UNITED NATIONS Distr. L!M.ITED TR U S T E E S H 1--p·~l .. :, r~ -~ • ·, ,• • , , • 'J/FET.11/L.37 . ~ ·•· C . ,,, 23 February i959 C O U-'-'N· C· I· L- :'.ENGLISH ·-; ; .-._ :· · ,t' · . , QRIGUJAL: .ITALIAN . ;_ ... , ,. ,,, ' .. -••' .... ,, .PETITION FROM Tiir(soMALI YOUTH tEAGtre .. CdNdERNfua·' .. '· · · · -SOMALILAND UlIDER IT.ALI.AN· ADMINISTRATION,..: . ··fo·1tcui~t~a in accorda~c·e \.dth'rule 85. ~i th~ rul~s 'o:e: -~ •: • procedure of ;tlie Trusteeship Council) · ,.:·. SOMALILAND YOUTH LEAGUE, ·: _. __, -Mcrgadiscio · ·.... ·. · ··· ,:Moga:disdio, 15 Janua.ry· 1959~ ·•· J .. ,'; To : 'the U~i ted. N~ti~~s. Aa.~~ory cio'Jn~u J. • •• , ;., " . ;-: __ ·:_ ' : and, for i.nt'o~~tion,_ t~: H~E, t'.p.~ 11,dminis.tr~tor .of Somalia·. ,) i:,..,: •• • • - -~ • • J the Hon. Pxime Minis~er of the pomali Government : .. :: ,. MOGADISCIO . '. ~e _c~~~:.~l. ~-~~ ttee of the So~li .Yo~th te~g~e .( suJ, . con~id~~i~gth~ decision taken ·by. the four. so-called opposition Parties not to·· participate in the next p~liti<?al :e·ie~tio~s~· the b~ckgi~und -~v~~ts'\1hi~h l~cl .to'. thi~ ·decision ana.·; 0 finai1y; 'd~ iri:ter~e~tion of the· Advi;ory d~~~il ~nd AFIS rli:h: trie Somali ' •' • ' • • ,•.·. ,·... '. , • '' ·.;. - . .< ;·; . : Government in order'to ·give satisfaction to the said Parties, cannot but express .. _, ~ . .. 1 . its ow· v'i~ws in. the present communicati;;;n~ . ~ • • l ~ •. D~i~g the i~st administrative el~cti6ns,' tbe s~~~li.Youth'teague was,_in many in~tari~~s, . di~s~ti~fied. .with the .~iber~li ty': ~h6~ ·b; ih~ Somali: aoveri_unent , . ' . ' . ' towards the opposition· parties bec~use,' :tn these' instances, .tbe.... Gov~r~ent ·. - . trans~essed .the L~w: ·1~-B~~v~·, the. H~D.M •.. was' iate .in 'p;~~e~ti~g- its i:tst. 'of . • . • . • . •. • . • . ... ' . t ..... .~ • '. , ., " candidates, and the Greater Somalia League too; but the Government directly .. ·.. ·.~ --~-~ -"-_-; -·\,;.:·· ·.: :---. -.•.·:·.~· •·. , .. ·:: ·. ~ ,·;··•;,:·. :·. ·.::··.--'·.·~.· intervened to have these two lists accepted. In Uegit, the H.D.M. local committee < • • •• • ' ; 0 • ._.' • '.'" • • •, •,. ::. j •• ;_ • ,! • • : . • • . •• ' T • •. I ,', •1 •.- • •;' • • •,•: : • submitted an incomplete list and did not take any timely steps to complete it; , .. ' . : . ' . : . ,• . , .~. ' . - . and, wben the L~cal Authorities rejected th:ls list, the Prime Minister.intetvened . -. •· ~ . - ' personally to have it accepted.; in Tigeglo, as·a result of the ·ao,;ernme'nt 1 s intervention, ag~in.st the -will of 'th~ L~cal:·.lmth~rities~ the a~i~is~rat:i.V~ ~rea was modified to include two villages that the n'. D~M. claimed ~e~~- -pa~{ o-t· i ~/· · altp.oJ.igh both these villages a.re sit11a,ted outside the municipal. area as fixed by 59-04580 / ••• T/FET.11/L.37 English Page 2 the I.a.w. In Baidoa and Mgoi, the H.D.:M. mayors were unable to explain the disappearance of 2,400 and 900 electoral certificates, respectively; since they were the only persons to have access to the offices of the Municipality, it was legitimate to suspect that they had surreptitiously distributed the certificates to electors of their own Party who alteady had been given their own certificates; and, despite this, the Government Author~ties did not put the responsible persons under accusation nor did they annul the ~lectione. In Dinsor, Bardera, Lugh and Bur Acaba, all centres in which the Municipaii ty was in the hands of the Hizbia, large numbers of' citizens domd.ciled outside the municipal area and, therefore, prevented by the law from voting, were entered in the municipal registers and, although our local branches complained to the supervising Authorities (Prefects and Commissioners) and requested them to exe~cise some control, the Government did not intervene for the sole purpose of not displeasing the opposition parties. In spite of all this, the Somali Youth League did not deem it necessary to . make a tragedy out of these obvious infringements to the Law, all. in favour of our opponents, whereas it was our interest, and our right, to insist on a strict application of the provisions of. the Law. If the Government had exercised the necessary control, these Parties would certainly have gained much fewer. seats.than they actually obtained. Our Party recalls all this f_or the sole purpose of proving. that it had many reasons to be dissatisfied with the Government's generosity and if it did not cotnJ?lain to the Advisory Council and A)l'IS it was bec~use it was fully conscious of the fact that the Government had tried to a.et for the best and because it knew that the strict- enforcement of the Law would have been interpreted, even if unjustly, as an attetnJ?t on the part of the Government to favour _the majority Party. As the recent events have shown, th~ opposit~on Parties have interpreted the Government's liberality and the Somali Youth League's silence as a sign of the Government's weakness and of the SYL's ~ontentment with this state of affairs. Therefore these Parties became more exigent in asserting their claims to act as they please, even if, in some occasions, their attitude waa on the verge of illegality: violent deeds and words, instigation to violence in clandestine publications, as well as slandering the highest constitutional Authorities of Somali in uncensored public shows. /.~. T/PET;ii./L~37 English' ·,., .. Page 3 ;'. ;'Agaln-st ·•s~h,: a ··flood: 6f illegal:ity, , Which (came very. -n_ear: .to· .anarchy~ -:th.er~..... was'· .. ·a ;:Eierierar;~rotl'est lof '-public: opinion- 'ir.( Somalia.,:•.public: opinion:.Which. :could;•· ·rio1tbut ,·b'e ii"tfare .idf the Governm:e\'nt ,r s total.. 1ack :of power, or: lack. ·of ;:will,, to,;-, . take measurJs·:1:n ~order :;to prevent the··illegal, acts con:t±nuously.·committed by tne said Parties. • _i~ {· < '· ...: • __ •• : •• , ,. '-t·; . ,. •, ·. ,.. •. '. t - - ' ... · Tbe_·,somali ·Youth !League, 'then ·was certain :tha:t.·it c0uJ.:.d. e~pect that- tl:!,e Trtisteesnfp .%:imfrtistrat±ori arid -the. ·Uni tea· Nations Advisory. :council, :,,:Wbich. were, . · 1 present ::OU'. the spdt; and :had .every .'opportunity of directly' ascertaining Wi;l.t,.c W,,a~ '. c'ons'tatitiy 'takinl·· p1ace;' would advise the Governnient.>to. prepare the neR p-rovtsipns indisf>e1foable/ for·, the.:·maintenance: · of public · order1 in s_omalia or, at;:least·,,;. to: ,: :· applf tH.e p·rbvisiotis·' bf· i:tal:i.ah··1a:'IV: in force in this•: .field~ .. ·.Hovrever,: the Lea.g~e .h ·1ow ~mirei'"tiia.t' AFIS and· the Unite·d Nations Ad.visory, Councd:l, · lending a.