Haud

Map of British Somaliland and sections of the Haud

The Haud is of indeterminate extent; some authorities consider it denotes the part of Ethiopia east of the city of Harar. I.M. Lewis provides a much more detailed description, indicating that it reaches south from the foothills of the Golis and Ogo Mountains. "The northern and eastern tips lie within the Somali Republic, while the western and southern portions (the later merging with the Ogaden plateau) form part of the Harari Province of Ethiopia."[6] For decades it (as well as the entire Ogaden) has been an area of conflict and controversy. The eastern portion of Haud is traditionally referred to as Ciid.[7] Due to its lack of permanent wells except to its west, the region is for the most part uninhabited during the dry season (January to April) when the nomads cross into Somaliland for grazing.[2]

The British exerted control of the Ogaden beginning in 1941 as part of the Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement, administering the Haud as part of the British Somaliland protectorate, although Ethiopian sovereignty was still recognized in the area.[8] This region was defined in the 1942 agreement as including the Ethiopian territory within a continuous belt of Ethiopian territory 25 miles [40km] wide contiguous to the frontier of French Somaliland running from the frontier of Eritrea to the Franco-Ethiopian Railway. Thence south-west along the railway to the bridge at Haraua. Thence south and south-east, excluding Gildessa, to the north-eastern extremity of the Garais Mountains and along the crest of the ridge of these mountains to their intersection with the frontier of the former Italian colony of Somalia. Thence along the frontier to its junction with British Somaliland.[9]

The terrain of the Haud consists mainly of plains.[5] The plateau is covered by a characteristic red sand, which conceals solid rocks like Nubian, Lower and Middle Eocene limestones as well as gypseous shales.[5] In the Sool region there is a central area consisting of Middle Eocene anhydrite.[5]

The region is largely covered by bushes, with many species of Acacia and other trees that measure up to 6-10 metres in height with much grass.[5] There is also vast stretches of bush-less grassy plains referred to as ban in Somali.[5] The region is filled with anthills rising up to 7 metres in height.[5]

In 1948, under pressure from their World War II allies and to the dismay of Somalis,[10] the British signed the Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement and gave Haud and the Somali Region to Ethiopia, based on the earlier Anglo-Ethiopian treaty they signed in 1897 in which the British ceded Somaliland territory to the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik in exchange for his help against raids by Somali clans.[11] Britain included the proviso that the Somali residents would retain their autonomy, but Ethiopia immediately claimed sovereignty over the area.[12] This prompted an unsuccessful bid by Britain in 1956 to buy back the Somaliland territory that it had turned over[12] (which some presume was a "protectorate" by British treaties with the Somali clans in 1884 and 1886).

19th century map showing Haud as part of the British Somaliland protectorate

The Haud is primarily inhabited by the Isaaq clan-family, most notably the Garhajis, Habr Awal, Habr Je'lo and Arap clans, and is part of the wider clan-family's core traditional territory.[15][16] Several subclans of the Darod clan are also present in the region, most notably the Ogaden, Jidwaaq,[17] Dhulbahante[18] and Majerten subclans.[15][19]

• Rabaso
• Aware
• Buhodle
• Gashamo
• Daroor
• Harshin
• Hartashekh
• Danot

• Somali Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thickets, the ecoregion that includes the Haud.

• Theodore M. Vestal, "Consequences of the British Occupation of Ethiopia During World War II".
• Leo Silberman, Why the Haud was ceded, Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 2, cahier 5 (1961), pp. 37–83.