There is no doubt that on the first day of July a full and lawful union was formed by the will of the people of the two territories through their elected representatives. However, the legal formali- ties had not been completed in time . . . [and] the matter was clarified seven months later by the adoption of the new Act of Union with retroactive effect as from July 1, 1960 for the whole of the Republic.

Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, loc. 529