ABSTRACT
The behavior of the United Nations (UN) toward decolonization was indeed peculiar. In the case of the Trust Territory of Somaliland, the UN allowed Italy, a defeated country of the Second World War, to rule over a former fascist colony. Preferring to rely on the Italian administrators’ experience, the UN did not take into account the complex Somali tribal structure and its relations with the former fascist officers, thus provoking both the failure of the implementation of democratic institutions in Somalia and the continuation of colonialism.
