Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie courted Somali clubs to expand his empire

Evidence

The club’s first president went to Addis Ababa several months after SYC’s founding and had an interview with the Ethiopian emperor. The emperor told Sakhawa Diin that “he is in full sympathy with the principles of the SYC and is ready to accord them any assistance in his power. The Emperor also added that the flag of Ethiopia is the banner of all Africans.” Memorandum on native clubs in Somalia, 49. The Ethiopian regime’s sympathies were based on SYC’s anti-Italian views, but beyond that the emperor was fishing for Somalis to support his agenda of obtaining Somalia as part of his empire. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1194

Categorization

• XREF: Plausibly connects to broader scholarship on Haile Selassie’s expansionist designs and Ethiopian claims on Somali territory during decolonization; echoes the later Ogaden dispute.