Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa, Volume XVIII

228. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, June 10, 1957¹

Washington, June 10, 1957

SUBJECT

• Visit of Somali Minister of Economic Affairs

PARTICIPANTS

• Hagi Farah Ali, Minister of Economic Affairs of Somalia
• Mohammed Schek Osman, Deputy, Somalia Legislative Assembly
• Omar Mohallim, Civil Servant
• Mr. Witman, AFN
• Mr. Dorros, AFN
• Mr. Beard, AFN
• Mr. Dolgin, AFN
• Mr. Engle, WE
• Mr. Dunn, ED
• Mr. Johnson, ED

(Although the Minister speaks some English, and appears to understand it fairly well, he preferred to speak through an interpreter, Omar Mohallim, whose English is excellent.)

H.E. Hagi Farah Ali recalled that the Somali delegation which visited the Department last year had urged the United States to establish a Consulate at Mogadiscio,² and expressed his appreciation that this had been done. He felt it was highly important that direct relations and channels of communication had been established between the two countries. Mr. Farah also expressed the appreciation of his Government for the assistance the United States has extended to Somalia.

During the course of the ensuing conversation, the Minister discussed three topics:

(1) the possibility Somalia may seek its independence before 1960;

(2) Somalia’s hope for long-range economic assistance from the United States; and

(3) U.S. assistance in obtaining a solution to the Ethiopia-Somalia boundary question.

With regard to independence prior to 1960, the Minister noted that elections for a constituent Assembly will be held next year and Somalia will shortly thereafter have its Constitution and Chief of State. The powers retained by the Administering Authority from then on will be very limited and the Somali Government will, for all practical purposes, have as much authority as the government of an independent country. Under these circumstances, there appears to be no reason why Somalia should not be granted independence at a date earlier than that specified by the United Nations, i.e., 1960.

Mr. Farah then expressed the hope that his Government would receive economic assistance from the United States when it became independent. In this connection, he said he would like to leave with the Department a copy of the statement he had recently made before the Trusteeship Council during its consideration of the IBRD report on the economy of Somalia (copy attached).³ He observed that, on the basis of developments in the past few years, the situation seemed to him more hopeful than the IBRD report indicated. He was optimistic; the Bank was pessimistic.

The Minister said that he would also like to request the United States to do what it could to bring about a settlement of the boundary problem with Ethiopia. Very little progress has been made in the seven years since the U.N. Resolution on this matter. During the negotiations of the past year, the Ethiopian delegation had remained adamant in its position and indicated that if a settlement were to be reached it would have to be done on its own terms. The Minister felt that the Ethiopians wished to delay a settlement until after Somalia’s independence when his Government would be preoccupied with other matters.

In reply, Mr. Witman addressed himself first to the matter of independence prior to 1960. He noted that the U.N. decision to grant independence had provided for a certain period of transition to permit the Somalis to have as much time as possible to learn the many and varied tasks involved in the government of an independent state. He could, of course, appreciate the desire of the Somalis to receive their independence as soon as possible, but, speaking personally, felt that it would be advisable for the Somalis to take advantage of the full period specified by the U.N. Since the U.N. had decreed a ten-year period of Trusteeship, we cannot make an official statement on the matter of earlier independence unless it is raised in the U.N. Our attitude would be determined at that time.⁴

With regard to economic assistance, Mr. Witman said he also appreciated the desire of the Somalis to have an indication of the assistance they might expect to receive after independence. Because of our system of Government, however, we are not able to make any commitments regarding aid in future years. The Executive Branch of the Government has been seeking authorization from the Congress to be permitted to make such commitments, but, thus far, has not been authorized to do so. The only assurance we are able to give is that we are aware of the needs of Somalia and will continue to view the problem sympathetically.

The Minister said that he was aware of this and merely wished to record the desire of his Government to receive help from the United States.

With regard to the Minister’s third point, the Ethiopia-Somalia boundary, Mr. Witman said that we concurred in the desirability of a settlement of this problem prior to Somalia’s independence. In this regard, we have been supporting the utilization of the procedure which we have felt offered the most likely prospects of success (bilateral negotiations). As far as the United States is concerned, however, we do not care what procedure is employed to reach a settlement so long as it is satisfactory to the parties directly involved. We share the hope that the problem will be resolved prior to 1960.

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 745U.00/6–1057. Confidential. Drafted by Beard.
2. Telegram 590 to Addis Ababa, June 22, 1956, indicated that a delegation led by Issa and Osman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Assembly, Abdi Nur, visited the Department of State on June 20 and 21. The Somalis expressed appreciation for past technical assistance and hoped more aid would be forthcoming, requested the United States to exercise its influence to help settle the boundary problem, strongly opposed any federation of Somaliland with Ethiopia, rejected the notion of a Greater Somaliland within the Commonwealth, and stated they could not predict the Somali response to an offer from the East should the West fail them. (Ibid., 120.277/6–2256) Memoranda of conversations are ibid., 777.00/6–2156 and 675.773/6–2156.
3. Not printed. U.N. docs. T/SR.797, May 22, and T/SR.803, May 31, contain Farah’s statement. The IBRD Report concluded that Somalia would be faced with continuing substantial budgetary deficits after 1960 requiring outside economic and technical assistance. The report was discussed by the Trusteeship Council at its Twentieth Session, May 20–July 12. See U.N. doc. T/1296, January 30.
4. At the Bermuda Conference on March 23, Dulles told British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd that he considered the 1960 independence date for Italian Somaliland to be impractical. See Document 18.