By M.
Trunji
Wednesday August 3, 2022
The Somaliland Protectorate Constitutional Conference, London, May 1960 in which it was decide that 26 June be the day of Independence, and so signed on 12 May 1960. Somaliland Delegation: Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, Ahmed Haji Dualeh, Ali Garad Jama& Haji Ibrahim Nur. From the Colonial Office: Ian Macleod, D. B. Hall, H. C. F. Wilks (Secretary)
Somaliland received its
independence from the United Kingdom on June 26, 1960. It was perhaps the shortest
independence in modern history, in terms of duration, as they joined the trust
Territory of Somalia four days later to form the Somali Republic. The hastily
arranged union between the former British Somali land and the trust Territory
of Somalia had generated immediate discontent in the Northern regions over perceived
economic decline there and the growing political influence of Mogadiscio. Troubling
trends began to emerge as Northerners, or rather the ethnic Issak, who represent
the majority of the inhabitants of the northern regions, realized how wrong
they had been to hasten the process leading to the merger with the more bigger
and populous former
Italian Somalia.
Following the Union between the two countries
in July 1960, a coalition government was set led by the Somali Youth League
party, as senior partner, with the participation of SNL-USP northern parties as
junior partners. The northern political parties, like in the South, were largely
clan based associations with no or little political programme. Thus the SNL
derived its support from the ethnic Issak, while the USP was a coalition representing
the Dulbahanta, Gadabirsi and Warsangheli clans.
One of the major tasks of the new
government was to get the provisional Constitution approved through popular
referendum in June 1961. The Constitution was rejected in the area of the
former British Somaliland, where the ethnic Issak represent the majority of the
inhabitants, while it gained approval in other areas of the territory inhabited
by non-Issak clans. However, by far, the most dramatic event which almost
undermined the union between the two countries occurred in December 1961 when a
group of young military officers planned and carried out a coup d’état to overthrow the government in the north, but they
failed to win the support of the soldiers and the coup collapsed within a day.
The
SNL party quits the coalition government. The ensuing constitutional crisis
Amid this general uneasy situation in
the North, the Issak politicians were particularly annoyed by the presence in
Hargeisa of an unusual number of senior civil servants and police officers
hailing from the Darod. In fact, in early 1961 the Police Commissioner, the Regional
Governor, the Distract Commissioner, and Police Superintendant in Hargeisa,
happened to belong to the same clan family. In the overwhelming Issak homeland of
Hargeisa, the high number of non-Issak senior officials had added to the
prevailing resentment. Whether this reflected a government policy was unclear; in
reality, however, there was no specific rule prohibiting civil servants of the
same clan family to serve at the same duty station. This was a delicate matter,
and Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, the former Prime Minister of Somaliland, requested
steps to be taken to change the tribal composition of the regional authorities
in Hargeisa. Both the President and the Prime Minister seemed to be willing to
accommodate Egal’s request but they could not win the support of the Ministry
of Interior, Abdi Razak Hagi, who rejected outright the idea of transferring
civil servants unless their were plausible reasons for doing so. “Movements of
civil servants from one place to another should not be effected merely to
appease certain individuals, because by doing so, we will anger others, and,
consequently, encourage tribalism” stated the Minister.
There were many voices proposing the
establishment of the office of the “resident Minister” in Hargeisa with the
responsibility of coordinating government activities in the North. But the
response of the Minister was an outright refusal to the proposal suggesting
instead that full powers be accorded to the regional Governors. It was later
decided to dispatch a team of three Cabinet Ministers from the North with full
powers to make proposals. The Ministers were: Mohamed Hagi Ibrahim Egal
(Minister of Education), Sheikh Ali Ismail (Minister of Defence), and Ali Garad
Giama (Minister of Agriculture). The mission, however, ended in failure as its
members could not agree on certain aspects of the recommendations to be
presented to the government. The Minister of agriculture, Ali Garad, of the
Dhulbahnta, disagreed
with the other two members (both of ethnic Issak) of the disciplinary transfer
of four senior staff. Without consulting the two members of the mission, Ali
Garad made contacts with Mogadiscio expressing his displeasure with the
disciplinary measure proposed against the District Commissioner of Hargeisa, a
fellow Dulbahanta. The position of the two Issak Ministers was further
undermined by the hasty decision taken by the government to appoint as Governor
of Mudugh the very officer against whom disciplinary action had been
recommended. This prompted the resignation of the two SNL Ministers: Egal and
Sheikh Ali Ismail.
The SNL parliamentary group maintained
that their withdrawal form the coalition government under the Premiership of
Abdirashid had caused the fall of the government, which consequently had lost
the power to present project law to the Parliament for discussion until the
crisis is solved. Accordingly, on 25 October 1962, the SNL parliamentary group
requested the Vice President of the National Assembly who was presiding over
the session of the Parliament to suspend the ongoing discussion of a project
law, claiming that no legislative acts could be discussed in Parliament until
the crisis persisted. When the request was rejected, the entire SNL
parliamentary group staged a walk-out. A group of southern MPs closed rank with
the SNL in a show of solidarity, a move apparently aimed at giving the crisis a
wider national dimension. The government was shaken by a bout of infighting and
resignations, which left the government unworkable and undermined the very
foundation of the union on the basis of which the Somali Republic was born in
1960. The Prime Minister resisted the idea of requesting a vote of confidence
as suggested by the President of the Republic arguing that “except for a
handful of PMs, the majority of the Parliament supported his government”. In a
real democracy, loss of support from a junior partner in the coalition would
trigger the resignation of the entire government, but the Prime Minister
remained adamant that he was not going to seek confidence. On the other hand,
the USP MPs, the other partner of the coalition government, did not follow suit
thus splitting the northern political parties along clan lines.
