Postby GENERAL_SNM » Thu Dec 02, 2010 3:16 pm
4 The Hawiye: They are numerous...almost like a horde. Nobody knows their true numbers, but I'm willing to wager they, and not the daarood, are the most numerous Somali clan. Their territory starts from a region called Galmudug (where Excel is currently chilling) all the way south towards the Kenyan border and beyond. They are extremely war like, and have been in non stop civil war since the collapse of the central gov't in 1991. They are extremely 'borg' like, and have a very collectivist mindset, thus loyal to their warlords. If their warlords decide to turn into fundamentalism, they become avowed islamists...They are headstrong and have recently turned to fundamentalism as further fuel to their volatility. A particular sub clan of the Hawiye are especially notrious for their violent ways. Recently some of the have shown some superficial to the weak, powerless and meandering federal government. Our resident Hawiye, Excel is one of these pro-TFG types, but I can tell it's only because of the Hawiye leadership, since Excel was avowdly anti-TFG when Abdulaahi Yusuf was in chare. The poster Excel is a typical Hawiye:
The Habr Gedir These Hawiyes are more similar to other aforementioned Somalis, as in, historically they have been camel herding pastoralists with a constant desire to find new pasture/grazing land for their livestock. They were responsible for the notorious "Black Hawk Down" incident where Americans under the foolish premise of capturing the Habr Gedir warlord "Aideed", got shot at in the middle of downtown Mogadishu and exposed to thousands of the most dangerous and war like people on Earth. Mogadishu North of the 'green line' is their turf, and is a no go zone to any non Habr Gedir. Alot of Islamist elements currently there...and they are at constant warfare with their Hawiye rivals, the Abgaal:
The Abgaal: Not as war like as the Habr Gedir...originally settled farmers, relatively humble and backward people. They still display the Hawiye tendencies of borg like collectivism. The Abgaal speak in a dialect not easily discernable to northern Somalis, unlike the Habr Gedir.
to be continued...
---------- Post added 2010-09-08 at 11:24 ----------
5) The Rahanweyne
Like the others mentioned...these are a peaceful people, victims of the extreme Hawiye and Daarood induced violence in Southern Somalia. They are not nomads, but peasant and subsistence farmers...their clan structure is not wholly patriarchial like other Somalis, but is a mixture of lineage + adopting minority and occupational groups into a greater "Rahanweyne" sub clan. They speak Af-maay, a distinct language completely unrecognizable from Af-soomaali. Bantu and Oromo admixture may have been present, and historically alot of the rahanweyne were basically serfs to Somali landlords. They also had Bantu slaves. They suffered immense hardships during the famines of the early 90s, to add on top of the warfare imposed on them.
The Non Somali minority groups as well as unaffiliated (ie clans not part of the aforementioned ones) Somalis:
1) The Sheekhal: Insignificant...religious/pious people. Many Sufi saints were Sheekhal
2) The Ashraaf: Claim descent from Prophet Mohammed, ie syyeds...speak Af Maay. Heavily admixed with Arab, Bantu, Persian and others
3) The Barwaani/Rer Xamar...the aboriginal people of Mogadishu and the Benaadir coast before the inland Somali nomads invaded in the 1300s. Heavily admixed and predominately Caucasoid. Almost extinct and/or have fled Somalia for overseas.
4) The Tuuni: Swahili speaking folk...insignificant
5) The Bantu: Brought as slaves in the 1600s...subsistence farmers...insnificant and oppressed...majority left Somalia, probably fewer than 5,000 left
6) The Garre... A very wild Eastern lowland Cushitic people who live on the border regions of Somalia/Ethiopia/Kenya. Only nominally Muslim and still maintain many pre-Islamic cultural traits. Speak Af Garre, a distinct language unintelligible to most Somalis.
7) Arabs, Ethiopians, etc: Insignificant
8) The occupational castes: Tuumaal, Midgaan, and Yibir. The Tuumaal are a Somali lowcaste identified by their occupations as silversmiths and leather workers. They live all over Somalia but are extremely few in numbers and most Somalis rarely encounter one thesedays. I have personally never met one myself, and dont really know if they still exist.
The Midgaan are a more numerous caste, reducing to inferior status apparently because their patriarch was caught eating carrion (non-halaal food) thus forever condemning his progeny to low status. The Yibir were known to be experts at witchcraft and the 'il' (evil eye). When a newborn Somali was birthed to a noble Somali family, the yibir would come by seeking some kind of payment so that they do not curse the new born child, basically a sort of Somali blackmail. I dont know if they still exist, but if they do, people rarely pay attention nor do they figure historically.
9) The Degodia... live mostly in Kenya, and have some affinities with the Hawiye, or perhaps even be a sub clan of the Hawiye. They wreak havoc on the Nilotic Samburu, Turkana, aswell as the Cushitic Borana and Rendille. They speak a very classic and proper Somali, hinting to their recent arrival that far south. They are known to Kenyans collectively (as are all Somalis of the Northern Frontier District) as: The Shifta...dangerous bandits that specialize in highway robbery and ambushes. They were responsible for almost completely poaching to extinction the elephant population of Kenya during the 80s
May Allah help Somalia deal with Hawiye Amiin! 
