Prior to independence, colonial Somalia was governed by the Italians in the north and the British in the south. The provisional government in the Italian-administered trust territory created a small army from the Somali Police Force's Mobile Group (Darawishta Poliska). In July, 1960 the Italian trust territory joined with British Somaliland to form the Somali Republic. Troops from the Darawishta combined with those of the British trained Somaliland Scouts to form the initial Somali National Army (SNA).  Many of the highly trained Somaliland Scouts went on to form the core of the elite Somali Guards force.