Habr Yunis Sultanate

The Habr Yunis Sultanate finds its roots in the Isaaq Sultanate which was established by the Rer Guled branch of the Eidagale after the Isaaq successfully defeated the Absame clan at Lafaruug in the 17th century. With time the Habr Yunis and later the Habr Awal and Habr Je'lo would break from the Isaaq Sultanate with the Habr Yunis forming their own Sultanate led by Sugulle the son of the previous Habr Yunis Chieftain, Ainanshe Hersi.[5][6] The Sultan Deria Sugulleh would establish his capital at Wadhan (Waram) near the Sheikh pass and tax and administer the affairs of the Habr Yunis from the town. Large groups of slaves that were of the Shirdoon & Ahmed of the Nuh Ismail would be sold from the port of Berbera by Sultan Deria Sugulleh who controlled Berbera at the time.[7]

German Map from 1874 showcasing Sultan Hersi Aman's general location

Following Sultan Deria's death in the 1850s his grandson Hersi Aman would come to succeed him and usher in an era of conquest. Hersi Aman belonged to the Bah Makahil section of the Sugulle dynasty.[8][9] In 1870 he would launch the Rayyad Wars against the Darood of Hawd and Dollo which would continue intermittently from 1870 to 1940 and give birth to a string of poems, the Guba poetic chain, one of the most well-known series in Somali history.

Swiss Explorer Haggenmacher met Hersi Aman in 1873 and also wrote of a successful Habr Yunis battle in the Hawd that occurred during his visit

The Habr Yunis had many wounded, but were also extremely rich in loot, the estimated number of loot was at least 10,000 camels.[10]

At the battle of Haro Dhiig (Lake of Blood) in the Hawd, the victorious Habr Yunis had captured the Sultan of the Rer Haroun Ogaden with many lives lost on both sides. The captured Sultan sent a message to Hersi saying as a notable he should be spared. In response, Hersi replied with Laba Gob Kii Beer Jilicsan Baa Jaba meaning, amongst two counterparts the soft-hearted shall perish and the captive Sultan was subsequently executed.[11]

Despite the great successes of Hersi Aman and new territory acquired, the other branches of the Rer Sugule grew wary of his increasing power as a ruler and stood to challenge him, fearing his unchecked leadership. The wise Guled Haji, another prominent member and elder of the Rer Sugule, had a fallout with Sultan Hersi, and his son was killed by one of Hersis' sons. Hersi's son approached his father and implored him to pay the traditional mag compensation to Guled for the loss of his child. Hersi arrogantly rebuffed his son and all-out conflict would break out between Ba Awal (Hersi's branch) and Baho Sugule branches of the Rer Sugule.[12]

Haji Guled in 1906.

The Sultan Hersi himself would be killed in battle after some early clashes and later his commander Warsame would also fall. Warsame's sister lamented to her son Ali for the loss of Hersi, her husband Geid and other relatives in this poem recorded separately by both Phillip Paulitschke and Robecchi Brichetti.[13]

Following Hersi's death, the Rer Sugule gathered and the issue of compensation for the Sultan's death was a pressing issue. The conflict originally starting because no compensation had been paid to Guled Haji for his son. They decided that none would be paid and they would try to put this conflict to rest.[15]

Maxamed Bulxan's poem touches on the unique nature of the meeting

Sultan Nur's domains in Togdheer

After the death of Sultan Hersi Aman, the Baha Deria and Baha Makahil sections of the Sugulle dynasty vied for the Sultanship, which divided the Habr Yunis clan into two factions, the Baha Deria faction led by Guled Haji crowned Awad Deria a surviving son of the Sultan Deria Sugulleh. The Bah Makahil crowned Nur Ahmed Aman a young Mullah and nephew of Hersi Aman. Nur was initially uneasy and preferred his life as a Mullah rather than being the Sultan designate. The Habr Yunis were not interrupted by the British Somaliland protectorate which had been established in 1884 and was still largely relegated to the coast and its capital of Berbera.[17][18] The two Sultans engaged in a lengthy war and divided the Sultanate's territory, where Awad ruled the Sultanate from his chosen capital of Burao and Nur from the Tuuyo plains and Oodweyne.[19]

Frank Linsly James visited Sultan Awad at Burao in 1884 and witnessed the dissenting situation between the two Sultans. Describing the political situation in the region and frequent raids between the two rival Rer Sugulleh factions and their allied Habr Yunis subclans

It appeared the great Habr Gerhajis tribe was divided into two rival factions, the one owning allegiance to Sultan Owd, the other to his cousin, Sultan Noor. Between these two the country was about evenly divided, and the border-line was an everlasting scene of wars and rumours of wars, cattle raids, and attempted murders.[20]

The Haber-Gerhajis tribe had formerly been under one Sultan and were very powerful, making frequent raids into Ogadayn, but on his death, two cousins, Awad and Nur, divided the country between them.[21]

Awad was killed fighting in Ogaden by the Reer Ali.[22][23] This allowed Nur to establish himself at Burao and rule over the entirety of the Habr Yunis. The Baha Deria still did not concede defeat and would eventually choose Awad's nephew, Madar Hersi, as their successor following Nur's death.[24] Sultan Nur convened a shir of the Habr Yunis and decided to draw lots to settle the dispute with his challenger Madar Hersi rather than continue the senseless infighting that had lasted since Hersi Aman's death. Sultan Nur won the draw and gave Madar Hersi 100 camels as compensation and was proclaimed the uncontested Sultan of the Habr Yunis.[25] The reunified rule under one Sultan Nur would last until the formation of the Dervish Movement several years later in 1899.

Sultan Nur & Habar Yunis horsemen 1896

Sultan Nur had been the architect of disturbances at Berbera and was the man who narrated the famous story of French Catholic missionaries in Berbera converting Somali children.[26][27] According to the consul-general James Hayes Sadler this news was either spread or concocted by Sultan Nur of the Habr Yunis. Madar Hersi his former rival for the Sultan title had aided the Mullahs of Kob Fardod in recovering livestock that was previously looted by some of the Habr Yunis and this reignited after receiving aid from the Mullahs there notably Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.[28][29] Upon his visit to Oodweyne in July 1899 Sultan Nur convened a great shir of the western Habr Yunis clans and called on them to join the new Dervish movement and upon their refusal he would leave to Burao and successfully rallied the eastern sections of the clan. The Dervish would declare war from Burao on September 1 of 1899.[30] Madar was soon propagated as the legitimate Sultan by British authorities and managed the western sections of the clan throughout the period of the Dervish wars.

Sultan Nur continued and would be heavily involved as a key figure of the Dervish movement and the main signatory of the Treaty of Illig in 1905 that granted them large tracts of today's Nugaal and the port of Eyl from the Italians to use.[31] Following Sultan Nur's death in 1907 he was entombmed in Taleh the headquarters of the movement and his son Dolal Nur was crowned by the Dervish Habr Yunis clans while Sultan Madar Hersi the more established and powerful of the two eventually would become the uncontested Sultan as Dolal died prematurely in 1917 and left no heirs.[32] With the widespread involvement of the British in the interior against the Dervish the once defacto independent interior clans were brought under British administration and the Habr Yunis Sultanate would end.