Majeerteen

Majeerteen
ماجرتين

Regions with significant populations
Somalia  Yemen
Languages
Somali and Arabic
Religion
Islam (Sunni)
Related ethnic groups
Dhulbahante, Mehri, Warsangali and other Harti and Darod groups.

The Majeerteen (Somali: Majerteen, Arabic: ماجرتين‎, Muhammad Harti Amaleh Abdi Muhammad Abdirahman Jaberti), also spelled Majerteen or Macherten, are a Somali clan. They form a part of the Harti confederation of Darod sub-clans. Members of the clan primarily inhabit the Puntland region in northeastern Somalia.

The Majeerteen Sultanates played an important role in the pre-independence era. The clan has produced two presidents and three prime ministers since 1960, as well as a Sultan and a King (Boqor). Majeerteens also held many other important government posts in the 1960s and early 1970s and continue to play a key role in Puntland.

The related Harti clans Dhulbahante, Mooracase, Kaskiqabbe, LiibanGashe and Warsangali inhabit the Sool and Sanaag regions, respectively.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

Territory

Majeerteen members primarily inhabit the northern Bari, Nugaal, Mudug and Wardheer regions of Somalia and Ethiopia.

The Majeerteen Sultanates

The Majeerteen Sultanate originated in the mid 18th century, but only came into its own in the 19th century with the reign of the resourceful Ismaan Mahamuud. For providing protection for the British naval crews that were periodically shipwrecked on the Somali coast, Mahamuud's kingdom benefited from British subsidies. It also enjoyed a liberal trade policy that facilitated a flourishing commerce in livestock, ostrich feathers, and gum arabic. While acknowledging a vague vassalage to the British Empire, the Sultan kept his desert kingdom free until well after 1800.

By the middle of the 19th century, two kingdoms emerged farther east on the Bari coast, which would play a significant political role in the Somali Peninsula prior to European intervention: the Majeerteen Sultanate of Boqor Osman Mahamuud, and the Sultanate of Hobyo of his relative, Yusuf Ali Kenadid.

Osman Mahamuud's Sultanate was nearly destroyed in the middle of the 18th century by a power struggle between himself and his young, ambitious cousin, Kenadid. Nearly five years of destructive civil war passed before Boqor Osman managed to stave off the challenge of the young upstart, who was finally driven into exile in Arabia. A decade later, in the 1870s, Kenadid returned from Arabia with a score of Hadhrami musketeers and a band of devoted lieutenants. With their help, he carved out the small Sultanate of Hobyo after conquering the local Hawiye clans. Both kingdoms, however, were gradually absorbed by the extension into southern Somalia of Italian colonial rule in the last quarter of the 19th century.^[1]

Clan tree

There is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures and many lineages are omitted. 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.^[2][3]

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

Prominent figures

• Abdirahman Mohamud Farole, President of Puntland
• Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, first Prime Minister of Somalia, second President of Somalia (10 June 1967 until 16 October 1969)
• Abdirizak Haji Hussein, former Prime Minister of Somalia, 1964 – 1967Prime Minister of Somalia
• Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, lecturer Thames Valley University, associate professor (Information Systems), Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
• Abdilwali Hersi Abdille Indhaguran, former Minister of Electricity and Power Generation of the Somali national government (TNG), and Minister of Federal and Somali Affairs of Puntland
• Sultan Abdulkadir Isse Ahmed Salah, Sultan of the Ugaar Saleebaan of Majeerteen
• Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, former President of Somalia
• Abdulqawi Yusuf, lawyer and judge at the International Court of Justice since February 6 2009
• Hassan Abshir Farah, former Mogadishu mayor, Somali ambassador to Japan and later to Germany, interior minister of Puntland, prime minister of Transitional Federal Government from Arta, and current TFG minister of fishing and marine resources.
• Hirsi Magan Isse, scholar, and leader of the Somali revolution
• Mohammed Jibril Muse, former Chief of Somali Security Service
• Iman, supermodel
• Jama Ali Jama, Colonel in the Somali military and former President of Puntland
• Maxamed Daahir Afrax, novelist, playwright, journalist and scholar,
• Mire Hagi Farah Mohamed, Somali Finance Minister 2004–2006, and former Mayor Of Kismayo port city
• Mohammed Awale Liban, designed the flag of Somalia^[4]
• Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan, son-in-law of Siad Barre and minister of defense of Somalia
• Mohamud Muse Hersi, third President of Puntland
• Muse Dude Samatar, former Chief of Police (1970's-1980's), and former Minister of Agriculture
• Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, Prime Minister of Somalia, and son of Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke
• Osman Yusuf Kenadid, inventor of the Osmanya writing script
• Waris Dirie, supermodel
• Yaasiin Cismaan Keenadiid, author of the Somali
• Yasmin Warsame, supermodel

See also

• Sultanate of Hobyo

References

External links

• The Majeerteen Sultanates