The Garre tribe (Somali: qabiil Garre, Arabic: قبيلة غَرِّيى, also spelt Garreh, Gerra ,Gurra, Gurre ) is a major Somali clan whose origins trace back to Samaale who traces the lineage from the Arabian Peninsula through Aqiil Abu Talib. The Garre clan are considered to belong to the Digil clan family hence sub-clan of Digil-Rahanweyn clan of Rahanweyn Somali clan but genealogically descend from Gardhere Samaale.
Somali clan lineage tree
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Somali Language | |
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| Hawiye. Dir, Rahaweyn & Darood |
History[]
Introduction[]
The Garre are of Samaale origin being descendants of Samaale with one evidence tracing their lineage to Mayle ibn Samale, and the other to Garedheere ibn Samaale, both sons of Samaale. Garre is divided into two major clans, Garre Tuuf which is associated with 'Pre-Hawiye' group (Gardere - Yakabur - Mayle) while the Quranyow Mohamed have traditional links to the Dir sub-clans of Mohamed Xinfitire. The Garre joined Rahaweyn constituent sub-clans of Digil, forming a part of the Rahaweyn confederation of clans., this was due to the fruit of nomadic life, the necessity of defense, the movement of new territory necessitated by a constant search for pasture and water have resulted over formation of new alliances and later, new clan identities. This show's indeed the Somali saying "tol waa tolane'' ( clan is something joined together) and the structure is not based on blood relationship, that is why you you'll find Garre is closely affiliated with Tunni and Jiido of the Lower Jubba Valley.
The Garre, a section of the Pre-Hawiye Somali or proto-Garre Somali gained control of the area between the Juba and the Tana rivers before the Galla arrived in this area, and The Arabs, who inhabited the Kismayu coast and islands parallel to the coast about 1660, and to whom local tombs and ruins are attributed, exerted considerable influence on the formation of the present-day characteristics of the Bajuni were also routed by the Somali Garre whom the Bajuni claims as ancestors- perhaps they were at one time Gerra clients.
Support for such a thesis was mainly based on the fact that the Garre group is the most widely dispersed among the Somali clans.
The Garre are a tribe of Somali origin who entering the country of the East, extended up the right bank of the Dawa as far as Juba to Galkayo. This place is looked on as a tribal headquarter and is the burying place of the chiefs. The Garre adopted the Galla language when they became subject to the Boran Kingdom which at the Zenith of its power extended along the Dawa to within 30 miles of its mouth, and as far south of El Wak. The Garre have recovered their independence but even know some of the wells at the El Wak belong to Boran families living in the highlands. The scattering of Garre is also supported by the small remnants they supposedly left along the routes they took in their migration. This is soo-called Boon Garre at the Afmadu, other boon Garre at Gelib near the mouth of the River Jubba and still others on the RIver Tana who spoke not the dialect of their Darood dialect neighbours rather the southern Somali dialect of the Rahaweyn speech variety because they had lived in Rahaweyn speaking area between the Jubba and Shebelle rivers, and yet other who lived around Baardhere and kept their own original Somali like language (Garreh Kofar). As all these re-migrant of different linguistic affiliation now share the same pastures again, a remarkable degree of multilingualism has developed, many individuals herdmen speak all three of these languages (Borana, Garreh Kofar, Rahaweyn) and, in addition often some Standard Somali or Swahili.
The Pre-Hawiye[]
The Pre-Hawiye, a much-reduced tribal-family, trace descent from an ancestor collateral to Irrir, and are accordingly genealogically anterior to the Hawiya. Their traditions show them to have preceded the Hawiya in the general expansions of the northern Somali towards the south. For these reasons Colluci has coined the term 'Pre-Hawiya' to distinguish them from the Hawiya to whom they are closely related. The term Pre-Hawiye, invented by Colluci, is used to describe any clan that is descended from one of the brothers of irir son of Samaale.
The term pre-Hawiye is useful since there is no Somali equivalent; the Somali people divide the ancient Somalis into the Dir and Hawiya - (The Dir are universally regarded as being the oldest Somali stock), thus the pre-Hawiya Garre, for example, regard themselves as more closely related to the Hawiye than to the Dir. The largest pre-Hawiye clans are the Garre, Hawdle, Degoodia, Galjaal and the Garre are the most ancient of all the pre-Hawiya clans. They occupied most of southern Somalia before the arrival of the Digil/Rahaweyn confederacy. Also, Bale province and Kenya's N.F.D. was inhabited by the Garre before the Oromo Boran and Warday entered the region.
According to the Garre that inhabit the southern Ethiopia there ancestors originally came from Merca, on the Somali coast. Evidence for this comes from the fact that Garre tribesmen are found on the islands of Bajun, just off the Southern Somalia coast, and they are also found in the strength near Merca..Examination of ancient muslim graves found in the Garre country were found to be identical to those found in the north-western Somalia; A.I. Curle made the following observation in 1933:
Pre-hawiye tribes distribution
" ...around the mosque oat Au Bakadleh in the Hargeisa District of the British Somaliland, there are many graves of this type, exact replicas of those on the Dawa some found some 500 miles distance in the Garre country."
The History of the Garre appeares to be similar to that of the Gurgura. Both of these tribes were involved with Trades; the Garre traded products from the southern Ethiopia to the Bajun Islands and Merca, while the Gurgura brought goods from the Hawash region to Zeila. Gerald Hanleys's description of the Somalis is extremely accurate. During the Second World War Hanley was in charge of Somali troops. His description of Mohamed, a Garre from El Wak, is fascinating:
" The Garre are even harder, fierce, more emotional than the Somalis( to whom they are related through the Hawiya tribal group), but this lad, Mohamed, was like a quivering black harp which burst into flames during emotional stress. He turned out to be the most savage, hysterical, loyal and dangerous human being i ever had with me in the bush. If he felt rage he acted upon it at once, with a knife, or with his nails and teeth, if he felt generous he gave everything away in sight, most of it your"
The decline of the Garre and Gurgura sultanates was a direct result of the invasion of the Oromo during the 16th Century. The Garre lost control of most of southern Ethiopia when the Boran and Warday drove them out; it was only with the assistance of pre-Hawiye tribes form the southern Somalis that enabled the Garre to recover some of their territory from the Oromos. The Boran maintain that when they entered southern Ethiopia the original inhabitants were Muslim and that they were pushed eastwards. Remnants of the original Muslim population of the Southern Ethiopia are still found among the Boran Oromos. 100 years ago European travellers came across many pre-hawiye tribes completely isolated from the Somalis; in 1894 Dr. A Donaldson smith mentioned muslim Hawiya Somalis in 100 villages in Karayu Boran country, under the rule of King Abofolato, chief of all the Boran, Somalis are also mentioned living with the Gabbra; Somalis belonging to the pre-hawiye and Hawiye clans inhabited most southern Ethiopia before the arrival of the Boran and Warday Oromos.