· vci.ll.i1;1g ear to' 'the'-'•un:ju:sti cbmplalnts·::anci prcrt'estel'--of- the -Very Parties· which:' wiere•. disturbing public order, di scour.aged the Soma.1i Government by disapproving: the~_;_ •' titnei:/ iawi,: voted' tb:rough .. parliainertta:ry 'initiative, which were .meant to .prevent . • ' • • • t .• ' . • ' f ..... .,~ .. ,· , •' • •, •. ' . ' ' ·internal· ·subversion-' ·and ··a.na·rch';Y·.' We refei' here to the: measure ... granting- the ·· :. · Governill.t:~t '.domplenieirta.i-y pov1ers f'or a p'eriod 'of ·twelve .months~, which ,was .approved by the' iegfslat±v'et'Assembly and· 'which; it 'Seems, wa.s, cli'Sa)?prciv:ed:·;tj;y: this. Cow:ic;;tl. , ·:' ,_, iJ!h.e Somai'i· 1oi.rth >League, ha;v-i-ng full ,conf!idence :tn· tlie Advisory- ..Ce>\l,Ilc:U ,and H.E'/the' 'Adinirifstra~'cfr;·. cannot feel offended by 'the •.va-rioUS'·"advice 'and sugge~,ttons w'hfcl! fu~/•ofcasionally :be given to 'its leaders,· -but ·1t notes with bittern~ss that' '·' soni.~·t'ini.es ;s'uch :ad.\i'i;ce' and s\1ggestions may ·appear as meant to ·correct er.ror!:i .which :, ,;atiif!h:·wliefi':s~eri ;iri the pure light of reason. )Fo:r instance; 'With regard ,tq-th(;.! preparatory pheae of the next political elections,. it was said.·by the Advispry •'-"'- .-.":·-• ,•:,, r •.• • ,, • • Council that·neither the single list nor the penal procedures against Party ·Lead~rs .• c6ui'd. be· considered as' democratic; the · last point,. incidentally; ~y ·'.:' .: app·~~r as me~ning that ev.eryori.e is' entitled to commit all poss:i.ble illegal ac-t1;1 vtltb.6ut ·suffering· the consequences thereof.,. ·: Concerning. the single list, it is difficult to understand what'is undemocratic in the fact that, of neces~ity, there would be no election where there·are-no·competing lists, sinceno obst!3,cles ha.vebeen opposed to the free presentation.of list$, according to the Law, on the part.of anybody. It is also difficult to unde~stand why, in a country which, more / ... T/PET.ll/L.37 English Page 4 than any other, is in need of public order, anybody should be free to transgress the Law, whether in a period of election or not. In the Trusteeship Agreement itself and the annexed Declaration of Constitutional Principles, the individual freedoms are subject to the requirements of public order and security (art. 20 of the Trusteeship Agreement and art. 9 of the Declaration of Constitutional Principles) • .For the next political elections, a Sl)ecial law was prepared and since the Laws are made to be observed by all and to be enforced by the Government, the extension of three days granted by Decree-Law - extension which results in a modification of all the dates.fixed in the law as approved by the Assembly - is clearly unjustified because all the Parties concerned had all the time that they needed to present their lists and, if they did not do it, it is either that they did not want to present them or because they were faced with internal difficulties of a disciplinary and organizational nature which cannot be imputed to the Government Authorities. In many districts, the Somali Youth League was faced with similar difficulties but it was able to overcome them thanks to the self-discipline of its members who knew how to restrain their personal ambitions and, also and above all, because the Central Direction left to the local committees f'Ull responsibility for compiling the lists of candidates.