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Abstract
From 1946 to 1948 the Somali Youth Club (SYC) grew from a small Mogadishu based urban self-help group into a burgeoning nationalist organisation calling for the unification of all the Somali-speaking lands into Greater Somalia, changing its name to the ‘Somali Youth League’ (SYL) in the process. The reason for this rapid expansion and radicalisation was a conjuncture of several factors, but it is most immediately attributable to the international deliberations over the future of the Italian East African Empire. In 1946 the international community began to address the future of the Italian Empire, and the British raised the possibility of creating a Greater Somalia administration (under British trusteeship) as a basis for future independence. The SYC, which had until then concentrated on a more limited and arguably more achievable political programme for the furtherance of Somali interests in ex-Italian Somalia, became mesmerised by the idea of Greater Somalia. Greater Somalia became a popular rallying call for the expanding nationalist project. However, as this article argues, although the Greater Somalia project galvanised the SYC into a mass nationalist organisation (the SYL), the expansion of its activities into the greater Somalia hinterland, such as the Ethiopian Ogaden region, brought different priorities and perspectives to project. The differing histories of clans and regions dissipated the cohesion, discipline and aims of the SYL at a crucial historical juncture. Ultimately the SYL was unable to create a Greater Somalia, nor prevent the repartition of the Somali-lands and the return of former colonial and imperial powers.
Acknowledgements
This work is based on research originally undertaken for my PhD dissertation ‘The Ethiopian State and its Somali Periphery’ (University of Cambridge, 2000). The original research benefited from grants from the AHRB, Trinity College Cambridge, and the Smuts, Prince Consort, Thirwall and Worts funds of Cambridge University. Further research has been undertaken as a British Academy Post Doctoral Fellow. Interviews in 1998 were conducted with the assistance of Bashiir Xaaji and Bashiir Abdullahi, and interviews in 2002 were conducted with the assistance of Abdikarim Mohamed.
Where possible for Somali words or names I have followed the Somali national orthography. However, I have not amended the orthography of personal names given to me, or when quoting sources. I have used Somali orthography when referring to the Ogaadeen clans, and English convention when referring to the Ogaden region of south-east Ethiopia.
Notes
1. The following abbreviations are used in the notes below: BMA – British Military Administration; BSP – British Somaliland Protectorate; FO – Foreign Office; PRO – Public Records Office; RA – Reserved Areas; (S)CAO – (Senior) Civil Affairs Officer; WO – War Office.
See CitationMarcus, ‘The Rodd Mission of 1897’.
2. For boundary issues between Ethiopia and British Somaliland see especially CitationSilberman, ‘Why the Haud was Ceded’ and generally CitationDrysdale, The Somali Dispute.
3. PRO FO 1015/132/30B, ‘Note by G. T. Fisher, Military Governor of British Somaliland on the North West Boundary of British Somaliland’, G. F. Seel to Coverly Price, Downing St, 5 October 1944.
4. For example PRO WO 230/5A, Military Governor BSP to Political Officer Ethiopia, Hargeisa BSP, 11 August 1941 and Military Governor BSP to Major General Sir Philip Mitchell, Hargeisa BSP, 9 September 1941.
5. For an overview see CitationMarcus, Ethiopia, Great Britain and the United States, 10–12 and for details see Lord CitationRennell of Rodd, British Military Administration, 88–92.
6. Rodd, British Military Administration, 74, 201; see also Drysdale, The Somali Dispute, 69. For the Greater Somalia arguments see files in PRO FO 1015/132. For an admirable summary on the complex diplomatic situation see CitationKelly, ‘Britain, the United States, and the End of the Italian Empire’.
7. PRO FO 1015/90/2A, ‘BMA – RA, Annual Report by the CAO for the year ended 31 December 1946’.
8. CitationLewis, Modern History of the Somali, 111–14.
9. PRO FO 1015/51/8B, ‘Memorandum on Native Clubs in Somalia’ [n.d. probably late 1946].
10. Oral informant, Sheikh Abdinassir, Jigjiga, 22/4/02; and see CitationLewis, Modern History of Somaliland, 113.
11. PRO FO 1015/51/8B, ‘Memorandum on Native Clubs in Somalia’ [n.d. probably late 1946].
12. Oral informant, Yassin Mussa Ahmed, Jigjiga, 28/6/98.
13. For evocative accounts of the makeshift and shoestring British military administration of the ex-Italian Somali land, Gerald CitationHanley's novel Citation A Consul at Sunset, and his Warriors – the reprint of the half of his book Citation Warriors and Strangers which dealt with Somali-lands – are particularly good reading.
