The long-awaited commission, consisting of a Nigerian judge and a Canadian General, at last arrived in Kenya in October; and having completed its work of hearing evidence with commendable alacrity, and – what was perhaps more surprising – without incident, published its report some six weeks later. The Commissioners found28 that the Somali who they estimated made up 62 per cent of the N.F.D.'s population 'almost unanimously' favoured secession from Kenya with the object of 'ultimately' joining the Somali Republic. This desire was shared also by the majority of the other smaller Muslim communities in the District (principally Muslim Galla). The contrary wish to remain with Kenya and to participate in its constitutional development was recorded amongst some of the Oromo in Marsabit District, among non-Muslim Boran in Moyale District, and with the Pokomo cultivators along the banks of the Tana River in Garissa District. There were also several smaller areas of mixed opinion. The general division, however, coincided with the division between Muslims (Somali and associated peoples) and non-Muslims (principally Galla).

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 475