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Rh of desperation was formed towards the end of the World War, Self was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on Oct. 3 1918. In this capacity it fell to his lot to conduct the negotia- tions for the Armistice, first with President Wilson and then with the Allied and Associated Powers. He continued to hold this office as an " expert " under the revolutionary Socialist Govern- ment of the Commissioners of the People, and did not resign till Dec. 17 1918. In 1920 he was appointed German charge d'af- faires and afterwards ambassador to Tokio. He was the author of Weltpolitik und Kolonialpolitik (1918) and of Kolonialpoli- tik, Mein politischcs Vermachtniss (1919).

SOMALILAND (see 25.378). The territorial division of Somaliland between Abyssinia, Great Britain, France and Italy, except for a comparatively slight readjustment of the Italo-Abyssinian frontier, remained unchanged during the period 1910-21. However, Italy obtained from Great Britain the promise of the addition to Italian Somaliland of part of the Jubaland province of British East Africa (Kenya Colony). Italy also desired to acquire the port of Jibuti (French Somaliland), but failed to do so (see AFRICA: History).

BRITISH SOMALILAND. From 1910 to 1920 the mullah Ma- hommed bin Abdullah, popularly known in Britain as the " Mad Mullah," continued to dominate the interior of the protectorate. In March 1910 the British troops were withdrawn to the sea- ports and a policy of " strict coastal concentration " adopted. Officially arrangements had been made to enable the friendly tribes to defend themselves from attack by the Mullah; in fact the " friendlics " were not only systematically raided by the dervishes, but also quarrelled among themselves. At the end of 191 2 a camel constabulary, 1 50 strong, was raised and under R. C. Corfield checked inter-tribal fighting. In Aug. 1913 Corfield, acting against instructions, engaged a raiding party of some 200 dervishes at a place called Dolmadoba, no m. S.E. of Berbera. In the action Corfield was killed, his little force of 109 men had over 50 % casualties and was compelled to fall back. G. F. Archer, the acting commissioner, rode out from Burao (40 m. distant) with an escort of 20 Indian troops and covered the retreat. The dervishes proceeded to occupy some of the chief grazing ground of the "friendlies" and the Mullah built strong forts at Jidballi and Shimber Berris places in the S.E. part of the British pro- tectorate, Jidballi being 220 m. S.E. of Berbera. In March 1914 dervish raiders reached the coast and fired into the town of Berbera. Archer, who in May 1914 became commissioner of the protectorate 1 in succession to H. A. Byatt, urged that duty should compel Britain to safeguard the tribes in the protectorate and further operations were authorized. Sheikh and Burao were reoccupied and on Nov. 23 Maj. (local Lt.-Col.) T. A. Cubitt defeated the dervishes at Shimber Berris. Cubitt having returned to Burao, the dervishes reoccupied Shimber Berris. Here they were again attacked by Cubitt on Feb. 3-4 1915, and after severe fighting, partly in caves, were driven out and ail their forts destroyed. There was no means of following up the Mullah, nor any belief that his power had been crushed, though for over a year after the destruction of Shimber Berris he remained quies- cent. His headquarters were at Tale, towards the Italian fron- tier, where, under the direction of Arab masons from the Yemen, his followers built elaborate stone fortifications of great strength.

Subsequently the Mullah again overran the centre and east of the protectorate, building more forts and making many raids on the "friendlies." This state of affairs lasted until 1920, when carefully planned and ably executed operations resulted in the complete destruction of. the Mullah's forces. The Mullah had, in Sept. 1919, suddenly moved northward from Tale to Jidballi with most of his fighting men, establishing his own camp in the hills at Medishe, 12 m. N.W. of Jidballi. This move, occa- sioned by the hostility of the Mijertin Somalis, proved advan- tageous to the British plans. The main attack was made from the air, the force employed being one flight of DHg aeroplanes under Group-Capt. R. Gordon. The ground troops were a King's African Rifles contingent (700 rifles), the Somaliland Camel Corps (700 rifles) and the ist loist Grenadiers, Indian

