Somalialand - History

History

During World War I, Britain secretly reached an agreement with Italy to transfer 94,050 square kilometers of its Somali-inhabited Jubaland protectorate (in present-day southwestern Somalia) to Italian Somaliland. This was Italy's reward for allying itself with Britain in its war against Germany. The treaty was honored and in 1924, Britain ceded Jubaland. In 1926, Jubaland was incorporated into Italian Somaliland, and was later re-dubbed Oltre Giuba by the Italians. After its conquest of Ethiopia in 1936, Italy also annexed the Ogaden region.

In early World War II, Italian troops invaded British Somaliland and ejected the British. However, Britain retained control of British East Africa, which included the almost exclusively Somali-inhabited Northern Frontier District that is today part of Kenya.

Britain regained control of British Somaliland in spring 1941, and conquered Italian Somaliland and the Ogaden. In 1945, the Potsdam conference was held, where it was decided not to return Italian Somaliland to Italy. The UN opted instead in 1949 to grant Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland for a period of ten years, after which time the region would be independent.

Meanwhile, in 1948, under pressure from their World War II allies and to the dismay of Somalis, the British "returned" the Hawd (an important Somali grazing area that was presumably 'protected' by British treaties with the Somalis in 1884 and 1886) and the Ogaden to Ethiopia, based on a treaty they signed in 1897 in which the British ceded Somali territory to the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik in exchange for his help against plundering by Somali clans. Britain included the proviso that the Somali nomads would retain their autonomy, but Ethiopia immediately claimed sovereignty over them. This prompted an unsuccessful bid by Britain in 1956 to buy back the Somali lands it had turned over.