Haile Selassie’s friendliness toward Somalis aimed to absorb them into Ethiopia

Evidence

After enjoying the kind company of his friends for several weeks he made his way to the cosmopolitan center of Dire Dawa. There he met two key Somali personalities, Jama Urdooh, a tea shop owner, and Sheikh Azhari, a learned man of Islam. Within a week of arriving in Dire Dawa, Hussen learned that Emperor Haile Selassie wanted to absorb Somalia and Eritrea into Ethiopia, which explained why the emperor was relatively friendly toward Somalis—it was a way of seducing them to his political agenda. Hussen teamed up with Urdooh to invigorate the SYL, since Hussen knew the principles and the songs of the party. They decided to establish an office, and Urdooh paid the initial rent and bought furniture. Many Somalis came to learn more about the nationalist party and its liberation strategy. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 211

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader story of Ethiopian-Somali territorial rivalry that recurs through Somalia’s early independence era.
• QUESTION: Worth verifying: how extensive was SYL organizational activity in Ethiopian-held Somali regions in the mid-1940s, given Dire Dawa and Jigjiga were then inside Ethiopia?