1969 Military Coup In Somalia Part LXIV
By Dr. Mohamed-Rashid Sh. Hassan, Hargeysa, Somaliland
This is the Sixty fourth article of a series of articles that Dr. Mohamed-Rashid analyses the military coup and its legacy
Political History of Somaliland
The Somali National League (SNL)
Somaliland political history largely started with the emergence of the political parties. The Somali National League (SNL) which emerged from welfare clubs "Kheyriya" was first established in Burao (Somaliland) in the 1930s, and later in Hargeysa. These social organizations were later transformed into more structured organization named the Somali National Society (SNS) in 1947, which again transformed itself into the Somali National Party (SNL). In 1955 another political party was established, the National United Front (NUF) mainly consisting of various politicians who had broken away from the SNL. The NUF was established mainly as a response to the British transfer of the Haud and Reserved Areas to Ethiopia without Somaliland consent. Also, just prior to the June 1960 first general elections in the country, the United Somali Party (USP) was also formed.
While the first two parties received support mainly from the clans inhabiting in the central parts of the country, the clans in the Western and Eastern regions of the country hurriedly formed the USP to counterbalance the possible domination of the central clans in the forthcoming national government after the independence.
In Somaliland, political parties focused mainly on the themes of independence, social justice and future prospects. Speakers on the party political platforms often made exaggerated promises, telling people that most of the country’s problems would be solved after the end of colonial rule and with access to independence.
Most of the population who lived in the countryside were less affected by urban politics. Unlike Kenya, Uganda, and Italian Somalia, where the presence of the white population was higher and owned certain business and plantations, in Somaliland, there was only a few hundred British administrators in the country. They lived in the main towns such as Hargeysa, Berbera, Buroa and Borama. They lived in separate areas, in bungalows with their tennis courts and clubs and hardly mingled with the Somalis.
In 1954, Margaret Lawrence, a Canadian author and wife of an English engineer, arrived in Hargeysa. They were given accommodation in the British zone of the town. Mrs Lawrence, who later wrote several books about the Somali society and had previously lived in Ghana, was a liberal Canadian woman who was aware of the culture of colonisation. She wanted to visit the market and see how Somaliland women lived and did their business. When she asked her hosts, British wives in Hargeysa, where the market was they replied they had never visited it adding this was the job of Somali servants. When she asked that if any one of them had a Somali woman as a friend or had a conversation with Somali women, they responded that was almost impossible. These attitudes indicate just one example the gap between the British local administration and Somalilanders.
Somaliland's political consciousness took momentum in 1954 mainly as a result of the Haud and Reserve Area issue. The political parties attracted a good number of educated people. (1) The civil servants who were educated in the Sudan and Britain. (2) New arrivals from the Arab world, particularly Yemen (Aden) and Egypt. The latter group had been influenced by the political upheavals in the Arab world, mainly emanating from Nasirism (Nasirism is associated with leader of the Egyptian leader of the 1952 Egyptian revolution Jamal Abdi Nasir). They injected a spirited patriotism into the parties and among the prominent activists from Aden were Ibrahim Ali Dualeh and Ahmed Ismail "Duqsi".
The SNL took the initiative to negotiate with the United Somali Party (USP) and proposed a possible merger or alliance so as to avoid any clan conflict that might have repercussions in the forthcoming election. This was an important move in the context of the political situation of the time.
After some negotiations, the two parties agreed to join forces each one retaining its name, and formed a new party Somali National League / United Somali Party (SNL/USP). They started a joint campaign for the elections of June 1960. The SNL/USP won all the 'contested' thirty-three seats except one, which was won by the veteran politician of the NUF leadership Mr. Michael Mariano, the only Somali Christian politician in the NUF party .This was immediately followed by the declaration of Somaliland’s independence on 26th June 1960 and thus symbolised the end of the British colonial rule in Somaliland.
There was one main political difference between the SNL/USP and the NUF. The SNL/USP demanded immediate independence to pave the way towards a union with Somalia, whilst the NUF was in favour of some delay before independence so that more preparations could be made, particularly in the field of administration.