Relations between the territories of presente-night Somalia and the United Kingdom date back to the 19th century . In 1884 , Britain established the British Somaliland protectorate in northern Somalia after signing successive treaties with the then ruling Somali Sultans , such as Mohamoud Ali Shire of the Warsangali Sultanate . In 1900 , the Somali religious leader Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan ( " Mad Mullah " ) 's Dervish forces began a twenty-year resistance movement against British troops . This military campaign eventually came to an end in 1920 , after Britain aerially bombarded the Dervish capital of Taleh . Following World War II , Britain retained control of both British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland as protectorates . In 1945 , during the Potsdam Conference , the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland , but only under close supervision and on the condition — first proposed by the Somali Youth League ( SYL ) and other nascent Somali political organizations , such as Hizbia Digil Mirifle Somali ( HDMS ) and the Somali National League ( SNL ) — that Somalia achieve independence within ten years . British Somaliland remained a protectorate of Britain until 1960
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
Somalia–United Kingdom relations