1 In Oct. 1919 the title was changed to that of governor.

Army (400 rifles). Lt.-Col. G. H. Summers was in command, the whole operations being, apart from the initial attacks by the air force, under the personal direction of Archer. Hostilities began on Jan. 21 with an aerial attack on the Mullah's camp at Medishe and ended on Feb. 12 with the flight of the Mullah, his eldest son, a brother and four or five followers. The rest of his follow- ers were killed or. captured, together with all his stock and prop- erty of every kind. The killed included 7 of the Mullah's sons; the captured, his 5 wives, 6 of his sons, 4 daughters and 2 sisters. The British casualties were very slight 3 natives killed and 8 wounded. The cost of these operations was about 84,000. Their success was primarily and mainly due to the Royal Air Force. The dervishes, good fighting men, were demoralized from the start by the attacks from the air and offered no serious opposi- tion. They appeared not to know the character of aeroplanes; 1 when the first attack was made on Medishe the Mullah is reported to have regarded the appearance of the machines in the air as a divine manifestation. It is known that on their approach he col- lected his people around him and awaited their coming under the white canopy used on state occasions. The first bomb killed an uncle of the Mullah's, who was standing by his side, and singed the Mullah's clothing.

When the British captured Tale (Feb. 9) the Mullah was already in flight, and he succeeded in eluding pursuit with the small following named. He crossed the Haudh to Galadi. News was received in the summer of 1921 that the Mullah had died at Imi in the heart of the Ogaden country the previous Feb., de- serted and destitute. The Mullah's defeat was regarded in Somaliland as marking the deliverance of the country from 21 years of dervish oppression. Archer, to whose persistent advo- cacy this result was due, was created a K.C.M.G.

The World War and the high prices prevailing in 1918-20 had a marked influence on trade, the Somalis exporting large numbers of sheep and goats for the Aden Field Force and many thousands of camels for the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Apart from this the most valuable export was skins and hides, the Somali skins being of very high quality. The great majority of the skins, especially the sheepskins, went eventually to the American market. The chief imports American grey sheeting, dates, rice, sugar and tea showed a heavy decline in quantity during the war, but an increase in value. Trade with Abyssinia continued, but the Zeila route could not compete beyond Harrar with the railway-borne traffic through Jibuti. In 1910-1 the total value of imports was 267,000 and of exports 247,000. In 1919-20 the figures were: imports 754,000, exports 346,000 (of which 134,000 was the value of hides). External trade was mainly in the hands of Indians and Arabs.

Revenue was mainly derived from customs and was inadequate to meet the cost of administration. The figures for 1910-1 were: revenue 30,000, expenditure 99,000; for 1919-20 revenue 81,000, expenditure 322,000. Deficits, incurred mainly for military purposes, were met by Imperial grants in aid. There was evidence to show that, with internal peace and a reasonable development of the resources of the country, the protectorate would become self-supporting. It was known to contain oil-fields, favourably reported upon by experts as long ago as 1914. A step towards opening the interior was taken in 1920 when a motor road was made from Berbera (the capital and chief port) to Lower Sheikh and from Upper Sheikh to Burao.

See R. E. Drake Brockman, British Somaliland (1917); H. F. Prevost Battersby, Richard Corfield of Somaliland (1914) ; A. H. E. Mosse, My Somali Book (1913); A. Hamilton, Somaliland (1911); and the annual Colonial Office reports on the protectorate. The account of the final overthrow of the Mullah is given in a supplement to the London Gazette of Nov. I 1920.

FRENCH SOMALILAND. Situated on the western shores of the Bab-el-Mandeb, French Somaliland is important as possessing the only French port on the Suez Canal route and as being the main artery of trade with Abyssinia. The pop. in 1917 was estimated at 206,000. Jibuti, the port and capital, had 13,608 inhabitants, of whom 294 were Europeans (107 French).

The resources of the country, which is largely arid, are limited. Date palms have been planted in the desert round Jibuti. Cotton-growing was tried in the same neighbourhood but was abandoned. On the higher ground there is rich grassland, on which the natives Somali and Danakil have herds of camels, goats and black-faced sheep. The Bahr 'Asal has been exploited since 1912 for its immense deposits of salt; in 1918 the export was 11,500 metric tons. There is also a considerable fishing industry, and mother-of-pearl figures among the exports.

Jibuti is regularly visited by French, British and Italian steamers and has a local service to Aden. In 1917 the steamers entered at