14. PRO FO 1015/51, ‘Extract from Brigadier Stafford's Fortnightly Report No. 2’, 26 November 1946.
15. Kelly, ‘Britain, the United States, and the end of the Italian Empire’, 55.
16. PRO FO 1015/132/11A, ‘Frontier Rectification in Northeast Africa’, Colonel F. R. W. Jameson, SCAO, Hargeisa BSP, 6 August 1943.
17. Oral informant, Yusuf Olat, Dire Dawa, 26/4/02.
18. Kelly, ‘Britain, the United States, and the end of the Italian Empire’, 55–59.
19. Lewis, Modern History of Somaliland, 124–5, and Drysdale, The Somali Dispute, 63–69.
20. Oral informants: Siyad Xajji, Jigjiga, 20/4/02; Yusuf Olat, Dire Dawa, 26/4/02.
21. PRO FO 1015/51/2A, [?] Nairobi, 7 March 1947, and PRO FO 1015/51, H.Q. East African Command, Monthly Intelligence Review, April 1947.
22. Oral informants: Siyad Xajji, Jigjiga, 20/4/02; Abdullahi Ali Baroud, Jigjiga, 21/4/02.
23. PRO FO 1015/140, Somalia Political Intelligence Report No. 2, Major Goodbody for Chief Administrator, BMA Somalia, 24 May 1947.
24. PRO FO 1015/51/8B, ‘Memorandum on Native Clubs in Somalia’ [n.d. probably late 1946].
25. PRO: FO 1015/51/2A, ‘Periodical Intelligence Report No. 1’, HQ East Africa Command, 1 January 1947; Oral informant, Siyad Xajji, Jigjiga, 20/4/02.
26. Oral informant, Dool Ableele, Interview 5, Jigjiga, 19/6/98.
27. PRO FO 1015/51, Smith to CAO Middle East Land Forces, Jigjiga, 17 May 1947.
28. PRO: FO 1015/41, ‘BMA: RA, Monthly Notes for June 1947’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 6 July 1947; PRO FO 1015/49, ‘BMA– Annual Report by the CAO on the Administration for the year ended 31 December 1947’.
29. PRO FO 1015/41, Smith SCAO, BMA, RA, Ethiopia, 6 August 1947; and PRO: FO 1015/51, Smith SCAO, to HQ, Middle East Land Forces, RA, Ethiopia, 19 June 1947.
30. For this context see PRO WO 230/96, ‘British Somaliland and the Reserved Area’, Major Flowers to CAO Dire Dawa, Jigjiga RA, 30 September 1945. Also Oral informant Sheikh Abdinassir, Jigjiga, 22/4/02.
31. See PRO FO 1015/51, ‘SYL Petition to the Big Four Foreign Ministers and Secretary General of the UN Organisation’, Mogadishu, 18 July 1947; CitationSamatar and Samatar, ‘Somalis and Africa's First Democrats’, 17.
32. PRO WO 230/60, [?] BMA Somalia to Chief Political Officer East Africa Command Nairobi, Mogadishu, 20 January 1942.
33. Rhodes House Library, Oxford, Mss Afr.s.1715, ‘History of Major Keal MBE Service in Somalia Gendarmerie, 1941–48’.
34. Oral informants, Sheikh Abdinassir, Jigjiga, 22/4/02; Abdullahi Ali Baroud, Jigjiga, 21/4/02.
35. This is suggested by Samatar and Samatar, ‘Somalis and Africa's First Democrats’, 11–12.
36. PRO FO 371/19156/J7003, [Somaliland] Fortnightly Intelligence Report, Lt. Col. Bennet, Burao [BSP], 30 September 1935.