complete genealogy of pre-hawiye tribes
Distribution[]
The pre-hawiye tribe comprises of 7 family excluding Irir:- Gardhere, Garjante, Yahabur, Meyle, Magarre, Hariire, Karuure. The largest pre-Hawiye clans are the Garre, Hawadle, Degoodia, Galjaal and the Garre are the most ancient of all the pre-Hawiya clans. The Hawadle live north of the river Shebelle, adjacent to the Marehan Darod and just north of the Abgaal Hawiye. The Galjaal live next the to the Hawadle, they are also found further south near the River Jubba. The Degodia inhabit northern kenya and southern Ethiopia. The Garre are the most important tribe of the pre-Hawiya family. They occur in four large autonomous groups: on the lower reaches of the Shebelle in Audegle District around Dolo on the upper jubba, between the Webi Gestro and the Webi Mana in contact and to some extent intermixed with the Arussi Galla, and to the south-west between the Ajuran and Degodia Somali and the Boran Galla of the Northern Frontier Province of Kenya. The northernmost group adjacent to the Galla Arrusi have acquired some features of Galla culture; Galla and Somali are both spoken. Galla Arussi villages are intermixed with those of the Garre (Gurra) but are kept separate from those of the Somali. The Garre (Gurra) of this region have traditions similar to those of the other Garre groups and consider themselves Somali rather than Galla. Garre traditions generally recount movement southwards from the North-west corner of British Somaliland. As a whole, the Garre are nomadic pastoralists with large numbers of camels, sheep, goats and where the habitat is suitable, they settle and domesticate their cattle.
HISTORY[]
PRE AND POST-COLONIAL HISTORY ( 1800-1916)[]
During Captain Owen’s expedition of 1824 to East Africa, he stated that the Wardai controlled the whole area between the Jubba and Tana rivers.[1] However, the exact limit of their power inland was never definable in the 19th century except in so far as the River Dawa was concerned, and only from the traditions of the Garre is it now clear that at the beginning of the century the Wardai were in possession of both Wajir and El Wak, as well as the area to the North-east[2] . To the north-west of the Wardai, in the foot-hills of Ethiopia, the position of the Boran Galla appears to have been strikingly similar. Their control over a wide area, from Dirre to the Liben, does not seem to have prevented the Garre from migrating south from Filtu to Wajaale around 1800, while the later Boran expansion eastwards appears to have gone hand in hand with a prior expansion of the Garre in the same direction.[3]. Much of the apparent strength of the Boran must, in fact, have consisted of Garre and other allied tribes. Control of the lowlands was one that the Boran seem to have shared with these allies, and it could therefore have been lost with their defection.
Despite the later hostility between the Garre-Somali and the Boran and Wardai-Galla, the major longterm threats to their respective 'spheres of influence', where their grazing rights were acknowledged, came from outside this area - both from the north and from the south. The main threat from the north lay were ultimately in the movement southwards of Darod somali tribes towards the River Juba. Professor I. M. Lewis has noted that, ,"by the end of the 18th century, southern Somaliland as far south as the river Juba had assumed more or less its present ethnic complexion". [4] . By this date, then, the Ogaden-Darod had presumably already attempted to move through the country held by the Rahanweyn and Hawiye agricultural tribes and, having failed to overcome them by force, had joined with the Elai section of the Rahanweyn and settled amongst them as shegats at Bur Hacaba and at Matagoi near Dinsoor[5][6]. But, although the Darod posed the main longer-term threat to Galla domination south of the Juba, it was the rising power of Bardera that first undermined their position there.
The small town of Bardera had been founded in 1819 by Sheikh Ibrahim Hassan Jebro[7][8] of the Jiambelul[9] tribe of Dafet , and a few years later a defensive wall was built around the collection of huts by Sheik Ali Gure[10], a Lisan[11]. Bardera quickly established its reputation as a stronghold of the Qadariya [12]and became the most important religious centre in southern Somaliland. But as its power grew, so it embarked on a serious of religious wars.
In the north the first Somali town to oppose Bardera was Luuq, an important trading centre, since Sheik Ibrahim Hassan Jebro had forbidded all trade in ivory[13]. Luuq however, was quickly defeated. Further raids against Luuq and against the Rahanweyn then led, in 1837, to an alliance between the Gasar Gudda of Luuq, the Garre, the Galla and the Rahanweyn, all of whom attacked Bardera, though without success. The immediate result of this failure was the burning of Luuq and its conquest and occupation by Bardera.[14] . Once Bardera had gained control of Luuq, the logical extension of her influence lay in the direction of Brava, which was the terminal of the caravan routes now dominated by Sheik Ali Cure.
It was not until 1843, in fact, that Bardera was destroyed, when a joint Rahanweyn and Gasar Gudda expedition completely over whelmed the Qadariya stronghold[15]. For twenty years the town remained deserted, razed to the ground, and the major threat it had posed to Rahanweyn hegemony North of the Juba disappeared as suddenly as it had emerged.
Although initially Bardera appears to have remained on good terms with the Galla to the south of the River Juba and to have traded with them, in 1836 two razzias were undertaken against the Wardai. In 1839 the Wardai were attacked at Uarai, just south-west of Mandera, while the foIkowing year they were defeated at El Wak,(Gerba) Gol and Seraro in succession[16] During the 1840s the Garre and the Boran were also raiding as far east as Gerba Gelo and once or twice as far south as El Wak. As a result of these attacks the Wardai were forced to retreat from the River Dawa by the middle of the decade.[17] The offensive was carried on against them by the Garre, who allied themselves to the Murule, the Gasar Gudda, the Gobawein and the Shermoga, all of them tribes of the Luuq area who were known collectively as the Reer Galana, and together they pushed the Wardai as far south as Bardera.[18]
Both the Garre and the Boran filled the gap that had been left by the Wardai. However, the growing strength of the Garre, their ability to rely on support from the Reer Galana and also from Somali tribes around Bardera, introduced an element of instability into any possible Boran-Garre co-dominion of the area.
Taken together these Somali clans could stake their own claim independently of the Boran, and in 1846-8 they drove the Boran from the Luuq area, ousted them from Oddo country and defeated them at Bua Hererr, driving them westwards towards Sankurar. [19] The Garre undoubtedly wished to gain exclusive control over an area that would allow them to maintain close contact with other Somali clans further north and east; their struggle against the Boran would appear to have had this limited objective since all the fighting took place in areas immediately adjacent to Somali country. Further southwest, in the Wajir area and to the west of Bardera, the Boran and their Ajuran shegats still retained control and the Garre did not attempt to oust them from these areas. Nothing is known of the part played by the Ogaden-Darod in the Rahanwein /Bardera wars, or what their role was in the defeat of the Wardai in the 1840s. But, the Garre do remember receiving help from the Ogaden in about 1843, and the age-set Samouyia which was initiated about that time amongst the Darod is said to have scored a notable victory over the Boran[20].
TRADE[]
The long-distance caravan trade linked Luuq, which was situated more than four hundred miles up the River Juba, with the Benadir ports. At the end of the 18th century Luuq had a reputation for its trade in ivory and slaves, though cattle, goats and sheep were also exchanged there. Imports consisted largely of Surat cloth and dungaree, as well as copper wire, lead and iron, which were turned into spearheads and other articles of war by craftsmen in the town itself[21] .The importance of Luuq lay in its position as the terminal of an important caravan route, and a commercial centre with an enormous economic catchment area that extended along the whole of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, almost as far west as lake Rudolf itself.
