Here of course Somali nationalists were at one with nationalist leaders in every other territory in Africa: and the divisive influence of Somali 'tribalism' was felt as more, rather than less frustrating by the fact of its persistence within an already achieved cultural unity. Nationalist leaders saw only too clearly how clan differences and jealousies had in the past facilitated the partition of their people by foreign powers. Now these same factors, with little diminished vitality, impeded not only the full realization of the Pan-Somali goal, but also seemed to imperil the stability of the Republic itself.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 427