After the Second World War, from 1950, the Italian part of Somalia was entrusted again to Italy, under the control of a trust administration. AFIS stands for "Amministrazione Fiduciaria Italiana in Somalia" and it means ""Trusted Italian Administration of Somalia". The purpose was to make Somalia autonomous and able to govern itself, and this target was achieved after 10 year, in 1960 and Somalia became independent.
During the decade of Italian control special plates were issued for the vehicles of the administration: they had the letters AFIS followed by a serial number, with white digits on black background. In the pictures below you can see a matched couple, first the rear and then the front, of these plates.
In the same years also civil plates were issued and they had the letters SO followed by a serial number (Guglielmo Evangelista told me that also the full print SOMALIA was in use), as you can see in the last two pictures.
At the end of the Italian trust administration, Somalia used some plates with numbers that continued the Italian numbering system: it is possible to see a picture of one of these plates clicking qui (many thanks to Vincent Moens for the image).
I want to thank Salvatore Romano very much for all these incredible pictures... these plates were attached to his own vehicles when he was in Somalia at that time!
