Republican Union (french: Union républicaine) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

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 Ter ...

History

The Republic Union was founded by

Mahamoud Harbi Farah Mahamoud Harbi Farah ( ar, محمود الحربي, so, Maxamuud Xarbi Faarax) (1921 – 29 September 1960) was a Djiboutian politician of Somali ethnicity. A pan-Somalist, he was the Vice President of the Government Council of French Somal ...

, a member of the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...

. The party contested the 1957 territorial assembly election, winning 61% of the vote and all 30 seats in the assembly. After the election Harbi became vice-president of the governing council of the territory. At the time, the party was allied to the

African Democratic Rally African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

. The party advocated the unification of all Somali-speaking areas into one state. Harbi and the Republican Union supported full independence in the 1958 referendum. After the referendum had been held (resulting in a defeat for the pro-independentists), pro-French leader

Hassan Gouled Hassan Gouled Aptidon ( so, Xasan Guuleed Abtidoon; ar, حسن جوليد أبتيدون) (October 15, 1916 – November 21, 2006) was the first President of Djibouti from 1977 to 1999. Biography He was born in the small village of Gerisa in ...

called for fresh elections to the territorial assembly. Harbi's government was deposed in a no confidence vote and the assembly was dissolved by the French governor Meker. The Republican Union mobilized protests against the dissolution of the territorial assembly. The protests turned violent; riots erupted and several persons died. The party was illegalized, and the party leaders were jailed. Harbi also disappeared from the local political scene,Jacques Foccart et Ali Aref
/ref> having been exiled to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

by the French authorities in 1958.United States Joint Publications Research Service, ''Translations on Sub-Saharan Africa'', Issues 464-492, (1966), p.24. He died in a plane crash two years later under mysterious circumstances.Barrington, Lowell, ''After Independence: Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial and Postcommunist States'', (University of Michigan Press: 2006), p.115 In December 1958, five imprisoned Republican Union leaders were released. The party continued to operate illegally. It had good contacts with the

Greater Somalia League The Greater Somalia League (GSL) was a political party in Somalia that advocated for the establishment of a Greater Somalia. History The GSL was led by Haaji Mahammad Husseen. It was formed by dissidents of the Somali Youth League (SYL). The par ...

. In 1963, former followers of Harbi founded the ''

Front de Libération de la Côte des Somalis ''Front de Libération de la Côte des Somalis'' (English: ''Front for the Liberation of the Somali Coast'') was a nationalist organization, and later a guerrilla group, in the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas in present-day Djibouti. It ...

''.Laudouze, André. ''Djibouti, nation carrefour. Méridiens''.

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

: Karthala, 1982. p. 47

References

{{reflist African and Black nationalist parties in Africa Defunct political parties in Djibouti French Somaliland Somali nationalism