Trade between Luuq and the coast was highly organised, since the Benadir ports were open to shipping for less than four months in the year. During the first half of the 19th century, caravans probably did not go further inland than Luuq, while presumably the Boran brought their goods to the town where they were bartered.[22] Nevertheless, there is an account of a Somali crossing the river Juba before 1840 to trade with the Oromo (Wardai Galla), but no indication of how far west he went or whether this was an isolated incident.[23] ,It may also be significant that Galla was the language of commerce and was also spoken at Luuq.[24]
But with, the defeat of the Wardai around 1848, and the presence of Garre Somali to the west of the river Juba, caravans from the coast ventured much further inland and the Somali began to extend their journeys into Boran country itself. Gradually they attempted to monopolise this trade and it became tightly controlled by the Garre and the Reer Galana around Luuq. Traders from other Somali clans were discouraged and, if they persevered taxed, while non-Somali traders, and especially the Boran, were actively prevented from sending their caravans to Luuq at all[25]
However, one result of this growing Somali domination of all long-distance trade with Luuq was to make the Boran search for some alternative route. Since around 1830 to 1840 the Boran had apparently sent at least one caravan to Bardera, yet the destruction of that town in 1845 halted any further development of trade in that direction[26]. With the rebuilding of Bardera in 1862, however, and increasing rivalry between Bardera and Luuq, the Boran began to send their exports to the former[27]. Moreover, the route to Bardera passed through El Wak which was a convenient stopping place on the way to Kismayu; and after 1875 the Boran began to experiment with sending the odd caravan down to the mouth of the Juba when political conditions permitted.[28]
Perhaps the most significant result of Garre control over the western side of the upper Juba was that it enabled them first to dominate and later to reconstruct the long distance caravan trade that linked the Benadir coast with southern Ethiopia. Previously, long distance trade had been in the hands of the coastal Somali who generally penetrated no further inland than Luuq, where they met Boran who came from the west .The Garre greatly increased the economic cachment area of the upper Juba by extending the distance of the caravan routes until they almost reached lake Rudolf and Mt. Marsahit in the west. At the same time, they gradually prohibited the Boran from trading directly with Luuq, discouraged other Somali from trading to the west of the river Juba, and with the Gasar Gudda from Luuq established something of a monopoly for themselves
Southern Ethiopia And The Northern Frontier District[]
In the interior of Jubaland, the dynamic of pastoral migrations was greatly accelerated towards the end of the 19th. and the beginning of the 20th century by the growing weight of population pressures. There were two main reasons for this: the Amharic movement southwards, and the impact of Muhammad Abdille Hassan's jihad in the north.[29]. The large-scale population movement got underway in the 20th century it generally consisted of men who were armed, and who had either been trained in rebellion or were consciously fleeing from its effects. It was a migration, therefore, that also involved a traffic in arms and the possible dissemination of ideas that might be considered dangerous to a new administration in the upper Juba area.
At first sight, the Ethiopian expansion that took place under Menelik merely substituted a northern for a north-eastern pressure on the pastoral plains of Kenya, but in fact the difference was more fundamental. In contrast to the Somali push south-west, the Amharic movement was unconnected with the desire to obtain additional pasture, nor did it involve direct competition between rival pastoral groups. It was aimed solely at securing the conquest and subjugation of the indigenous peoples, and the indirect ratter than the direct utilisation of their land. While traditional pastoral warfare in north-east Africa had its own momentum and strategy, it invariably led in one way or another to the substitution of stock which made use of the available pasture. With the Amhara, however, there was no stock substitution, since they brought none with them; instead, they deprived the Boran of their cattle when they offered resistance, and later treated them, it was said, as "cattle producing machines" for the purpose of securing adequate tribute and taxation.[30]
Ethiopian advance southwards into Borana, and it is often accepted that the Boran were conquered in 1896. It has been maintained, that towards the end of that year Ras Darge[31] evaded Liban and Dirre, overrunning the Boran and setting up an Ethiopian post at Arero which dominated .The conquest of Borana was not, in fact, undertaken until June 1897, when Dejjazmach Wolde Gabriel left Addis Ababa at the head of a sizeable expedition[32] . Wolde Gabriel' assumpted that the Garre, Gabre and Ajuran were either Boran shegats or sub-sections, and consequently that Ana and Afalata ought to have been collecting tribute from them. But the Ajuran and Gabra refused to make any payments and retreated southwards instead, and the Boran were in no position to influence the Garre who were anyway completely independent of them[33]. So in 1898 a large, well organised party of Ethiopians raided Buna and Takabba in order to obtain tribute from the Ajuran.' Then, two years later, another large raid was organised this time against the Garre, and El Wak was occupied by Ethiopian forces for just over two months. As a result of this occupation, Ali Abdi, head of the Garre, began to pay tribute regularly for a short while, but after delaying one payment, El Wak was again attacked in 1 December 1901.[34]
After 1901, however, the idea of counteracting a gradual Ethiopian advance southwards by extending North-westwards the area under effective administration received no further support either from the Foreign. Office or from the Protectorate itself. The new Commissioner, Sir Charles Eliot, was strongly opposed to any further advance whatsoever. Moreover, the second Ogaden revolt in 1901 led to a contraction rather than an expansion of the area under control Nor did the river Juba seem any more to provide the sole route inland towards the frontier, and Eliot pointed out; In the event of our wishing to open up relations with the Boran country, we could probably do so quite as well from Kenia and Ukamba as from Jubaland".[35] therefore, a solution to the frontier problem was sought through diplomacy instead of by way of effective occupation. Menelik proposed to compromise slightly and agreed that the Turkana and Marehan Somali could remain in the British sphere. He insisted, however, that the Garre, Sabdawa, Gabra and Tertale should remain within the Ethiopian borders.[36] . He alleged that tie Arbore, Boran aid Arussi came within the confines of Ethiopia, and this was to be the irreducible minimum of all later proposals. With time, however, Menelik became more specific about those peoples he considered to be sections or sub-sections of the Boran, and inevitably he adopted Wolde Gabriel’s mistaken idea that the Garre were related to the Galla. Because of this, his claims at times appeared to be without foundation, but having conquered the highland Boran the Ethiopians naturally felt that those they considered to be Boran shegats should also he included in Ethiopia.
After proposal, Captain Maud secured a service of surveying the southern Ethiopian borderland. [37] . Maud's instructions were that he should collect sufficient information to provide the basis for a settlement of the frontier. He found that the Ethiopians had been putting pressure on the Garre to make them say that they were Boran; and at Gabra Murri and El Mole, near Banissa, he discovered that the Ethiopians had constructed villages merely to give the impression that they were settled in the area. It would seem in fact, that Maud was not in a position to ferret out detailed and accurate information about the tribal limits of the Boran. The presence of Ethiopians in his party effectively precluded this. Indeed, Maud admitted that he had great difficulty getting in touch with people without Ethiopian officials actually being present, and, though he went to great lengths to achieve this, he does not appear to have been very successful.
