SOMALIA WHO OWNS WHAT ? IT WAS 9 O'CLOCK ON A HOT, 
EQUATORIAL NIGHT, AND THE LOCALS WERE LIVING IT UP OUTSIDE PASSONI'S 
GROCERY STORE ON THE POTHOLED MAIN DRAG OF MOGADISHU, CAPITAL OF 
SOMALIA . ITALIAN SETTLER PASSONI, AN ENTERPRISING SORT, WAS RAFFLING OFF 
BOXES OF GROCERIES . SUDDENLY, A NEWS BULLETIN FROM NEIGHBORING KENYA 
BLARED FROM A RADIO IN A BAR NEXT DOOR . AN 
INSTANT LATER, THE GUTTURAL TWITTER THAT IS THE SOMALI TONGUE BECAME 
AN OMINOUS MUTTERING, AND THE CROWD OF 500 WAS ON THE 
RAMPAGE . STONING CARS, THE SOMALIS MARCHED TO THE BRITISH EMBASSY, 
TOUCHING OFF THREE DAYS OF SHOUTING, WINDOW-SMASHING RIOTS . MATTER OF 
HERITAGE . WHAT SET OFF THE EXPLOSION WAS ANNOUNCEMENT BY BRITISH 
COLONIAL SECRETARY DUNCAN SANDYS THAT A SLICE OF SCRUB AND SAND 
WHICH BORDERS ON SOMALIA WOULD BE MADE ONE OF SEVEN PROVINCES 
OF KENYA, WHICH IS DUE TO GET INDEPENDENCE NEXT YEAR (TIME, 
MARCH 15) . AS IT HAPPENS, KENYA'S NORTHEAST HAS LONG BEEN 
A FAVORITE SQUATTING GROUND FOR NOMADIC SOMALI TRIBESMEN, WHO HERD THEIR 
CAMELS AND GOATS BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE HORN OF AFRICA 
WITHOUT HEED TO NATIONAL BORDERS . FIERCELY INDEPENDENT, THE ILLITERATE MOSLEM 
TRIBESMEN FIGHT SAVAGELY AMONG THEMSELVES FOR GRAZING LAND, FOR THIS IS 
THE POSSESSION THEY HOLD MOST DEAR . A PROUD PEOPLE, TALL, 
LITHE AND FINE-FEATURED, THE SOMALIS ARE HAMITIC IN ORIGIN, DESCENDED IN 
PART FROM 7TH CENTURY ARABS WHO CROSSED INTO AFRICA FROM YEMEN 
. FOREVER VAIN ABOUT THEIR HERITAGE, THEY ARE ALSO ACCUSTOMED TO 
HAVING THEIR OWN WAY . THE SOMALIS BEGAN RUNNING INTO THE 
STUBBORN OBJECTIONS OF OTHERS SHORTLY AFTER SOMALIA (POP . 2,000,000) WON 
INDEPENDENCE IN 1960 AND BEGAN BUILDING A NATION OUT OF FORMER 
ITALIAN SOMALIA AND BRITISH SOMALILAND . EMPEROR HAILE SELASSIE COLDLY SAID 
NO TO SOMALIA'S INSISTENCE ON ANNEXATION OF AN ETHIOPIAN BORDER AREA 
CONTAINING 1,000,000 SOMALIS . FRANCE LIKEWISE REFUSED TO GIVE UP FRENCH 
SOMALILAND, WHERE 600,000 SOMALIS LIVE . AND THOUGH THE BLEAK, BARREN 
SLICE OF TERRITORY INSIDE KENYA HARBORS 200,000 SOMALIS, KENYA'S BLACK NATIONALIST 
LEADERS, LED BY EX-MAU MAU CHIEFTAIN JOMO ( " BURNING SPEAR 
/ ) KENYATTA, HAVE ALWAYS VOWED THAT LOSS OF THEIR NORTHEAST 
CORNER WOULD MEAN WAR WITH THEIR OWN BLACK RENDILLES, WHO COVER 
THEMSELVES WITH FEATHERS ; WITH THEIR TURKANAS, WHO WEAR LITTLE EXCEPT 
MUD HATS ; AND WITH THE MARILLES, WHO WEAR ONLY RIFLES 
. THUS, BRITAIN'S SANDYS WAS BOUND TO MAKE ENEMIES AND TO 
RISK VIOLENCE NO MATTER WHAT HIS DECISION ABOUT KENYA'S FRONTIER . 
SPEARING THE COMMISSIONER . NO SOMALI SAW IT THAT WAY . 
MOBS SURGING THROUGH MOGADISHU'S HEAT (100O PLUS) HAD TO BE BROKEN 
UP BY MOUNTED POLICE SWINGING LONG BATONS ; BEFORE THE DISTURBANCE 
WAS QUELLED, SOME 500 PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED . IN HARGEISA, THE 
ONETIME CAPITAL OF BRITISH SOMALILAND, CROWDS STONED BRITISH HOMES AND CARS, 
ATTACKED THE BRITISH CONSULATE . PRESUMABLY BECAUSE OF BRITAIN'S CLOSE TIES 
TO THE U.S., NEWLY ARRIVED U.S . AMBASSADOR HORACE TORBERT WAS 
STONED OUT OF THE TOWN OF GALCAIO, HIS LAND-ROVER NARROWLY OUTDISTANCING 
A MOB OF 1,000 MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN . IN KENYA 
ITSELF, A SOMALI TRIBESMAN SPEARED A DISTRICT COMMISSIONER, LIEUT . COLONEL 
JOHN BALFOUR, AND ONE MOB HAULED DOWN THE UNION JACK . 
RESTORING INTERNAL ORDER WITH TROOPS, SOMALIA'S PREMIER ABDIRASHID ALI SHERMARKE CALLED 
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY INTO SESSION, DEMANDED THAT " RELATIONS WITH BRITAIN 
BE REVISED . " AS THE DEBATE DRONED ON, THE BRITISH 
HOPED THAT PASSIONS MIGHT COOL . BUT AT WEEK'S END THE 
OUTRAGED DEPUTIES VOTED 74 TO 14 TO BREAK OFF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS 
WITH LONDON, THOUGH IT SEEMED CLEAR THAT CONSULAR TIES WOULD BE 
RETAINED ; SUCH A COMPROMISE APPEARED APPROPRIATE IN VIEW OF THE 
FACT THAT THE BRITISH WERE TO SUPPLY SOMALIA WITH $3,600,000 IN 
AID THIS YEAR . WITH A SIGH AND A SHRUG, BRITAIN'S 
MOGADISHU EMBASSY BEGAN PACKING UP, AND IN LONDON THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT 
SUGGESTED THAT IT " WILL AT AN APPROPRIATE TIME " RECONSIDER 
THE WHOLE NORTHEAST KENYA QUESTION . 