East Africa Command, ‘Monthly intelligence review, no. 3’, Apr. 1947.
90 ASDMAE MAI IV FS 87, L. Bruno-Santangelo, ‘Relazione sulla situazione generale della Somalia Italiana all'ottobre 1946’, Rome, 20 Nov. 1946; TNA FO 1015/27, V. Calzia, Letter to Islao Mahadalle Mohamed, Mogadishu, 26 Dec. 1947; TNA FO 1015/28, ‘CFM/D/L/47/I.C.COM. Sixteenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 4 Feb. 1948.
91 TNA WO 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somalia political intelligence report, no. 3’, Mogadishu, 31 July 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/66. See also, ASCCM FB 20, G. Brusasca, ‘Messaggio alla popolazioni somale’, n. d.; TNA FO 1015/27, G. Brusasca, ‘Messaggio ai somali dal governo italiano’, Appendix F.
92 TNA WO 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somalia political intelligence report, no. 3’, Mogadishu, 31 July 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/66; ASCCM FB 33, R. Manzini, ‘Radiotrasmissioni per la Somalia’, Mogadishu, 30 July 1948, no. 1031.
93 TNA WO 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somalia political intelligence report, no. 3’, Mogadishu, 31 July 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/66.
94 Ibid .
95 ASDMAE AFIS 19/11, R. Manzini to MAE, Mogadishu, 6 Oct. 1948.
96 TNA FO 1015/51, H. Q. East Africa Command, ‘Monthly intelligence review, no. 3’, Apr. 1947.
97 TNA WO 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somalia political intelligent report, no. 4’, Mogadishu, 14 Oct. 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/74; Interview with M. A.
98 TNA FO 1015/140, F. W. Goodbody, ‘Somalia political intelligence report’, 10 Apr. 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/52.
99 TNA WO 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somalia political intelligent report, no. 4’, Mogadishu, 14 Oct. 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/74.
100 TNA WO 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somalia political intelligence report, no. 3’, Mogadishu, 31 July 1947, ref. no. 046/II/66.
101 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Second hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 20 Jan. 1948.
102 TNA WO 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somalia political intelligence report, no. 5’, Mogadishu, 14 Nov. 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/80; TNA WO 230/207, W. M. Donaldson, ‘Somalia political intelligence report, no. 6’, Mogadishu, 19 Nov. 1947, ref. no. 3046/II/81; TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Eleventh hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 23 Jan. 1948.
103 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C. F, M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Eleventh hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 23 Jan. 1948.
104 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Tenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 23 Jan. 1948; TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Sixteenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 4 Feb. 1948.
105 TNA CO 537/3641, ‘A note of native societies in the Somalilands’, 27 June 1947.
106 TNA WO 230/7, Kenya Information Office, ‘The Somalis’, 10 Jan. 1942.
107 See the article published by the British representative to the UN Commission: Stafford, F. E., ‘The ex-Italian colonies’, International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs), 25:1 (1949), 50–1Google Scholar.
108 During 16 hearings, the Four Powers Commission met with representatives of 9 Somali associations, of Arab and Italian associations, and with the British chief administrator. Overall, the Commission collected evidence from 86 spokespersons, half of whom were Somalis.
109 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Tenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 23 Jan. 1948.
110 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Fifteenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 24 Jan. 1948.
111 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Tenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 23 Jan. 1948; TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Fifteenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 24 Jan. 1948.
112 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Tenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 23 Jan. 1948.
113 TNA FO 1015/28, ‘C.F. M./D/L/47/I.C.COM. Sixteenth hearing in Italian Somaliland’, Mogadishu, 4 Feb. 1948.
114 Guadagni, M., Xeerka beeraha: diritto fondiario somalo: le terre agricole dal regime coloniale verso la riforma socialista (Milano, 1981), 220 Google Scholar.
115 Il Corriere della Somalia (Mogadishu), 26 May 1953.
116 Interview with Mohamed Aden Sheikh, Turin, 24 Apr. 2009.
117 V. L. Cassanelli, Hosts and Guests: A Historical Interpretation of Land Conflicts in Southern and Central Somalia, Rift Valley Institute Research Paper 2 (2015), 23.
118 Named after the Digil and Mirifle sub-clans, the HDM changed its name to Hizbia Dastur Mustakil Somali (Somali Constitutional Independent Party).
119 TNA FO 371/125678, British Consulate to FO, Mogadishu, 16 Jan. 1957, ref. no. JG/016/2.
120 Costanzo, G. A., Problemi costituzionali della Somalia nella preparazione all'indipendenza (Milano, 1962), 88 Google Scholar. See also Il Corriere della Somalia, 10 Dec. 1958.
121 ASDMAE AFIS 9/4, AFIS Cabinet, ‘Memorandum’, Mogadishu, 14 Mar. 1959.
122 ASDMAE AFIS 9/4, ‘Verbale della riunione no. 33 dell'Assemblea Legislativa’, Mogadishu, 3 Nov. 1958.
123 For further details, see A. Urbano, ‘Imagining the nation, crafting the state: the politics of nationalism and decolonization in Somalia (1940–60)’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012), ch. 5, 155–98.
124 See, for instance, Pankhurst, E. S., Ex-Italian Somaliland, etc. (London, 1951), 238–9Google Scholar.
125 Aidid, ‘Haweenku’; Barnes, ‘The Somali’. See also, Venosa, J., ‘“Serfs”, civics, and social action: Islamic identity and grassroots activism during Eritrean's Tigre emancipation movement 1941–1946’, Islamic Africa, 4:2 (2013), 165–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
126 Cassanelli, ‘Somali’; See the collection of essays in Besteman, C. and Cassanelli, L. V. (eds.), The Struggle for Land in Southern Somalia: The War Behind the War (Boulder, CO, 1996)Google Scholar.