Intense negotiations started with the
SNL, designed to resolve the crisis and convince the party to return to the
fold. It has even been suggested that an increase in the ministerial
representation for the party may have contributed to a solution of the party.
Predictably, the proposal soon opened a flight gate for similar claims from the
USP the other junior partner in the coalition.
On the other hand, it had soon emerged
that not all of the SNL MPs agreed on a common strategy on how to solve the
crisis. In fact, despite being warned of the risk of expulsion from the party,
two SNL MPs, namely Hagi Ibrahim Osman Fod “Basbas” and Yousuf Ismail Samatar
“Ghandi” did break ranks and surreptitiously met Abdirashid expressing their
intention to join the government.
In the meanwhile, far away in Hargeisa,
a new and dangerous threat to the union between the two regions was arising. In
fact, the President of the Republic received a cable fro tom the SNL executive,
reflecting the decision of the party to question the validity of the Act of
Union. The cable read: “The national conference of the two regions (Tog Dher
and North West) called by SNL wishes to thank you for the worthy attempts you
have made to solve the present problems. It however considers its painful duty
to reject your Excellency’s proposal. It considers that the roots of the
problem go much deeper than the mere increase of portfolios for the party’s
MPs; the Prime Minister, in the name of his government, has brought the
fundamental principles of our union into questions. It therefore wishes to pose
the following point for your serious consideration: One, legitimacy of the
present government once it has lost the support and the good-will of these two
regions, Two, legitimacy of discarding the original Act of Union, Three,
sharing of the executive powers of the republic between the two former
territories. The conference further decided to send a national delegation to
your Excellency after Ramadan, unless a satisfactory solution is found before then.
The conference wish to inform your Excellency that anyone who intends to
participate in the present government
would be automatically expelled from our party and disowned by the
people of the two regions we have the honour of representing. The Chairman, SNL
Conference” (Diary January 25, 1963)
End of the
crisis and formation of new government
Abdi Razak
removed from the Ministry of Interior
At the end of the inconclusive mediation
efforts also involving the Head of State, the Central Committee of the
governing party directed the Prime Minister to effect a limited government
reshuffle and relive certain members of the government of their
responsibilities. These measures fell short of the expected resignation of the
entire Cabinet as called for by the SNL. The Ministers losing their jobs after
the reshuffle were Sheikh Abdulla Mohamoud and Abdinour Mohamed Hussen
(Ministers of Trade and Commerce, and Public Works respectively) who had been
heavily criticized for poor performance. Undersecretaries Hussen Omar Hassan
“Hussen Jiis” (Jelib) and Sheikh Mohamed Issak Salad (Belet Uen) were also
dropped.
One
of the most striking effects of the reshuffle was the shunting of Abdi Razak Hagi,
considered the Prime Minister’s right hand, from the much coveted Ministry of
Interior to that of Public Works.
In an interview released to the weekly
Newsletter Somali News, the Prime
Minister admitted that the removal of Abdi Razak from the Ministry of Interior
came following growing pressure from the SYL Central Committee (Somali News,
November 9, 1962). However, what the Prime Minister did not say is the
sustained pressure he and President Aden Abdulla had received from a group of
Hawiye MPs led by Hagi Farah Ali, calling for the removal of Abdi Razak from
the Ministry of Interior. It should be added here that the Hawiye were not the
only group demanding the removal of the embattled Minister: the SNL too considered
his presence in that Ministry as part of the problem. At one point in 1962, the
President of the Republic inquired whether Abdullahi Issa would be willing to
take up the responsibilities of the Ministry of Interior but the latter seemed
less enthusiastic to the idea. However, if the removal of Abdi Razak was aimed
at reducing the political tension, that aim 1was nor achieved as recriminations
and counter-recriminations between the government and the dissenting faction
within the governing party continued unabated, leading eventually to an
irreparable split and to the creation of a new political party deriving its
support from the Hawiye and Issak clans. With two Minister still unnamed, the
government obtained the vote of confidence on November 11, 1962. On 2 February,
1963, the two vacant ministerial positions were filled, as predicted, by Yousuf
Ismail Samatar, for the Ministry of Education, and Hagi Ibrahim Osman “Hagi
Basbas”, for the Ministry of Trade and Commerce.
Of particular interest here is how the Prime Minister, in distributing the portfolios, kept a delicate balance among the rival clans represented in the National Assembly:
Hilowle Moallim (Ogaden) replaced Hussen Omar Hassan “Hussen Jiss (Ogaden)
Aden Shire Giama (Marrehan) replaced Sheikh Abdulla Mohamoud (Marrehan)
Abdirahman Hagi Mumin (Gugun Dhabe) replaced Sheikh Mohemed Issak (Gugun Dhabe)
Hagi Ibrahim “Basbas” (Habar Yonis) replaced Sheikh AliI Ismail (HabarYonis)
Yousuf Ismail Samatar (Issa Mussa) replaced Mohamed Ibrahim Egal (Issa Moussa)
Ahmed Ghelle Hassan (Hawadle) replaced Sheikh Ali Giumale (Hawadle)
Mohamoud Abdi Nour “Juju”, a non Rahanweyn from Baidoa, replaced Abdinour Mohamed Hussen (Rahanweyn)
M. Trunji
E-mail: [email protected]