Ultimately, Maud seems to have ignored his instructions that the boundary was to be decided along tribal lines. Instead, he advocated a border that was clearly definable by its physical features, the river Daua to the east, and the Goro escarpment to the west. Maud appears to have based his proposals on the principle of effective occupation, claiming that they reflected the limits of direct Ethiopian control. In this way he justified what would otherwise have appeared to the British Government as an over hasty concession to the Ethiopian Government But he also claimed that by coincidence, the limit of Ethiopian occupation not merely coincided with an admirably definable physical frontier, but also with an ethnic one
In this respect Maud was doubtless hoping to convince the Ethiopians of the validity of his proposals, since tribal limits were supposed to be their determining factor. Yet here Maud was clearly oversimplifying and distorting the reality. While claiming that there ware very few Boran to the south of the Goro escarpment, he could not overlook the fact that they were widely scattered in significant numbers further south. He even admitted that there were Boran at Aja, Buttelu, Buna, Elussi and Wajir, all of them places well to the south of the escarpment. However, the essence of Maud’s argument was that because the Boran to the south of the Goro lived intermixed with other peoples, who had previously been their clients, they were no longer true Boran[38],He admitted that prior to the Ethiopian advance southwards, Boran power had extended as far south as Wajir, but claimed that since that advance they had lost their influence south of the Goro. Finally, because the southernmost Boran did not send tribute north, he correctly concluded that they were independents of the Amhara, and that they must also be different to those Boran under Ethiopian control. The embarrassing fact was that the Ethiopians had only subjugated part of the Boran, so that if tribal limits were to be recognised, 'the boundary was going to be drawn much further south. Yet by ignoring his instructions, Maud recommended a frontier that cut right across ethnic groups, dividing some tribes into two and separating others from their wells or their grazing. It was a frontier that was bound to cause intense local friction
In November 1903, when it was thought that Menelik would accept Maud's line, Eliot began to suggest that it would now be better for Harrington to keep his hands-free and not to commit himself. The question of giving protection to tribes in the Protectorate was one that Eliot was quite prepared to shelve. Harrington reported that there were tribes to the west of Luuq demanding British protection, and that he had sent them letters saying that they were in British territory. This was obvious a little premature. Some may well not have been in the E.A.P. yet others obviously were, such as the tribes around El Wak, and in so far as the latter were concerned Eliot adamantly maintained, "I don't see how we can give them effective protection", and he tried to ensure that such offers were not made again"[39] . Throughout November and December 1903, reports filtered in of an Ethiopian advance southwards that by all accounts went far beyond the frontier recommended by Maud. These reports stated that the Ethiopians had reached a place called Gedu, but thought to be ten hours march north of Wajir. By the middle of December it was claimed that there were 1,000 Ethiopians at Gedu, all armed with rifles, and the occupation of Wajir and El Wak, two extremely important and strategic well complexes, seemed to the British authorities to be only a matter of months away[40]. This news forced Lansdowne's hand. Urgent telegrams were ‘’dispatched to Addis Ababa stating that the British Government did not expect the Ethiopians to take any action prejudicial to the solution of the frontier while negotiations were pending, and two weeks later 1b Informed Harrington that he -would in fact be willing to start negotiations on the basis of Maud's recommendations.
In 1904, it seemed to Italian observers that Harrington and the Emperor had agreed in principle about the frontier, but in fact negotiations did not go well[41]. Maud*s recommendations did not sufficiently take into account the provision that tribes should be divided between spheres of influence. To Menelik, on the other hand, the crucial questions were who constituted the Boran and. what were their boundaries. Once these matters had been determined, the frontier could be agreed upon[42]. In the meantime the inevitable controversy over whether or not the Garre were Galla in origin continued.
In 1905, Harrington now suggested that some British representative should be placed on the frontier to ensure that it was not violated by the Ethiopians, and also to be able to report back any violations and gather Information about them. Before the end of the year, a Greek citizen called Photius Zaphiro had been appointed, and the first tentative step had been taken towards administering the frontier. The Boran were at the centre of the frontier problem, both politically and geographically, but Photius Zaphiro had also to deal with the effects of Ethiopian expansion on both sides of them; in the east towards Luuq and the River Juba, in the west towards lake Rudolf.
Ethiopia, Italy & the Upper Jubba Somali
Ethiopian expansion towards the Juba led to the development there of a far more complex situation than had been the case in their advance down the Omo or into Borana. For though, the Ethiopian expansion southwards led all the tribes between lake Rudolf and the river Juba, who were directly threatened, to appeal for European protection and support, few in fact managed, to actively involve a European power on their behalf. Farah Ibrahim, head of the Aulihan Ogaden opposite Bardera, was equally alarmed at the possibility of an Ethiopian advance in his direction and appealed for British assistance[43]. Yet none of these requests led to any administrative advance inland within the Bast Africa Protectorate. A request for help from the Sultan of Luuq, on the other' hand, did lead to the involvement of the Italians in the upper Juba, and to a direct confrontation between them and the Amhara
This early Italian penetration inland was probably connected to, and certainly facilitated by, their earlier, rapid" exploration of this area .However, none of the earliest expeditions were successful in their aim of reaching the upper Juba[44]. It was not until 1892 that Ugo Perrandi managed to travel from Brava to Bardera, thus rivalling Von Der Decken's journey of 1865, or until 1895 that Ruspoli managed to reach Luuq.[45] . Ruspoli, moreover, had to fight his way southwards and his reception at Luuq was not encouraging. Ruspoli's arrival at Luuq provoked a mixed reaction that needed handling with great tact. The Sultan of Luuq, Hassan Nur, and his Chief Secretary, Muhammad Urkei, both seem to have been anxious to get Italian help against the Amhara. Yet the wadad, the religious leaders, felt it necessary to be hostile, probably for reasons of prestige. The situation was therefore extremely delicate, and the chief wadad forbade Ruspoli[46] and his followers to enter Luuq as they were Christians, Ruspoli, however, does not appear to have possessed much tact.
On the other hand, many exploring caravans also encountered brief resistance when they were genuinely mistaken for an Ethiopian raiding party. Later in 1893 the Garre resisted Ruspoli for this reason, however Ruspoli did succeed in establishing friendly relations with the Sultan of Luuq, and the Italian then continued his exploration westwards until he was killed by an elephant in Arbore country.
