The third momentous event was the challenge posed to colonial rule in French Somaliland. The French administration rigged the referendum in 1957, and this galvanized the liberation movement in the territory. Key leaders of the independence movement, Mohamoud Harbi, Ahmed Qumane, and Ali Udun, fled harsh French prosecution and went to Mogadishu, where they were guests of the SYL government.

Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, loc. 438