Britain could not suppress unification because it distrusted Somali troops

Evidence

The British were concerned about the pace of events and had a difficult choice to make. They entertained the possibility of rejecting the wishes of the legislative assembly but knew that they would be confronted with massive resistance. This would have required bringing in British troops to keep order since they were not confident that they could rely on Somali troops to enforce their commands. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 450

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim that Britain could not rely on Somali troops to enforce commands is intriguing — what evidence did the British have for this distrust?