The south and east of the present Somali Republic had been a former Italian colony. The defeat of the so-called ‘Axis powers’: Germany, Italy and Japan in the Second World War, (1939 -45) after which when Italy lost her former colonies in Africa was the aftermath of the Somali independence. Britain occupied the former Italian Somaliland (Somalia in Italian language). It was administered by a British Military Administration (BMA) for ten years, 1941 -1950. Except the French Somali Coast (Djibouti), all Somali territories including Somaliland, Haud “the Ogaden”, the ex-Italian Somaliland and the Northern Frontier District (NFD), present northeast Kenya fell under British rule during the above ten-year period.
In the mid-1940s, the Peace Council (Foreign Ministers of the Victor Powers: Britain, France, Russia and the United States of America), had to decide the future of the former Italian colonies in Africa: Eritrea, Libya and ex-Italian Somaliland. Britain proposed that all those Somali territories then under her rule be reunited under a United Nations Trusteeship to be administered by Britain. The proposal was rejected by the other members, especially Russia and the United States. There was a second chance when members of the Peace Council consulted the peoples of the territories concerned to ascertain their wishes. Again, the British proposal was rejected, ironically, this time by not other than the Somali Youth League, the pro-independence party in the Ex-Italian Somaliland.
The matter was then referred to the United Nations General Assembly, which in December 1949 decided to place the Ex-Italian Somaliland under United Nations Trusteeship for ten years to be administered by Italy towards independence.
By 1956 the country attained its basic institutions of governance, a parliament and government. Its full independence was also scheduled to become effective on July 1, 1960.
Union of North and South as one country SOMALIA
During 16 – 22 April 1960 Somali politicians of Somaliland and Somalia met in Mogadishu and agreed to reunite the two parts of the country. The reunion was proclaimed and realised on July 1, 1960, simultaneous with the independence date of the south, the ex-Italian Somaliland (Somalia).
Yes, it was the right decision to merge north and south to become a bigger country. However, the reunion process should have been implemented step by step and not in haste as it were. Because there was a great deal of legal, administrative, finance, taxation, etc., differences, as well as differences in the then two foreign official languages, English and Italian.
The best thing to do should have been that after achieving the political reunion with one parliament and integrated national defence, internal and foreign policies, all those other issues should have been addressed one at a time, even if it would take a number of years to accomplish them.
The hasty reunion was strongly demanded by the people of the north who forced their inexperienced politicians to make every compromise, in order to achieve the reunion. But they did not; however, seem to understand the price that their hasty decision would cost them. And later, when the bitter lessons of that hasty decision was felt, they would neither be patient nor tolerant and to accept the consequences of their hasty demands. The first price that the people of the north had to pay was that the seat of government became far removed (from Hargeisa to Mogadishu) to where people had to travel to a long distance, with a bigger cost and sometimes with a great deal of time loses.
The shortcomings were the legacies of the hasty implementation of the reunion as stated above.
Best system of governance for Somalia
As of now, the best system of governance will be a decentralised unitary structures as strongly advocated by Mr. Abdirazak Hagi Hussein, who was the best former Prime Minister (1964 – 67) during the civilian rule era. Many people now support a system of federalism, me too at one time. But a decentralized unitary system equally provides everything that federalism is being opted for. And furthermore, federalism is more susceptible to foreign influence, which only a unitary system can fend off.