The Haud and the Reserved Area, 1954–1955: the grazing lands handed to Ethiopia

In short

The Haud is a wide plain of seasonal grazing south of the old British Somaliland border. For half the year, herders from the north moved their camels and flocks there for water and grass.

On paper it had been part of Ethiopia since the Anglo-Ethiopian treaty of 1897. In practice Britain ran it from 1941. On 28 February 1955 Britain withdrew, under an agreement signed with Ethiopia on 29 November 1954 (HC Deb 23 February 1955, vol. 537, cc. 1281–9).

Why did Britain hold it after 1941?

After British forces drove Italy out of East Africa in 1941, Britain kept a military administration over parts of eastern Ethiopia. A wartime agreement of 1944 confirmed this "without prejudice to Ethiopian sovereignty", and either side could end it at three months' notice (same source).

The Library of Congress records that Britain ran the Haud "as an integral part of British Somaliland", though Ethiopian sovereignty was recognised (Library of Congress, Ethiopia: A Country Study). The rest of the Ogaden went back to Ethiopian administration in 1948.

The agreement of 29 November 1954

In 1954 Ethiopia asked to take up "the full exercise of its sovereignty" in the areas. The Colonial Secretary, Alan Lennox-Boyd, told the House of Commons what followed (HC Deb 23 February 1955):

"Although these areas are used predominantly by members of British protected tribes from the Somaliland Protectorate they have been Ethiopian territory in international law since the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897. No British territory is, therefore, being transferred to Ethiopia."

The agreement promised the herders grazing rights "in perpetuity", a British liaison officer in the area, and assurances on customs and property (same source). Disputes among Somalis would be settled in British courts; disputes with Ethiopians in Ethiopian courts.

When were the Somalis told?

The agreement was signed on 29 November 1954. The Somali elders were told on 5 January 1955, about seven weeks before the handover (same source).

Lennox-Boyd explained why the Somali leaders were not consulted: "it would not have been fair to ask Somali leaders to share responsibility for a decision that was bound to be unpopular" (same source).

The delegation to London

The news brought what Lennox-Boyd called "widespread feeling in Somaliland". A delegation travelled to London to ask for the handover to be delayed (HL Deb 23 February 1955, vol. 191, cc. 385–7). The Colonial Secretary told Parliament it "put their point of view with dignity and force".

The historian Mohamed Trunji names its members as Michael Mariano, Abdirahman Ali and Mohamed Dubeh (Trunji, Hiiraan Online, 2021). Their case rested on three points: the 1884 and 1886 protection treaties came first; the Somalis were never consulted in 1897; and the handover denied self-determination (same source).

Britain asked Ethiopia to delay. Ethiopia declined to go beyond 28 February (HC Deb 23 February 1955).

What Parliament said

Members of all parties pressed the government on 23 and 25 February 1955.

• Two treaties. Members argued that the 1884 and 1886 treaties, in which the elders sought British protection "for the maintenance of their independence", conflicted with the 1897 treaty. They asked for the question to go to the International Court of Justice (HC Deb 25 February 1955, vol. 537, cc. 1678–88).
• The size. Frederick Willey MP put the area at "some 25,000 square miles and about 300,000 people" (same source). Lennox-Boyd gave about 300,000 people who grazed there (HC Deb 23 February 1955).
• The government's view. Lennox-Boyd called the 1897 treaty "unfortunate", but said "it is impossible to undo it" (same source).

The road to the UN

After London, a second delegation, Suldaan Bihi Moumin and Michael Mariano, went to the United Nations in New York. Trunji records that herders in the north sold 6,500 sheep to pay for the journey (Trunji 2021).

On 22 October 1956 the Protectorate's Advisory Council voted unanimously to ask Britain to back a claim at the UN. Britain answered that the Protectorate had no right to petition the UN, being "neither a member of the United Nations nor a Trusteeship Territory" (HC Deb 19 December 1956, vol. 562, c. 149W).

The Library of Congress records that Britain "attempted unsuccessfully to purchase the Haud from Ethiopia" (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study).

Who suffered?

The herders who crossed the line each season carried the cost. In November 1955 James Johnson MP told the Commons that Somali elders and chiefs had been arrested in the area on nine occasions that year (HC Deb 17 November 1955, vol. 546, cc. 902–12).

Far from the Haud, people mourned too. Trunji, then in Beledweyne, recalls that on 28 February 1955 the whole town marched in silence (Trunji 2021).

What it led to

The Library of Congress says the loss changed northern politics. Until 1954 no party "could mobilize grass-roots support". Afterwards a new party, the National United Front, rose under Michael Mariano, a veteran of the SYL (Library of Congress).

The same source records that protests "forced Britain in 1956 to introduce representative government in its protectorate and to accept the eventual unification of British Somaliland with southern Somalia". A Legislative Council followed in 1957, and union came on 1 July 1960.

Sources differ

• The area. Willey gave 25,000 square miles in 1955; Trunji gives 65,000 square kilometres. Both are near the same size, about 65,000 km².
• The wartime agreement. The government spoke of a 1944 agreement. The Library of Congress mentions a 1942 military convention. There were two Anglo-Ethiopian agreements, in 1942 and 1944.
• Grazing rights after 1960. Trunji writes that Ethiopia ended the grazing rights after Somalia's independence. We have not found the text of that decision.

What it moved forward

The Haud was lost on paper, but the protest built something. Elders, herders, a Christian civil servant and a sultan worked as one, sold their sheep, and took their case to London and New York. Within five years, the north had chosen union.

Read the primary sources yourself

• UK House of Commons, statement and questions, 23 February 1955: Hansard.
• UK House of Commons, adjournment debate, 25 February 1955: Hansard.
• UK House of Lords statement, 23 February 1955: Hansard.
• UK House of Commons debate on British Somalis and the Ogaden, 17 November 1955: Hansard.
• Written answer on the UN petition, 19 December 1956: Hansard.