Ruspoli’s expedition achieved two things. In the first place it put Luuq o n the map. Ruspoli, of course, exaggerated its importance and claimed that it was probably the most valuable commercial centre in the Somali peninsula. Moreover, this claim was not just made in the relative obscurity of an article in some Geographical Journal, but also in letters to his father, then Mayor of Rome, which were given due publicity in the national newspapers. Secondly, it was also widely claimed, that Hassan Nur had asked for Italian assistance against the Amhara and that Ruspoli had signed a treaty with him, which placed the Sultan and Luuq under Italian protection. Italian interest in the defence of Luuq gradually increased from the time of Ruspoli's visit, However, Italian administrators still experienced the necessity of extending their political influence to the west of the Juba, though in a less ostentatious manner than Ferrandi had proposed. For it had always been necessary for Luuq either to control both sides of the river Juba or, at the very least, to arrive at a modus vivendi with the tribes occupying the Oddo and the edge of the river Dawa. Without this basic minimum, trade with the Boran was simply not possible. Thus, the rulers of Luuq had always been on good terms with the Garre who controlled both sides of the river Daua, The Garre virtually monopolised trade with the Boran and they are said to have recognised the nominal sovereignty of Luuq by paying annual tribute to the Sultan.[47] Equally, the Marehan had been assimilated into this system aid by the end of the 19th century they were themselves trading with the Garre[48] Moreover, they lived in close proximity with the Gobawein[49], even sharing villages with them such as Bentel[50] . The Italians also found it necessary to establish close ties with the Garre, but at first they were more concerned with their relationship to the Digodia. The Italians were not altogether unsuccessful in extending their influence over the Garre. Thus they paid Ibrahim Yero, head of the Garre Marre, a monthly stipend, and they taxed the Garre Kuran. They also paid subsidies to Gobawein chiefs, such as All Addo who lived to the west of the river Juba, and they taxed the Somali in Dolo.[51]
For whatever influence the Italians acquired over the Garre, it could always be more than matched by the Amhara. The Italians failed, they were unwilling to use their tropps to the west of the Juba and to offer the Garre protection against the Ethiopians. After the Garre Kuran had been attacked by Dejazmach Wolde Gabriel and Asfao of Arusiland, they began paying taxes to both these Ethiopian governors, as well as to Fitaurari Hapta Gloria. The Amhara, also took away with them several important Garre hostages such as the son of Shaban Alio, the old head of the Garre Kuran, Other Garre were pressed into Ethiopian service, in particular Aba Woresa, a young and exceedingly able supporter of Ali Abdi, head of the Tuff Garre, who was employed by the Amhara to control the caravan trade .[52]
In 1906, however, the Garre were offered protection against the Amhara not by the Italians but by the British
INTERVENTION OF BRITAIN[]
On 15 November 1905 Photius Zaphiro left Addis Ababa for the junction of the Daua and Ganale rivers. His instructions were to patrol the border from east to west, to find suitable sites for frontier posts, and, lastly, to discover whether the Garre were of Boran or Somali origin. It was hoped that Photius Zaphiro's presence on the frontier would act as a deterrent to Ethiopian raids which he was asked to stop, and also tasked on gathering intelligence which, when passed on to the legation at Addis Ababa, would support and facilitate diplomatic representations made there. This was the rationale behind his linked with the legation in Addis, whence he received all his orders, though he was paid by the East Africa Protectorate.
Photius Zaphiro was also given to understand that he would remain exclusively in Ethiopian territory and he was only to cross into the East Africa Protectorate upon the explicit orders of Harrington. Although in appointing Photius Zaphiro, Harrington's main aim was to check Ethiopian incursions across the border, it seems clear from Photius Zaphiro instruction that Harrington was also particularly pre-ouccpied with Menelik’s claim that the Garre were an offshoot of the Boran, since their ethnic origin was the criteria for deciding the position of the frontier. By sending Photius Zaphiro first to the junction of the Daua and the Ganale Doria it was obviously this question above all that he wanted to have settled as quickly as possible.
But the position of the Garre to the south of the Daua was more complicated than Harrington supposed. When Photius Zaphiro reached the upper Juba, he discovered that the Garre had been exposed to considerable Ethiopian and Italian influence, while Muhammad Abdille Hassan had written to Ali Abdi, head of the Tuff Garre, saying that he might require their assistance.[53]
To combat Italian influence, Photius Zaphiro sought the support of the Garre and he quickly found an ally in Aden Shaban Alio. Having recently returned from Addis Ababa, where he had been held hostage, he tad become head of the Garre Kuran, but his position was not very strong and it is possible that he was not popular. What Aden Shaban succeeded in doing, however, was to gain Photius Zaphiro support for the extension of his power eastwards over the Garre Marre and the. Gobawein, claiming that for centuries they had paid tribute to his people but that now due to Italian influence he had no control over their chiefs, Ibrahim Yero and Ali Addo. Photius Zaphiro supported these mythical claims and erected two customs posts at Dolo and Woralo, in Gobawein and Garre Marre country, and placed them under his control.
The expansion of Aden Shaban's power eastwards seems to have resulted in a conflict between him aid Ali Abdi over their respective spheres of influence. Photius Zaphiro successfully mediated in this dispute and confirmed Ali Abdi as head of the Garre south of Muddo to Takabba and El wak, while Aden Shaban was made head of the Garre on the Daua from Dolo to Muddo[54]. This compromise was not really to Ali Abdi’s advantage, but no doubt he was in a weak bargaining position having already received support from Photius Zaphiro against the Amhara.
Most of Photius Zaphiro’s other steps were aimed at reducing Italian influence, no doubt what the Italians resented most were the orders that Photius Zaphiro gave to the Garre chiefs not to allow exports to go through Luuq. Since the trade route from Borana to Luuq passed through Garre country this was a matter of considerable concern. Thus, at the end of September 1906, it was reported that two Gasar Cudda merchants from Boran had been stopped by the Garre on Ali Abdi's orders, and they were forcibly prevented from reaching Luuq. Equally, it was known that Photius Zaphiro had given the Boran orders that they were to trade with Kismayu instead of Luuq or Bardera[55] . However, at the beginning of 1907 the Governor of the Italian Protectorate was himself giving instructions to Nur Elmi Ualo, head of the Garre in the Italian sphere, to try and divert trade away from Kismayu to Luuq[56] . There was therefore a certain amount of intrigue on both sides.
Where Photius Zaphiro seems to have been most successful was in checking the spread of Ethiopian influence over the Garre. His presence on the frontier effectively brought to an end the semi-official expeditions south-eastwards that were intended to push the Ethiopian sphere of influence as far as Wajir and El Wak. But he was far less successful in handling two rather different sets of problems that occurred particularly along the centre and western end of the boundary
In the first place, there was the whole question of how to handle those nomadic tribes that were to be found on both sides of the frontier. Decisions had to be taken concerning their freedom of movement aid how their migrations from one country to another could be supervised, encouraged, or prevented. Access to wells and to grazing had to be discussed, and it was necessary to formulate some policy concerning their taxation, and in particular how double taxation could be avoided. Yet these were issues that Photius Zaphiro was particularly ill-equipped to understand, since he maintained that the boundary was essentially an ethnic one which a priori ruled out the possibility of this type of problem; and consequently Photius Zaphiro tended to avoid these questions. Nevertheless, it was one that had to be faced by his successors.
Just before Photius Zaphiro left, Wolde Gabriel had called an assembly of all the Boran chiefs and told them that the British had no right to the Golbo lowlands, except for the Garre districts. Photius Zaphiro, likewise, called a meeting of all the Golbo tribes which seems to have been devoted to accusing the Ethiopians of aggression. This situation was exacerbated by Photius Zaphiro*s withdrawal, for it further encouraged the local Ethiopian officials to press for a more favourable frontier.
THE BORDER PROBLEM[]
The Garre had always succeeded in making a very good impression on Protectorate officials, and Photius Zaphiro had written: We shall have no trouble from them, they are a good people".[57] But their geographical position on the river daua exposed them to considerable pressure from the Ethiopians, the Aulihan, Marehan and the Digodia. Zaphiro's presence on the frontier brought to an end Ethiopian attempts to acquire political control over them, but he was powerless to offer them protection against their Somali neighbours and this increasingly necessary after 1907. From then on the Garre relied heavily on Government support and when this was not sufficiently forthcoming, they could not afford to be particular in their choice of allies.
