The Republic Union was founded by Mahamoud Harbi Farah, a member of the French National Assembly.
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 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.
Harbi also disappeared from the local political scene,[4] having been exiled to Cairo by the French authorities in 1958.