Next, the East African government and the British held in-depth discussions over the Indian Ocean issue, which was also Thomson's purpose in coming here.
Thomson said, "In recent years, the bandits led by Hassan have stirred up a bloody storm across the Horn of Africa, gravely threatening the safety of merchant ships from all nations in the Gulf of Aden maritime territory."
"Therefore, our two countries can fully cooperate to strike at forces such as the Gulf of Aden pirates led by Hassan. We are also willing to hand over the Horn of Africa region east of Berbera to East Africa, for you to maintain local stability."
Who was Hassan, that he deserved to be singled out by Thomson?
That had to begin with the establishment of the British Somaliland colony. In the last century, East Africa controlled most of southern Somalia, while Britain's British Somaliland colony had not been idle either. To prevent the Horn of Africa from falling into East African hands, Britain actively expanded eastward, almost occupying the Gulf of Aden coastal regions of Somalia from the previous world.
Yet from the very beginning, Britain's colonization of Somaliland had not been particularly secure. As invaders, they were bound to face fierce resistance from the locals.
Hassan was the leader of an Arab religious resistance force that had risen in British Somaliland in the late 1890s. Though his strength was vastly inferior to that of the British, Hassan led his followers deep into the British Somaliland interior and maneuvered against them.
Unlike East Africa, the British could not pursue a two-pronged approach—conquering by force on one hand while emptying the nest and changing the bird on the other. This allowed Hassan to make full use of British Somaliland's popular base to wage guerrilla warfare against the British.
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