Trust Territory of Somaliland in the context of List of Prime Ministers of Somalia

Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an unrecognised state in the Horn of Africa. It is located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the south and west, and Somalia to the east. Its claimed territory has an area of 176,120 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), with approximately 6.2 million people as of 2024. The capital and largest city is Hargeisa.

Various Somali Muslim kingdoms were established in the area during the early Islamic period, including in the 14th to 15th centuries the Zeila-based Adal Sultanate. In the early modern period, successor states to the Adal Sultanate emerged, including the Isaaq Sultanate, which was established in the middle of the 18th century. In the late 19th century, the United Kingdom signed agreements with various clans in the area, establishing the Somaliland Protectorate, which was formally granted independence by the United Kingdom as the State of Somaliland on 26 June 1960. Five days later, the State of Somaliland voluntarily united with the Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somalia) to form the Somali Republic. The union of the two states proved problematic early on, and in response to the harsh policies enacted by Somalia's Barre regime against the main clan family in Somaliland, the Isaaq, shortly after the conclusion of the disastrous Ogaden War, a 10-year war of independence concluded with the declaration of Somaliland's independence in 1991. The Government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to British Somaliland.

The Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaalida; Italian: Repubblica Somala; Arabic: الجمهورية الصومال aṣ-Ṣūmāl) was formed by the union of the Italian territory of Somaliland (formerly Italian Somaliland) and the State of Somaliland (formerly British Somaliland). A government was formed by Abdullahi Issa Mohamud and Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal and other members of the trusteeship and protectorate administrations, with Haji Bashir Ismail Yusuf as President of the Somali National Assembly and Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as President of the Somali Republic. On 22 July 1960, Daar appointed Abdirashid Ali Shermarke as prime minister. On 20 July 1961 and through a popular referendum, Somalia ratified a new constitution, which was first drafted in 1960. The new constitution was rejected by Somaliland.

The administration lasted until 1969, when the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) seized power in a bloodless coup and renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic.

Hargeisa (/hɑːrˈɡeɪsə/ har-GAY-sə; Somali: Hargeysa; Arabic: هرجيسا, romanized: Harjīsā) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland, a de facto sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still considered internationally to be part of Somalia. It is also the regional capital of the Maroodi Jeex region of Somaliland.

Hargeisa was founded as a watering and trading stop between the coast and the interior by the Isaaq Sultanate. Initially it served as a watering well for the vast livestock of the Isaaq clan that inhabited that specific region and later were joined by other Isaaq clans that currently inhabit Hargeisa. In 1960, the Somaliland Protectorate gained independence from the United Kingdom and as scheduled united days later with the Trust Territory of Somaliland (former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic on 1 July. Up to 90% of the city was destroyed during the Isaaq genocide, a state-sponsored campaign of violence during the Somaliland War of Independence.

Somaliland, officially the State of Somaliland (Somali: Qaranka Soomaaliland), was an independent country in the territory of the present-day unilaterally declared Republic of Somaliland, which regards itself as its legal successor. It existed on the territory of former British Somaliland for five days between 26 June 1960 and 1 July 1960, when it was merged with the formerly Italian administered Trust Territory of Somaliland to form the Somali Republic.

Greater Somalia, also known as Greater Somaliland (Somali: Soomaaliweyn; Arabic: الصومال الكبرى, romanized: al-Sūmāl al-Kubrā), is the geographic location comprising the regions in the Horn of Africa in which ethnic Somalis live and have historically inhabited.

During the Scramble for Africa at the end of the 19th century, Somali-inhabited territories were partitioned between imperial powers. The unification of these territories became a focal objective of an independent Somalia. Referred to as "Greater Somalia," these regions, at the outset of Somali independence, encompassed State of Somaliland (former British Somaliland) and Trust Territory of Somaliland (former Italian Somaliland), which had successfully merged into a single nation in 1960. French Somaliland, the Northern Frontier District (NFD) in Kenya, and the Ogaden region in Ethiopia were placed under the control of neighboring states despite the pre-independence unification efforts of Somali nationalists.

Abdullahi Issa Mohamud (Somali: Cabdullaahi Ciise Maxamuud, Arabic: عبد الله عيسى محمد (1921 – March 24, 1988) was a Somali politician. He was the Prime Minister of Italian Somalia during the trusteeship period, serving from February 29, 1949, to July 7, 1960.

The prime minister of Somalia (Somali: Ra'iisul wasaaraha Soomaaliya) is the head of government of Somalia. There have been 22 official prime ministers since the office was created in 1956. The first prime minister was Abdullahi Issa, who served prior to independence in the Trust Territory of Somaliland. The current prime minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia is Hamza Abdi Barre, approved by the House of the People on 25 June 2022.

A constitutional referendum was held in Somalia on 20 June 1961 to vote on the new constitution for the country created the previous year by the union of the State of Somaliland and the Trust Territory of Somaliland. It was approved by 91% of voters.

In the territory of former State of Somaliland, the Somali National League (SNL) party encouraged a boycott of the referendum, and 60% of the approximately 100,000 votes from the area opposed the constitution. However the south of the country had 1,952,660 voters, effectively giving the south the power of veto, and obfuscated the fact there was no popular mandate for a union.