In these circumstances, and faced with the Protectorate’s request for independence and union with Somalia by I July, 1960, Mr Macmillan judged it necessary to offer some clarification. Thus, in April 1960, having accepted the Protectorate’s request for independence, the Prime Minister made the following statement to the House of Commons. ‘Her Majesty’s government’ he said, ‘did not and will not encourage or support any claim affecting the territorial integrity of French Somaliland, Kenya, or Ethiopia. This is a matter which could only be considered if that were the wish of the governments and peoples concerned.’ Evidently this declaration was primarily intended to mollify the fears of Ethiopia and France and to reassure the Kenyan African leaders. At the same time, however, when this message was relayed by the Governor of Kenya to chiefs and elders in the N.F.D. two months later, it seemed to open the door to the attainment of Somali aspirations. For the statement acknowledged that their wishes would be considered, and they believed that apart from Somalis the only government which was ‘concerned’ was that of Britain.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 461