ABSTRACT
The abandonment of the Protectorate occasioned a real break in administrative continuity. When Somaliland was re-occupied it was administered by the War Office as part of a condominium of British and enemy occupied territories which included Italian Somaliland and the disputed grazing areas legally part of Abyssinia, recently liberated by Commonwealth arms. Military Government, in many ways, proved to be a happy experiment. The wartime and immediate postwar grouping of most Somali inhabited areas was extremely well received and lasted as long as the Military Administration. While the war continued, as well, the daunting financial constraints which had hamstrung development efforts were removed the Military Administration first catered for its own increased requirement – with significant follow-on effects for the local population – and then began to advocate for Somaliland a sort of ‘one-size-fits-all’ entitlement. If other dependencies or occupied regions had a particular establishment or benefited from certain development policies then it struck successive Military Governors that Somaliland should too. 1 In any case, it should certainly not, as a loyal and contributing British dependency, enjoy inferior services to occupied enemy territories ruled conjointly. 2 The Military Governments represented the first time, therefore, when it was truly appropriate to speak of Somaliland having a development policy. Lastly, Military Governors did what they could to reduce the eccentricity of the Protectorate and possessed the force to compel some change, even if it was less than they had hoped and if the changes produced were not always well advised. Military Administration, however, could not be a permanent solution. The postwar army was too weak to shoulder a burden it was neither resourced nor organised to carry.
