Dhulbahante

Dhulbahante
البهانتة

Regions with significant populations
Languages
Somali and Arabic
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Majeerteen, Dishiishe, Warsangali and other Harti and Darod groups.

The Dhulbahante (Somali: Duulbaahaante, Arabic: البهانتة) is a Somali clan, part of the larger Harti Darod clan. Members primarily inhabit the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Ayn. They also live some parts of Nugaal and the southern Hawd.

Overview

Currently, there are 13 active Garaads (clan chiefs). The most senior Garaad of the traditional Dhulbahante leaders is Garad Jama Garad Ali. Politically, most of the clan chiefs are anti-Somaliland while others support the presences of Somaliland in their territory.

Distribution

The Dhulbahante inhabit huge expanse of territory where they setle in 4 regions in northern Somalia. While they make a large percentage of the population in Togdheer and Sanaag regions, they also settle in some parts of the Nugaal region.

History

Dervish Period

Under the leadership of Sayid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, the Dhulbahante Dervishes waged war against Britain and Ethiopia for over twenty years, which ended with the British Royal Air Force bombing their command center in Taleex in 1920.Since, the majority of the dervish fighters hailed from the Dhulbahante clan, as a consequence the British considered them as hostile clans.

In 1899 after winning the support of the Aden Madobe of the Habar Jeclo ,Eastern Habr Yunis and sections of the Dhulbahanta. The Mullah and Sultan Nur sent a delegation to the Cheif of the Bahararsame, Garad Ali Garad Mahamud, enjoining him and his clan to participate in the war against the British. The Garaad did not wish to be under the authority of the Dervish, instead wanting to retain his autonomy as Clan cheif. After meeting with the Mullah and his dervish council a heated debate ensued and before leaving the Garaad concluded by saying " I am the Ruler of Nugaal and its people, their management is mine and i expect everybody to respect it". This enraged the Mullah and so he sent a team of assassins to kill the Garaad. News of the assassination spread and outraged sections of the Dhulbahante who subsequently left the Dervish, leaving only the Mullah's maternal clan, the Ali geri as his only Dhulbahante supporters.

1912 was a tumultous year for the Dhulbahnta clans inhabiting the Bohotle and ain valley. The clans of Bohotle being allies of the British, feared an imminent Dervish attacked and had evacuted and sought refuge in Burao, Berbera and Haud among the Isaaq clans. The British officer Byatt in his report says 800 dhulbahanta refugees arrived in Berbera, but feared that they could not be protected nor fed properly, stating that only 300 native infantry and 200 African kings rifles were in Berbera and insufficient to hold off a Dervish attack. Byatt also raised concerns of the refugees on route to British territory and the possibility of them being looted by hostile clans, especially the Habr Yunis.

Bristsh colonial administrator, Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer describing the plight of the Dhulbahanta writes :

But the most pitiful lot of all fell to certain sections of the Dolbahanta. Ousted from their ancestral grazing grounds by the Mullah's advance and bereft of all their stock, the remnants wandered like veritable Ishamaeilites in the Ishaak country, deprived of Asylum and almost all access to the coast.

In 1913 the Dervish raided and looted herds from the Dhulbahanta. In order to rustle back their herds the Somaliland camel corps and 300 Dhulbahante warriors commanded by Richard Corfeild pursued and attacked the Dervish at Dul Madoba. They failed to regain their livestock and Corfeild was killed in battle.

Aerial bombardment of Dervish forts in Taleh

Dulbahante traditional clan chiefs declaration

An historic summit was convened in Boocame from November 15 – November 23 of 2007, by the traditional leaders of the Dulbahante (Dhulbahante) sub-clan of the Darod clan in Somalia. The Dulbahante traditional chiefs issued an official communiqué on October 15, 2007 regarding the secessionist Somaliland region's militias’ aggression and occupation of Laascaanood (LasAnod), the regional capital of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn regions of Somalia.

All 14 major traditional chiefs of the Dulbahante clan attended this summit. In addition to the traditional chiefs, there were many intellectuals (women & men), students and civic organizations from outside and inside of the country attending the summit. All chiefs unanimously signed declaration communiqué on November 22, 2007.

The communiqué states that the Dulbahante clan is not part of (and was never part of) and does not recognize the administration that calls itself "Somaliland" and that there are no agreements between Dulbahante clan and "Somaliland", in the past or the present. The communiqué also calls for an immediate end of hostility, return of customary peaceful co-existences among clans and an unconditional removal of the Somaliland militia from their territory. Finally, chiefs declared that the Dulbahante clan stands for the Somali unity.

In the anniversary of their historic summit in Boocame in November 2007, the Dulbahante Traditional Chiefs (SSC Traditional Leaders Council) reiterated their previous declaration (above) that they are not part of the Somaliland separatist movement. The council sent its pronouncement to the European Union, United Nations Agencies and all NGOs that operate within Somalia.

Clan tree

There is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures and many lineages are omitted. Within the Dhulbahante clan, according to the researches of I.M. Lewis, the Dhulbahante are divided into 50 groups which pay diyya (or blood money for their members. These are gathered into four lineages of unequal size: the Muuse Si'iid, who made up the majority of the clan circa 1960, and in turn is highly segmented into numerous lineages; the Ahmad Si'iid, (also known as the Hayaag), which Lewis estimated to number 1,000 male members at the time but now estimated at 7,500 male members; and the Malbammad Si'iid, and the Yuunis Si'iid, which he described as "small, insignificant, and incapable of independent political action." The following listing is taken from the World Bank's Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics from 2005 and the United Kingdom's Home Office publication, Somalia Assessment 2001.

• Darod (Daarood)
  • Marehan
    • Red Dini
    • Rer Hassan
    • Cali Dheere
  • Kabalah
    • Absame
      • Ogaden
        • Makabul
        • Mohamed Zubeir
        • Aulihan
      • Jidwaq
    • Harti
      • Dhulbahante (Dolbahante)
      • Warsangali (Warsengeli)
      • Dishiishe (Dishishe)
      • Majeerteen (Mijerteen)
        • Omar Mahmud
        • Issa Mahmud
        • Osman Mahmoud (Osman Mahmud)
        • Ali Saleeban

Notable Dhulbahante people

• Jama Omar Issa, Somali scholar, historian and collector of oral literature of Somalia. He wrote the first authoritative study of Dervishes.
• Abdi Bile, a former middle distance runner from Somalia and 1500m world champion in 1987.
• Abdisamad Ali Shire, former Vice President of Puntland
• Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi Hashi, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources of Somalia
• Mohamed Adam Ahmed, Chief of Staff of the Somali Armed Forces
• Ismail Mire, famous Somali poet and Dervish general.
• Ahmed Elmi Osman, the current minister of the Interior of Puntland.
• Ali Garad Jama, member of the United Somali Party, Somali Minister of Education during the 1960s, and ostensible king of the Dhulbahante clan.
• Amina Mohamed, former Chairman of the INM and the WTO's General Council, and the current Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Kenya.
• Mohamed Abdi Hashi, Second President of Puntland, October 2004 - January 2005.
• Ali Dhuh, Somali poet
• Saado Ali Warsame, singer-songwriter and former MP in the Federal Parliament of Somalia.
• Eng Mohamed Isse Lacle, colonel of Somali Navy and former Deputy Minister in Puntland Ministry of Ports, Maritime and Counter Piracy.