Postwar Great-Power talks could not agree on Somalia’s future.

Evidence

When the proposal was first discussed in the ministerial forum, the US representative introduced a motion calling for a united Somalia jointly administered as a trust territory by the four powers. The French countered that all Italian colonies should be returned to Italy, and the Soviets sponsored a modified version of the French proposal, but Bevin declared, … Italy shall renounce her sovereignty over all her colonies; Libya shall be [an] independent state; … the Ethiopian Government should be heard before a final decision is taken on the future of Eritrea, in view of Ethiopian claims to that territory… . There should be a study by the deputies of the Council of Foreign Ministers as to the possibility of the creation of a new territory to be known as United Somalia consisting of British Somaliland, Italian Somaliland, the Ogaden and the Reserved Area, the last two being under the sovereignty of Ethiopia, in order to provide an economic and ethnic union in the interest of the people. Should there be agreement on this proposal, the United Kingdom should be given the trusteeship for United Somalia, (I) on the grounds that the area was liberated by British Commonwealth forces, and (II) since the United Kingdom would be voluntarily placing the Protectorate of British Somaliland under the Trusteeship system in the interests of the wider Area. If after investigation agreement was not reached on this scheme, the British offer would be withdrawn. … The British proposal failed to gain the support of the other powers, and the ministers were unable to agree on an alternative scenario. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 234