The bond between the Somali Darood, Afar, Djibouti and Eritrea by خالد حسن يوسف

03:32 AM July, 07 2024

Sudanese Online
خالد حسن يوسف-الصومال
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The relations between the Somalis and the Afar are ancient and are not limited to certain components of the Afar and the Somalis. Rather, they are comprehensive relations and include the political, cultural, social and historical dimension, and have not been studied in the required manner by the two nationalities or by others.

On the political level, they were both in a common trench during the conflicts that took place in the Middle Ages in the Horn of Africa, and not only that, but they were represented as citizens of a common state, which was the Sultanate of Awdal or Adal, even though the book Joy Of Time or The Conquests Of Abyssinia did not address the Afar at all!

On the cultural level, there is similarity and linguistic overlap between the Somali and Afri tongues, and a large amount of common linguistic vocabulary. Socially, there is similarity in their customs and traditions, and of course this includes other Cushitic nationalities, which share many characteristics.

Not to mention that some of the Afar lived with the Somalis in Zeila during the Ottoman rule and Harar, and they are still their partners in the Republic of Djibouti, not to mention their neighborhood together in the Somali-Afar lands under Ethiopian occupation.

Somalia, as a country, supported the struggle of the Afar in Djibouti, Eritrea and Awsa, which are subject to Ethiopia. Somalia had supported the struggle to liberate Djibouti from France, and among the political forces that supported Somalia was the Democratic People’s Rally, which included an alliance of Somali-Afar components, and the Central Committee of the Rally settled in Mogadishu. During the struggle against France, provided the military and political capabilities for the gathering.

In a similar direction, the Afar in Eritrea were supported in the framework of their affiliation with the Eritrean Liberation Front politically and militarily, and at the level of the Sultanate of Awsa, which is subject to Ethiopia, the Afar Liberation Front was supported, and its forces were hosted in Awdal Governorate and trained by the Somali army, and it was given shipments of advanced weapons that were not in the possession of the forces. Ethiopian.

Opposition Afar politician Abdullahi Dabarkale said in his recording with the Somali channel Waaga Cusub, “President Mohamed Siyad Barre offered the Afari leader Ahmed Dini the rule of the Somali Democratic Republic, to cut off the road to Hassan Guled Abtidon, the man of France and Ethiopia, and in order to preserve the independence of the Somali Democratic Republic.” Djibouti after the departure of France, and its protection from Ethiopian ambitions, or its unification with Somalia by virtue of the Somali ethnic interpenetration and their common neighborhood, and to liberate the Somalis and Afar who are subject to Ethiopia together in the future.

However, Ahmed Dini was not up to the level of entitlement and continued to lick remorse later, and later went out to oppose the regime of President Hassan Guled, within the framework of the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy - Afar, during the nineties. The irony is that the Guled government defrauded Dini again and did not fulfill what was agreed upon. It is within the framework of the settlement that was made between the direction of The Front and the Djiboutian government”(1)

The governments of Hassan Guled and Ismail Omar Jelle caused the deterioration of Somali-Afar relations, as they restored France’s policy in Djibouti, which centered on creating conflict between the Somalis and the Afar, by establishing quotas for the Afar and Issa, giving priority to one party over the other, and creating a political class of Somali political elites. Afar and Arabic, its mission Controlling Djiboutian society and sharing its resources.

They failed to consecrate citizenship and its entitlements and gave the Afar and Somali extremists the opportunity to divide society in Djibouti, while they used the Arab element in the state as a banner to wave to obtain the support of the Gulf Arabs, who do not really care much about that identification, and they interfered in Somali affairs in the Somali governorates of Awdal (Somalia) and Seti. (Submissiveto Ethiopia), directly since the 1980s.

In terms of the movement of history, the conflict that took place between the Somalis and the Afar on the one hand with the Abyssinians in the sixteenth century AD led to demographic changes, which led to the Somali component becoming part of the Afar nationality, as the Harla Kombe Darood tribes ended up as groups that merged and melted into the Afar, and although There is skepticism by some about the origins of thosetribes,

However, the book Conquests of Abyssinia by the writer Shihab al-Din bin Ahmed bin Abdul Qadir bin Salem al-Jizani, which represents a historical reference related to that historical era, had indicated that the Harla people of Zerba were two groups: farmers and Somalis who owned livestock, and the role of Imam Ahmed bin Ibrahim bin Osman in reconciling them together. He reviewed Al-Harla is under review For the Somali components that participated in those wars, it is worth noting that the Harla tribe, which used to live in many areas, including Harar, Awsa, and Deridhaba, a section of which, called Kabarto, became part of the Afar.

It seems that the Harla tribe was a human gathering that included Somalis and other components in the region, and the tribe was a human alliance that included the Gabarta tribe located in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the Somalis merged with the Afar in both Awsa and Eritrea.

In Panama, the second phase of the demographic changes that occurred among the Somalis and Afar included groups from the Somali Darood tribes migrating to the Afar regions of Djibouti and Eritrea. The first witnessed the migration of the Warsangeli tribe to the regions of Ubukh and Tajura, and this resulted in social fusion forming the Budutamila tribe, which they currently represent. As an Afri tribe, in addition to the Omreta or Amrtu tribe, which in turn forms part of the displaced people of the Warsangeli tribe to Djibouti, some of which are present in the Afari region in Eritrea.

In another similar trend, “there are groups of Somalis who settled on the Afar coast from Eritrea in the city of Harina, the island of Baka, the city of Ma’rad, and the area of ​​Aqiqtu, south of Tai’u and Harina, and they are from the Harti of the Somali from Darood.”

From Harti, there is a Thigh (Majeerteen) in that resides on the island of Baka and Ma'radah, also a Warsangeli Thigh in the city of Harina, south of the Buri Peninsula. Another large group is the Somali (Omreta) group that lives in the south of Taiwo, and they are essentially from the (Harti of the Somali). Al these became among the Afar and therefore part of the Eritrean people” (2)

A historical source also indicated that there were two figures who ruled the city of Zeila in the sixteenth century AD, after excluding the Ottoman presence in the city, and they were Garaad Ali Dable the Somali and Mrs. Nazira Al-Afriya. It is worth noting that Garaad Ali assumed the chiefdom of the Warsangeli tribe in Somalia in the period 1491-1503.

Therfore, there is doubt about the veracity of this information related to Ali Dable specifically.
Although this source is not scientific, but the people of Zeila believe it.

There are Somali poem that confirm the arrival of Garaad Ali Dable influence in Awdal Governorate, which requires that the history of Ali Dable be studied carefully in order the relevant facts.

It is evident from all these historical features existing between the Somalis and the Afar, that the bond between them is great and it is necessary to transcend the frameworks of disagreement between them in order to reach great horizons and consolidate the existing ties, and to prevent the targeting of extremist racists in order to mix the Somali - Afar for a more harmonious future, and to solve the political and demographic problems. Between the two nationalities.

Khalid Hassan Yusuf

Source:

1- Abdullahi Dabarkale, Interview with Dahir Alsow, published in 2021,Somali Waaga Cusub channel.

2- The late Eritrean freedom fighter, Mohamed Saeed Nawed, article entitled The Privacy of the Somali-Eritrean Relationship, dated May 30, 2007, Adulis website.

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