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STATE BUILDING E SICUREZZA NELL’ESPERIENZA
DELL’AMMINISTRAZIONE FIDUCIARIA ITALIANA IN SOMALIA

Unable to tolerate that turn, the authorities dissolved the association,
which was re-founded under their strict control, with the name of Somali
Youth League, pan-Somalian and anti-Italian and more consistent with suppor-
ting the UK project. for the postwar period.
The League, of course, found greater support in the populations of the
northern tribes, historically more adverse to the Italian presence and mainly
rooted in the British Somalia borders, more inclined to the propaganda of its
colonial officials, reaching “25 thousand adherents, many of whom are part of
the gendarmerie, which thus becomes a stronghold of Somali nationalism” .
(5)

4. The role of the Armed Forces in the A.F.I.S State Building process
The day after the vote that definitively sanctioned, at the UN, the Italian
return to Somalia at a political and military level, according to the information
available at the time, the Italians were ready to face the worst, in balance bet-
ween budgetary needs and primary necessity to guarantee both the safety of the
troops and the achievement of the mission to protect which was also in favor
of the Somalian populations.
Based on these considerations, the assessments relating to the size of the
contingent to be sent to Somalia are well justified also in the light of its sub-
sequent and progressive reduction, in a context of rapid stabilization of the
actual scenario and contextual “Somalisation” in fieri of the national security
apparatus. In this sense, the dry and concrete reflection of the Historical
Office of the Army HQ assumes large credibility, when it briefly reports that
“public order was among the essential purposes entrusted to the Security
Corps.
It was always assured, and incidents, which were not lacking, occurring in
the initial period of the provisional administration, caused by the animosity of
the local minority adhering to S.Y.L. and subjected to the influence of an ela-
borate anti-Italian propaganda, never trespassed the capabilities of a normal
Police Force, without requiring military intervention.
Favorable environmental conditions, no doubt; but it is not possible to esta-
blish, at least for now, if and in which relationship this favorable conditions were
determined by the presence of troops in the various centers and in every locality” .
(6)

(5) A. DEL BOCA, Gli Italiani in Africa Orientale - Vol. 4. Nostalgia delle colonie, ed. Laterza, Bari,
1984, pag. 197.
(6) Somalia, Vol. II, Dal 1914 al 1934 con appendice sul Corpo di sicurezza italiano nell’ambito
dell’AFIS, SME - Ufficio Storico, Roma, 1960, pag. 280.

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