Raiding between the Marehan and the Garre got progressively worse after 1907. There were frequent skirmishes, and some of these were serious, In 1908, Shirre Jama led a galti Marehan raid which resulted in the death of Garre chief Gababba's only son, as well as a brother, and their loss of a considerable quantity of stock.[58] But throughout the first eight months of 1908 there was also a gradual migration of Rer Afgab Aulihan into the E.A.P. as a result of Ethiopian pressure; and, once across the river Juba, they began systematically raiding both the Marehan and the Garre[59]. When Gwynn arrived at the Juba/Daua confluence towards the end of 1908, he managed to arrange a temporary settlement but it did not [60] long survive his departure[61]
During 1909, Marehan and Aulihan attacks against the Garre continued, and what made these so devastating at this juncture was the relatively large number of rifles owned by both these Somali groups, while the Garre by comparison possessed few or no guns.[62] . For the Garre killed far more Rer Afgab through acts of vengeance, and they always owed the Aulihan considerable diya. This was one fact that made any settlement between them particularly difficult to arrange.[63]
Events reached a turning point in 1910. Supported by the Ajuran the Garre managed to defeat the Marehan on one occasion, but otherwise they were not so successful. Owing to insufficient water at the wells of El Wak, they were forced to move their stock to Tagleh and Dadableh close to Marehan territory.[64] Here they had to endure further raids.[65] On several occasions the Garre wrote to Hope, the Officer Commanding in the N.F.D, complaining of the Marehan and requesting assistance. Hope, however, was not in a position to do anything and could only advise patience; but the patience of the Garre was almost exhausted and at the beginning of the year 19s Garre villages moved into Ethiopia, since they did not consider their life and property safe in the British Protectorate[66]Those that remained behind were anxious to retaliate against the Marehan and Hope had much difficulty in restraining them. He wrote to the Chief Secretary in June saying that he had promised the Garre a reply by August, and that every month that passed only increased the gravity of the situation. All Abdi had told him that his people were getting out of hand and that they were buying as many arms as possible. Reports were coming in that the Garre had forty elephant tusks and were trying to exchange these for rifles[67]
The main reason for their limited migration into Ethiopia in 1910 had not been to secure the support of the Amhara there. They had moved to Banissa and Gaddaduma, both of which places were usually controlled by Tigrean elephant hunters and bandits.-*- Thus the 1910 migration led to a Garre-Tigre alliance in which the former were offered very considerable assistance by the latter, who frequently accompanied the Garre on their raids and fought with them. But the Garre also benefited in another way, for the main centres of the arms trade in southern Ethiopia were closely associated with the Tigre. Through their alliance the Garre had easy access to rifles, and though they bought a few from Somali traders, it was from the Tigre at Gaddaduma that they got their main supply[68]
The full implications of this limited Garre migration into Ethiopia and their acquisition of guns was not immediately apparent. Inter-tribal fighting continued and the Garre were still worsted in their encounters with the Marehan. In 1911 there were reports that the latter had captured over 500 camels belonging to the Garre, and Col. Thesiger, the Inspector General of the K.A.R., was asked to consider the likely effects of a Government sponsored raid by 4,000 Garre against their aggressors. He came to the conclusion, however,, that it would be undesirable, since Marehan sections considered to be friendly towards the Government would also have been attacked[69]
Nevertheless, there was evidence of a growing crisis over the Government's policy towards the Garre. Col. Thesiger also argued that a policy of non-intervention could not be continued for long. The Garre were depicted as a friendly tribe that had always assisted the Government and was prompt in providing baggage animals[70]. Yet the administration refused to allow them to retaliate against the Marehan, and the question was whether it did not in the process incur a certain responsibility for protecting the Garre and for recovering stock stolen from them[71]. This then was the dilemma, for in 1912 the administration of Moyale was extended eastwards so as to provide the Garre with some protection, while they were promised that in 1915 the Marehan would be taken in hand.[72] Yet precisely because Government support had been so long in arriving, the Garre had now placed themselves in an ambiguous position vis á vis the Protectorate authorities.
The main reason for their limited migration into Ethiopia in 1910 had not been to secure the support of the Amhara there. They had moved to Banissa and Gaddaduma, both of which places were usually controlled by Tigrean elephant hunters and bandits. Thus the 1910 migration led to a Garre-Tigre alliance in which the former were offered very considerable assistance by the latter, who frequently accompanied the Garre on their raids and fought with them. But the Garre also benefited in another way, for the main centres of the arms trade in southern Ethiopia were closely associated with the Tigre. Through their alliance the Garre had easy access to rifles, and though they bought a few from Somali traders, it was from the Tigre at Gaddaduma that they got their main supply[68]
It is easy to see how the Garre benefited from their association with the Tigre; but there had to be some quid pro quo and this seems to have consisted in the protection the Garre extended to the Tigre when they entered the E.A.P. They would be sheltered and hidden by the Garre, and shielded from contact with Protectorate officials. In fact it only gradually dawned on the N.P.D. administrators that the Garre and Tigre were working hand in glove.
The first really definite suspicions occurred in May 1913 when it was thought that the Garre were shielding Tigre implicated in Aylmer's murder* By the end of the month, Hope felt that he had almost proved that Ali Abdi was guilty of collusion with the Tigre,[73]In September he had him brought before Fitaurari Wolde who accused him of helping the Tigre and becoming blood brothers with them[74]. But Tigre-Garre relations suddenly deteriorated at this time after an important Garre chief had been killed by them at Derkali.
However, when Thesiger, the British representative at Addis, visited the frontier in 1914 he, investigated a number of border incidents and amongst these was one involving the Garre. Ali Abdi did not deny the main points against him, and so his deportation was recommended and sanctioned in May 1914.[75]. But the truth was that the administration was finding it far harder to control the Garre through their sub-chiefs, and it was hoped that Ali Abdi return would make matters easier.
Ali Abdi, however, was no more able to ignore political realities in 1915 than he had been three years earlier. Initially the Garre-Tigre alliance had been formed against the Marehan, but it was soon turned to good effect against the Digodia who proved the most serious menace to the Garre. The first Garre Digodia skirmishes were reported in 1911, but it was not until the following year that really serious raids began.[76]
During 1912 there, was a constant influx of Digodia from the Oddo and the northern bank of the Daua to the south of the river. There were raids and counter-raids, yet Aylmer managed to patch up a settlement whereby both parties returned raided stock [77]. However, the following year there was increased Digodia pressure on the Garre -who were raided at Dulessa and Yabitcha. A large number of Garre are said to have fled to Gaddaduma, and these included chief Dababa from El Wak[78] . The eastern Garre were unable to resist the Digodia and they abandoned their traditional grazing areas along the Daua; those to the west, however, had more success since they were helped by the Tigre. When Ali Abdi was deported in 1914 it was precisely for taking part in a joint raid with the Tigre against the Digodia[79]. When he was freed a year later, on the other hand, the same problems existed and there was still no real alternative to the Tigrean alliance.
In 1914 a serious attempt was made to extend administration to the area south of the river Daua. In May that year, Deck was appointed Assistant District Commissioner for the newly constituted Garre Sub-District, and he succeeded in persuading the Garre from Ethiopia to return to the Daua. But in July Deck was recalled and the Garre returned at once to Gaddaduma. When Butler, his successor, arrived in August, the Digodia were in complete control of the southern side of the river[80].
