# Nationalist era, 1943–1960 (SYL, SNL, NUF, HDM)

> Between 1943 and 1960 Somalis built the modern movement for unity and independence.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/history/nationalist-era-1943-1960/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## What happened

- **May 1943.** The Somali Youth Club (SYC) was founded in Mogadishu. Its 13 founders came from four of the six major clan families and did not disclose their clans ([Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Somali-Youth-League); [Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/13.htm)).
- **1946.** At a meeting of the great powers in Paris, Britain's foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, proposed a "United Somalia" under British trusteeship. The other powers did not agree ([US State Department, FRUS](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1946v02/d88)). SYC membership was about 25,000 that year.
- **1947.** The SYC became the Somali Youth League (SYL), with offices in all five Somali territories. Its aims were to unite Somalis, standardise a Somali script, expand education and oppose an Italian return. It banned clannishness ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/13.htm)).
- **January 1948.** During a visit by a four-power commission, a riot between an SYL rally and a pro-Italian counter-demonstration killed 51 Italians and 24 Somalis ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/13.htm)).
- **1948 to 1949.** Britain handed the Ogaden back to Ethiopia ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/13.htm)). In November 1949 the UN placed former Italian Somalia under Italian trusteeship, with independence due by 1960.
- **1954 to 1955.** Britain agreed to hand the Haud grazing lands to Ethiopia. The National United Front, backed by northern parties, sent delegations to London and the UN. In Parliament, one MP called the deal "sad and shabby", and the Somali delegation was praised for its "dignified" conduct ([UK Parliament, Hansard, 25 February 1955](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1955/feb/25/british-somaliland-anglo-ethiopian)).
- **1956.** The first territory-wide elections in the south; Abdullaahi Iise became prime minister ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/14.htm)).
- **1957 to 1958.** The SYL majority chose "reunification … by peaceful means". Women voted in 1958 (same source).

## Who carried the banner

The SYL in the south, the Somali National League and the United Somali Party in the north, the National United Front, and many others. The Hizbia Digil Mirifle (HDM), an agro-pastoral party, accepted Somali statehood but wanted a federal system.

## What this era moved forward

The modern unity movement itself: young people who put the nation above clan, a programme for a written language and schools, and peaceful lobbying that won respect abroad.

## What the historians record

- The Bevin plan and the Haud campaign did not win back the Ogaden or the Haud.
- Some Somalis, including the HDM and the pro-Italia groups, feared that a unitary state would be dominated by pastoral clans. The historian Annalisa Urbano argues the pro-Italia groups were driven by those fears, not by love of colonialism ([Urbano, Journal of African History, 2016](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/that-is-why-we-have-troubles-the-proitalia-movements-challenge-to-nationalism-in-britishoccupied-somalia194691/48D65319E9570D6826BB5C026104FF70)).

## Sources differ

Britannica gives 13 May 1943 for the founding; Somalis mark 15 May. The renaming to SYL is dated 1947 by some sources and 1948 by others.

## Why it matters

The SYL was a youth movement. It proved that young Somalis could set clan aside and lead a nation.

---
I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.