1967 French Somaliland Independence Referendum on:
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An independence referendum was held in
Elections in Djibouti
African Elections Database Voting was also divided along ethnic lines, with the resident
An independence referendum was held in French Somaliland
French Somaliland (french: Côte française des Somalis, lit= French Coast of the Somalis so, Xeebta Soomaaliyeed ee Faransiiska) was a French colony in the Horn of Africa. It existed between 1884 and 1967, at which time it became the French Te ...
on 19 March 1967. It was ordered by then President of France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, General Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...
, in response to rioting and demonstrations upon an official visit he made to the territory the year before.''A Political Chronology of Africa'', (Taylor & Francis), p.132.''Newsweek'', Volume 81, (Newsweek: 1973), p.254. Voters rejected independence from France by a 22-point margin.
It was the second of three independence referendums. In the first referendum, the 1958 French Somaliland constitutional referendum, voters rejected independence by a 50-point margin. In the third referendum, the 1977 Afars and Issas independence referendum
An independence referendum was held in the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas on 8 May 1977 alongside an election for a Constituent Assembly. Previous referendums were held in 1958 and 1967,Kevin Shillington, ''Encyclopedia of African hi ...
, voters near-unanimously backed independence.
Conduct
As with the previous referendum of 1958, the vote was marred by reports of vote rigging on the part of the French authorities,American Universities Field Staff, ''Northeast Africa series'', Volume 15, Issue 1, (American Universities Field Staff.: 1968), p.3. with some 10,000 Somalis deported under the pretext that they did not have valid identity cards.Jean Strouse
Jean Strouse (born 1945) is an American biographer, cultural administrator, and critic. She is best known for her biographies of diarist Alice James and financier J. Pierpont Morgan.
Strouse was an editorial assistant at ''The New York Review o ...
, ''Newsweek'', Volume 69, Issues 10-17, (Newsweek: 1967), p.48. According to official figures, although the territory was at the time inhabited by 58,240 Somali and 48,270 Afar, only 14,689 Somali were allowed to register to vote versus 22,004 Afar.Africa Research, Ltd, ''Africa contemporary record: annual survey and documents'', Volume 1, (Africana Pub. Co.: 1969), p.264. Somali representatives also claimed that the French had simultaneously imported thousands of Afar nomads from neighboring Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
to further tip the odds in their favor. The French authorities denied this, suggesting that Afars already greatly outnumbered Somalis on the voting lists.
Results
Initial results supported a continued but looser relationship with France, with 60.6% of the electorate voting for the status quo on a 95% turnout.African Elections Database Voting was also divided along ethnic lines, with the resident
Somalis
The Somalis ( so, Soomaalida 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒆𐒖, ar, صوماليون) are an ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic Somali language is the shared ...
by and large voting for independence, with the goal of eventual reunion with Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...
, and the Afars generally opting to remain associated with France.
Aftermath
The announcement of results led to civil unrest and several deaths. The French government increased its military force along the frontier.Alvin J. Cottrell, Robert Michael Burrell, Georgetown University. Center for Strategic and International Studies, ''The Indian Ocean: its political, economic, and military importance'', (Praeger: 1972), p.166.References
{{Djiboutian elections French S Referendums in DjiboutiIndependence referendums
An independence referendum is a type of referendum in which the residents of a territory decide whether the territory should become an independent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independence does not alwa ...
Djibouti
Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...
French Somaliland
March 1967 events in Africa