37. Oral informants Cali Adan Maxamad, Interview 15, Jigjiga, 6/7/98; Farah Dhamel Daahir Husen, Interview No. 16, Jigjiga, 4/7/98; and Makhtal Daahir, Interview 14, Addis Ababa, 13/7/98.
38. Oral informant, Farah Dhamel Husen, Interview 16, Jigjiga, 4/7/98.
39. PRO FO 1015/51, British Legation to Foreign Office, Addis Ababa, 27 September 1947.
40. For the SYC/L in Harar see CitationCarmichael, ‘Political Culture in Ethiopia's Provincial Administration’, 195–212.
41. PRO FO 1015/51, British Legation to Foreign Office, Addis Ababa, 27 September 1947; Telegram – British Legation to Foreign Office, Addis Ababa, 25 October 1947.
42. PRO FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA, Monthly Notes for August, 1947’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 4 September 1947.
43. PRO: FO 1015/51, HM Consul to HM Minister, Addis Ababa, 27 August 1947, and see Carmichael, ‘Political Culture in Ethiopia's Provincial Administration’.
44. PRO: FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA, Monthly Notes for June 1947’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 6 July 1947.
45. PRO: FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA Monthly Notes for September, 1947’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 7 October 1947.
46. PRO: FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA, Monthly Notes for August 1947 SCAO, Jigjiga, 4 September 1947, and see PRO FO 1015/49, ‘BMA – RA, Annual Report by the CAO for the year ended 31 December 1947’.
47. PRO FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA Monthly notes for October 1947’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 1 November 1947.
48. PRO WO 230/236, Lt. Col. Flowers, SCAO, to CAO Middle East Land Forces, RA Jigjiga, 30 October 1947.
49. PRO WO 230/236, Brigadier R.H. Smith to Civil Affairs Branch Middle East Land Forces, BMA Somalia, Mogadishu, 31 October 1947.
50. PRO FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA Monthly notes for October 1947’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 1 November 1947.
51. PRO FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA Monthly Notes for September, 1947’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 7 October 1947.
52. PRO FO 1015/51, HM Consul, Addis Ababa, 24 November 1947.
53. PRO FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA Monthly notes for December 1947’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 2 January 1948.
54. Oral informant, Xassan Xaashi Cilmi, Interview 11, Jigjiga, 25/6/98.
55. PRO FO 401/40, ‘Ethiopia, Annual Report for 1947’, Weld-Forester to Bevin, Addis Ababa, 20 July 1948; Lt. Col. Flowers, SCAO, to CAO Middle East Land Forces, Jigjiga, RA, 30 October 1947.
56. PRO FO 1015/51, ‘Memorandum on the SYL with particular reference to the Mogadishu riots’, No date/author.
57. PRO FO 401/41, ‘Ethiopia, Annual Review for 1948’, Lascelles to Bevin, Addis Ababa, 9 February 1949.
58. PRO FO 401/41, and PRO FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA, Monthly Report for January 1948’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 1 February 1948. For the story in Harar which was far more dramatic than events in Jigjiga see Carmichael, ‘Political Culture in Ethiopia's Provincial Administration’.
59. PRO FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA Monthly Report for February 1948’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 10 March 1948.
60. PRO FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA Monthly Report for February 1948’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 10 March 1948.
61. PRO FO 1015/41, ‘BMA – RA Monthly Report for February 1948’, SCAO, Jigjiga, 10 March 1948.
62. Oral informants: Cali Adan Maxamad, Interview 15, Jigjiga, 6/7/98; Farah Dhamel Husen, Interview 16, Jigjiga, 4/7/98, and Makhtal Daahir, Interview 14, Addis Ababa, 13/7/98.
63. PRO FO 1015/140, Chief Administrator de Candole to Director of Civil Affairs, Mogadishu, BMA Somalia, 12 August 1948.
64. The archival record scattered between Foreign Office and War Office archives is sketchy due to the make-shift and temporary arrangements of BMA administration in the Somali-lands from 1941 to 1949.
65. PRO FO 1015/140, ‘Political Intelligence Sitrep No. 10 for period ending 20.7.1948’, Major Hartman, Mogadishu, BMA Somalia, 12 July 1948.
66. Samatar and Samatar, ‘Somalis and Africa's First Democrats’, 17.
