The people and lands which became British Somaliland Protectorate in the late 19th century were traditionally divided into clans. Each clan was separate and independent from the other. Chiefs, Suldans, Grads and Ugases worked to bridge the administration between the British and the various clans. They also bridged the interclan issues.

The major treaty that ever existed in a documented form was that signed in Zeila by the Gadabursi King on December 11, 1884. Many other clans in the north reached formal verbal agreement with the British.

During the protectorate and until independence of the North on June 26, 1960, each clan maintained connections with the British government separately. That was because the treaties signed and the agreements reached between the United Kingdom and clans recognized that each clan area was a separate territory.

These clan treaties defined boundaries and people and are the true evidence that Great Britain was never interested in the creation of a unitary state of Somalis in the North. Similarly, each people worked with the British within their boundaries and through their local suldans.

Gaps and differences of who will rule who surfaced when the independence was close. Witiin the last months of liberation, Borama leaders did not accept the division of the proposed legislative seats. 21 out of the 33 seats were for one clan. They saw that as domination of one tribe in the North.

They then started their historic journey to Lasanod, the eastern end of Somaliland Protectorate. The purpose was to recruit alliances and they were successful in forming the United Somali Party (USP) for the Gadabursi, the Issa and the Darood clans.

USP based its policy on an immediate and unconditional independence. The formation of the party by the Borama elder’s efforts on was celebrated on17/10/1959. SNL sent a delegation to USP, offered their support and invited them in Hargeisa..

The USP clans and others who feared for their future, formed a strong pressure group. Even groups from the Isaaq tribes sided with the USP policy.That was the basis of the campaign that forced the Northerners to join Southern Somalia. These steps prove that the clans in Somaliland never agreed on unitary state in the North.

In an all inclusive and with preliminary consensus and agreement, the

northern Somalilanders merged with Somalia on July 1, 1960. Within that agreement, the unitary state of Somali Republic was formed.

Throughout the liberation campaign, the entire intention of gaining independence from Britain was precisely to unite with the rest of the country. The fact that the clan negotiated administration of Somaliland existed only six days is a proof of that objective.

All somalis then willingly voted for the constitution of the unitary sate of Somali Republic on June 20, 1960. This was approved by all clans and over the entire territory Somalia No one was forced to join the state but was the free and the inevitable choice of all.

The results of the referndum, as recorded in the African Election Database 1,756,216 (90. 56 % of the voters voted in favor of the constitution. This again proves the creation of the state was the agreement of all Somalis. That constitutional and democratically elected unitary state of Somali Republic was recognized by the United Nations on September, 20, 1960.

The entry into the United Nations, the new constitution and the new sate definitively abolished previous formations such as Somalia and Somaliland. It also served as a trust administration within all Somalis and particularly for the norherners who could not trust each other.

There are people in northern Somalia who want to rewrite history. They want to distort facts for their interest. That is what northners could not agree in 1960 and that is what many clans rejected. That is also the reality on the ground today. One group came up with the old cries.... tell them that Somaliland never existed as a state. It died within six days after the British has left the country. It died becasue many predicted what the so called Somlaliland administration is doing today in Awdal and Lasanod.

That was denied in 1960 and can’t be accepted today. Stop the distorting history. Somalis will never go anywhere unless they face the reality. We have to learn from the history, otherwise we will live in endless circles of wars, hunger and hatred.