The Italian administration deployed pro-Italian Somali parties to counter SYL’s UN petitions

Evidence

The SYL sustained the pressure by sending delegations to present its case at the annual meeting of the trusteeship council, and the administration brought its Somali supporter to vouch for its claims in 1953. Abdulkadir Mohamed Aden, “Zoppo,” of HDMS went out of his way to portray the administration in a positive light: We know and we feel that we are children of the United Nations, and as such we wish to behave with true love for our parents, acting under the guidance of our tutor, Italy, to which you have entrusted us and which is devoting generous care to the achievement of our independence. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 308