Pan-Somali unification ambitions collided with superpower Cold War constraints

Evidence

Somalis in these territories, their desire to join the independent republic, and the commitment of the republic’s leadership and people to ensure the reunification of the Somalilands exerted strong political pressure on the government, which significantly constrained its policy options. However, such a desire for unification confronted the reality of the Cold War. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 647