Moreover it proved impossible to restrict the Digodia to the eastern part, of the district. This was partly due to the growing influx of the Digodia into the E.A.P. which could not be controlled, and partly to galti Marehan pressure on them to move westwards. The only solution that could be offered was to supervise this Digodia movement and to permit them to in filtrate into Garre grazing areas. The Garre were unable to resist this, but they embarrassed Butler by claiming that Hope had promised them in 1913 that if they returned raided stock tothe Digodia - which they had done - then they would not be compelled to receive Digodia into their country again[81]. Yet this was a promise that Butler could not keep, for there was simply not enough room for the Digodia.
When Glenday succeeded Butler in September 1915, it was obvious that the majority of the Garre in Ethiopia would not return to the E.A.P. unless materially assisted by the Government. After some encouragement a few did return, but the situation suddenly changed when Glenday was ordered to evacuate the area in March 1916.[82] All protection was immediately removed from the Garre, and within two days of his departure the Digodia began to cross into the E.A.P. in large numbers and to move towards Garre grazing areas[83]. It was anticipated that the Garre would be incensed with the Protectorate administration for leaving them unprotected, but on the contrary they proved more than a match for their adversaries when the government did not interfere with their methods.[84]. Ali Abdi and Gababa obtained the support of the Tigre and immediately took the offensive against the Digodia. In March 1916 they suffered a defeat ,but in July and October they were overwhelmingly successful and they drove the Digodia out of the Protectorate[85] . Further attempts by the latter to enter the E.A.P. were unsuccessful and the Garre re-established themselves on the river Daua. Ali Abdi sent the Government a message to say that having defeated the Digodia, he was now in a position to help them against the rebellious Aulihan.[86]
Then Glenday was sent baok in 1917 to administrate the river Daua there were no recriminations. This time Ali Abdi was not blamed for his reliance on Tigrean troops to defeat the Digodia. The attitude of the administration was now one of humble contrition. It was felt that the Government should try to "make amends for outrages endured by the Garre*.. during the past few"[87]. The Garre succeeded in maintaining their position on the river Daua, but henceforth they relied on the Government instead of theTigre. Glenday inflicted are sounding defeat on the Digodia in 1917, and the following year a strong force of askaris was sent to defend the Garre[88]
Yet the Garre/Digodia conflict remained unresolved. The large number of Digodia who lived amongst the Marehan posed a threat that could never be entirely eliminated, and as the Garre came to rely more on the Protectorate administration so the Tigre began to form an alliance with their previous enemies, the Digodia[89]. Moreover, throughout this period those Digodia sections that had earlier moved to Wajir were also acomplicating factor. For during 1914 they were allowed to move north again as far as the river Daua. Here it was thought they would offset Digodia pressures to the north the river, but this proved to be a mistaken assumption. Eventually they moved south once more and this meant that an additional flank of the Garre was exposed to possible pressure.[90]
The problem of the Garre was far more complicated, their relationship with neighbouring tribes was more complex and they were also closer to the area of maximum population pressure.
Rahanweyn[]
Rahanweyn tribes are aggregates of many diverse clan attached to a small original nucleus of Rahanwein, who form the dominant eponymous clan and provide the skeletal framework in each tribe. In many cases, however, this type of organization, dependent for its structure on a dominant clan, is superseded by a system of territorial groups whose political relations are not expressed genealogically. In the Rahawein family itself there are only three orders of segmentations between the group-name and ancestor Rahawein, and the individual tribes which constitute the family. The Rahaweyn consists no so much of groups that derive from preceding groups in an extensive hierarchy of segmentation, as simply of large collateral coalitions. The name "Rahaweyn" ( "large crowds") is itself suggestive of federation. The Sab, who number about a quarter millions are found in Somalia south of the Hawiya, mainly along the Juba river. They are segmented into three families: The Digil, Rahaweyn and Tunni of which the last two are numerically the most important. The Rahaweyn and Tunni derive from the Digil who although have been superseded in strength still survive as a small independent confederacy. The Garre joined Rahaweyn constituent sub-clans of Digil, forming a part of the Rahaweyn confederation of clans.
Dir - Quranyow ("Gorajno")[edit][]
The Dir family are the oldest Somali stock, have been greatly dispersed and so reduced that only three main tribes survived. These are the Essa, Gadabursi and Bimal. The Esa and Gadabursi are found to the north-west of British Somaliland, with some Esa in the French Somaliland and some Gadabursi in the Abyssinian territory which is the traditional Dir country. In the present day knowledge, it is not possible to say with certainty that the Gadabursi are Dir, but they seem to be, and are always classified as such by the Italian authorities.
The most southerly representatives of the Dir family are the Bimal of Somalia who are found in the two regions-one of the Shebelle centred round merca and the other the Juba River and the Tunni of Brava. At Merca, where the administration has encouraged cultivation by constructing irrigation canals, maize, durra, beans, sesame, tobacco and watermelon are grown. The Bimal reached their present territory towards the close of the 18th century in thee course of the general movement of the Somali from North to South. Groups which did not succeed in maintaining their tribal autonomy so successfully as the Bimal in their dispersal from the North, are the Dabrui living among the Bimal of Merca, the Bajumal among the shebelle Negroids, the Gorajno ( Quranyow) with the Garre, the Madaweni among the WaGosha and in the Abyssinia a dn the Madeluk found among the Ogaden, Helai, Shebelle, in Jubaland and at Serenlei and Margherita
Demography and Social Organisation[]
Most Garre are nomadic herdsmen, seasonally migrating with their camels, sheep, and goats. They live in portable huts made of bent saplings covered with animal skins or woven mats. Their collapsible tents can easily be loaded on pack animals and moved with the herds. The wealth of most Garre is in their herds. Although the husband remains the legal owner of the herd, his wife controls part of it.
Garre villages consist of several related families. Their huts are arranged in a circle or semi-circle surrounding the cattle pens. Villages are enclosed by thorn-shrub hedges to provide protection from intruders or wild animals. The men's responsibilities include caring for the herds, making decisions dealing with migration, and trading. The women are in charge of domestic duties, such as preparing the meals, milking the animals, caring for the children, and actually building the home. Like other nomads, the Garre scorn those who work with their hands, considering craftsmen a part of the lower class. The moving patterns of Garre nomads are dependent upon climate and the availability of grazing land. If water or grazing land becomes scarce, the families pack up their portable huts and move across the desert as a single, extended family unit. The Garre are quite loyal to one another, spreading evenly across the land to make sure that everyone has enough water and pasture for his herds.
Somali chief of Garre Tribe
Just like other Somalis, Garre receive their fundamental social and political identity at birth through membership of their father’s clan. Clan identity is traced exclusively in the male line through their father’s paternal genealogy (abtirsiinyo: literally “counting ancestors,” in Somali). Children, at an early age, are taught to recite all their paternal ancestors up to the clan ancestor and beyond that the ancestor of their “clan-family.”.
Somali clans are grouped into clan bonds or clan alliances formed to safeguard the mutual interests and protect the members of these alliances, of which Garre lies here under Hawiye with the Abgaal, Habargedir, Hawadle, Mursade, Rahwein, Murule, Ajuran, and among many others sub-clans. On the other hand, the Dir, largely in Somaliland, mix well with the Isaaq, the Garre and the Degodia, with closer sub-clans being the Biyamal,Gadsan, and Werdai among others. The sub-clans closer to the Isaaq include Habar Awal, Habar Jalo, Habar Yunis, Edigale, and Ayub among others while those closer to the Digil are the Geledi, Shanta Aleen, Bagadi, and Garre, among others.
Distribution[]
Garre are said mostly to be found in southern Somalia, on the Lower reaches of the Shabelle River; Afgooye, around Dolo around the upper Jubba; between Webi Gesho and Webi Maana River, Qoroyoley, Merca, and Awdhegle, Kurtunwaarey and Kaxda District & Kofur in Mogadishu, El Wak District in Gedo Jubaland. and in the upper reaches of Dawa River on the borders of Ethiopia and Kenya. This, in turn, is based on the Garre oral traditions( collected at the beginning of the century) that they migrated from the upper reaches of the Jubba River along the west side of the River Afmadu. In Ethiopia, they live in Moyale, Hudet, Mubarak, Qadaduma, Suruba, Raaro, Lehey and Woreda of Dawa zone. In Kenya, the Garre tribe inhabit Mandera County-(The largest population and composition of Garre live in Mandera County, making them the single largest clan in Mandera County), Wajir, North Moyale, as well as part of Isiolo County.
Both the Garre and Ajuran claim to have lived in their present location in Mandera District (formerly Garreh District) and the Northern part of Wajir District before the sixteenth-century expansion of the Oromo, According to tradition Gurreh District was originally inhabited by a Semitic tribe ben-Izraeli before inhabited by Garre tribe. before setting out to prospect for a new country. They travelled down the Juba through Rahaweyn to Kofar (confor) and decided it was a good country.
The Confer (Kofar) country lies beyond Rahanweyn in the coastal area, the principal Gurreh towns or villages being Shan and Musser on the Owdegli i.e. the lower reaches of the Shebelle River where it runs parallel with and close to the sea coast between Mogadishu and Merca. Then when well established and prosperous the Garre penetrated into Rahanweyn and sent trading safaris and settlers further in-land until they reached Lugh and Dolo and re-entered the Gurreh district (today Mandera District] and worked up the Dawa district (sic: actually 'river'] again, trading mostly but also making settlements and farms.
Garre is divided into four linguistic clusters, which cross-cut other criteria of differentiation like clanship. Some of them speak an Oromo dialect close to the one of the Boran, while some speak Af Rahanweyn and yet others Af Garreh Kofar. The latter two are closely related Somali-like languages but are kept clearly apart by their speakers. There are also Garre who speak Somali proper. Oromo is a different language well beyond the comprehension of speakers of any of these Somali dialects. It belongs to the same lowland branch of the East Cushitic languages as the Somali-type languages, but internal differentiation within this branch is high. The fact that the Garre are also divided between three nation-states (Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia) has nothing to do with this linguistic differentiation since speakers of all four languages are found among the Garre of all three states. The only language which is spoken exclusively by Garre appears to be Af Garreh Kofar, but to the outside observer, it is difficult to distinguish that language from Af Rahanweyn (also called Maymay), which is spoken by hundreds of thousands of non-Garre, namely Somali of the Rahanweyn clan cluster. It does happen that Garre who do not share one of these Cushitic languages are obliged to converse with each other in languages from totally different language families, like Swahili or English which they have acquired at school, an institution frequented by only a minority of them, mostly for short periods. Arabic is also spoken as a secondary or trade language. Like other Somali, the Garre are typically tall and slender with long, oval faces and straight noses. Their skin colour varies from jet black to light brown.
Af-Garre (Garreh Kofar) is spoken in the districts of Baydhaba, Dhiinsor, Buurhakaba and Qoryooley is one of the heterogeneous dialect of Somalia; in fact, some Garreh Kofar dialects ( those in Buurhakaba and Qoryooley) have, for instance, preserved the conjugations with prefixes to date, while others (those of Baydhaba) have already given it up. Also, the typical Digil plural morpheme—to has been replaced in some Gr. dialects (especially in those around Baydhaba) by the common southern Somali morpheme—yaal. Although Reer Amiir are not Garre at all, their idioms belong to this dialectal group.
Garre genealogy and clan structure[]
The following genealogy has been derived from the work of Professor L.M.Lewis, also taken also from the World Bank's Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics from 2005 and the United Kingdom's Home Office publication, Somalia Assessment 2001, and The Total Somali Clan Genealogy (second edition), African Studies Centre Leiden, Netherlands The tribes of Garre have a well-defined patrilineal genealogical structure,
The Garre are divided into the Tuff and Quranyow sub-clans. While the Tuffs are further divided into the Ali and Adola groups, the Quranyow are divided into the Asare and Furkesha.
In history, Identities on the Move: Clanship and Pastoralism in Northern Kenya, by Gunther Schlee, Voice and Power, by Hayward and UNDP Paper on Kenya, the Garre are divided into the following clans. The Garre split in 2 great sub-clans, Tuf and Kuranyo. The Kuranyo are Garre by marriage. Kuranyow who married Tuf's daughter Make, became part of the Garre confederation. The Garre are all associated with the four Dir ancestral progenitors but allied themselves to the Digil Rahanweyn confederacy
The eponymous ancestor of Garre clan:
- 'Abd al Muttalib
- Abu Talib
- Aqil
- Hiil
- Samaale
- Gardhere
- Garre:
- Tuuf
- Ali
- Kalulla
- Ta'ule
- Sabdawa
- Adola
- Maqabille
- Kalmasa
- Kalwina
- Burusuni
- Oldomai
- Meyd
- Reeg Muug
- Tubaadi
- Ali
- Quranyow
- Asare
- Baan
- Kiliya
- Furukesha
- Wardiq
- Odkoya
- Birkaya
- Oydira
- Darawa
- Subukitre
- Asare
- Tuuf
- Garre:
- Gardhere
- Samaale
- Hiil
- Aqil
- Abu Talib
Notable Figures[edit][]
- Hassan Hussein Hajji Somalia Minister of Justice (2017–present)
- Adan Abdullahi Mohammed - a prominent Kenyan banker and entrepreneur.
- Ibrahim Ali Roba - First governor of Mandera County.
- Billow Kerrow - Member of Parliament for Mandera Central constituency and the first senator of Mandera county from 2013 - 2017.
- Hon. Mohamed Maalim Mohamud - Senator Mandera county
- Hon. Amina Gedow Hassan - Women Representative Mandera
- Hon. Hassan Kullow Maalim - Member of Parliament - Mandera
- Hon. Abdikafi Maalim Hassan. - Senator Konfur-somalia
- Hon. Ali Hassan Ismail - Member of Parliament - South West State Somalia
- Hon. Mohamed Abdirahman Noor - Member of Parliament - South West State Somalia
- Hon. Abdulfatah Abubakar Ibrahim - Member of Parliament - South West State Somalia
- Hon. Naima Mohamed Ibrahim - Member of Parliament - South West State Somalia
- Hon. Nuurto Mohammed Abdi - Member of Parliament - South West State Somalia
- Hon. Farhan Sheikh Abdullahi - Jubbaland
- Prof. Ahmed Sheikh Abdullahi
- Imam Mataan Bin Uthmaan Bin Khalid As-Somali - He was a Garre-Sultan who headed the Somali tribe during the invasion of Abyssinia by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi
- Sultan Mohamed hajji Hassan •Hon jibril Abdirashid-Member of parliament in elwaq gedo-jubaland but now minister of trade and commerce in federal government of somalia(2024)