Relations between the clans have long alternated between hostility and uneasy truce but about 1951 had become particularly strained. Both clans were then pressing heavily on the same grazing resources in the same general area of movement. Conflict was especially strong in the Ain region between Burao, Las Anod, and Erigavo Districts, claimed by the Ḍulbahante. It is difficult to establish the validity of this claim since, while the area may many years ago have been used only by the Ḍulbahante, the Habar Tol Ja'lo have for long grazed their stock in it. Thus as has been pointed out the name Reer 'Aymeed which formerly denoted those Ḍulbahante lineages which customarily moved in the Ain region has tended to be replaced by Reer Oodeed in conformity with a general movement, stimulated by Habar Tol Ja'lo pressure, of the Ḍulbahante into the southern scrublands of the northern Haud. In any event by 1951, some segments of the MaḤammad and Muuse Abokor lineages of the Habar Tol Ja'lo were penetrating as far south as Do'omo and Merganweyn in the Haud.
In these circumstances Ḍulbahante elders asked the Habar Tol Ja'lo to withdraw northwards but they refused claiming that they required access to the contested pastures if their herds and flocks were to survive.
Both 1951 and 1952 were troubled years in which there were many bitter battles between the clans, and after administrative intervention uneasy periods of truce in which compensation was exchanged. It was during this period that the Galgal fight referred to previously occurred. Outstanding was the massed attack at Goldero on the 9th October, 1932, when a force of some 400 Ḍulbahante clansmen, many of whom were armed with rifles, attacked Habar Tol Ja'lo clansmen and killed thirteen. The Ḍulbahante lost ten men. 1
At the beginning of 1952 an 'Unsettled Areas' Ordinance was gazetted 2 to control movement and discourage encitement to further strife and the Ain region was declared an unsettled area. A peace committee was formed which included amongst other dignitaries the Chief Kadi of the Protectorate (of the Habar Awal clan), rifles were confiscated by the Government and a collective fine of 35,000 shillings (§1,750) imposed on the Reer Oodeed. 3 In the two-year period over eighty people had lost their lives in Las Anod district alone. But in spite of administrative pressure the feud continued into 1954 unresolved.
Both the Habar Tol Ja'lo MaḤammad Abokor and Muuse Abokor and the Ḍulbahante were required to execute a bond to the value of 35,000 shillings each, pledging themselves not to engage in further strife. During 1954 relations between the clans remained fairly quiet, but trouble flared up again in 1955 when the Ḍulbahante found themselves fighting on two fronts. In the Ain region, groups of the Habar Tol Ja'lo Mahammad and Muuse Abokor were pressing on the Reer Oodeed. Further to the east, the Habar Tol Ja'lo, MaḤammad Abokor, AḌmad FaaraḌ, and the Muuse Abokor, Reer Baho, and Reer 'Iidle from Erigavo District, were driving down the axis Yagore-Las Adar-Wudwud in search of grazing and threatening the Ḍlbahante Reer Nugaaleed. Little attempt was made by the Habar Tol Ja'lo to seek permission from the Ḍulbahante for access to pastures which the latter traditionally regarded as within their range of movement. In the early part of the year a series of minor engagements occurred on both fronts. And as the water-holes dried up, and the dry season advanced, tension between the clans became acute. As a result the eastern Habar Tol Ja'lo swung eastwards massing round the wells between Las Anod and Las Adar in the hills. Here they began obstructing Ḍulbahante watering parties and the eastern Ḍulbahante moved generally southwards and east of the Las Anod-Wudwud road. 1
In the Ain region the Maḥammad Abokor and Dulbahante Reer Oodeed were similarly competing for the use of the same wells and friction between them was increasing. On the 27th of October the District Commissioner Las Anod, completed the hearing of an enquiry into previous unrest in the region. He recommended to the Governor that the Habar Tol Ja'lo 'Umar, Maḥammad Abokor, Reer Yuunis, Reer 'Iidle, Boho, 'Ali Faaraḥ, and 'Ali Barre, and the Ḍulbahante Jaama' Siyaad Reer Warsamme, Reer Khayr, Reer 'Aafi, and the Barkad and Hawiye Fiqi Shinne should be required to execute a bond to keep the peace. 2
But on November 6th a man of the Reer Aadan Hagar was shot at Shahada (Bohotle) by nine men of the Maḥammad Abokor. After the killing, all the Habar Tol Ja'lo in the vicinity rushed to the local Rural Constabulary post to seek sanctuary. A Ḍulbahante riot which broke out in the village was quelled by the Constabulary, but a man of the Habar Tol Ja'lo Aḥmad Faaraḥ was later found strangled. The elders of both sides later met to discuss these murders. The Reer Oodeed asked the Habar Tol Ja'lo to leave their country but the latter refused. I. Ḍulbahante elders again requested the Habar Tol Ja'lo to withdraw from their pastures and were again refused. In the end the meeting broke up in disorder. Battle was joined at Ina Dan Dan near Muse Godeyr on the 8th of November and both sides lost four men. Police detachments arrived to find a truck unloading reinforcements but they managed to restore order.
On the following day, two more deaths were reported at Balleh Qudah, to the south of Wudwud. One of those killed was a man of the Habar Yuunis Sa'ad Yuunis who were fighting with the Habar Ja'lo against the Ḍulbahante, and the other a man of the MaḤammad Abokor. On November the 10th, a party of Habar Ja'lo Reer Yuusuf armed with rifles, was seen in the Muse Godeyr region by a patrol of Illalos and one man was shot while making off with a rifle. On the same day, a patrol of the Somaliland Scouts (the local military force) who were also policing the area, intercepted a large band of armed men and dispersed them.
There were no incidents on the following day, but on the 12th some 200 Ḍulbahante riflemen were encountered by a combined Rural Constabulary (Illalo) and police patrol and were dispersed after several arrests had been made. The following night, Jaama' Siyaad and Barkad forces raided Maḥammad Abokor Reer Yuunis and 'Ali Barre hamlets killing two men of the Reer Yuunis and looting their camels. But at dawn the next morning, Reer Yuunis and 'Ali Barre parties pursuing the retreating Ḍulbahante raiders attacked them to the south-west of Wudwud, and killed three men of the Barkad and one of the Turyar (a small despised lineage living with the Dulbahante, but not of Ḍulbahante origin). Both groups were then routed by a concerted attack from Government forces.The next day, a man of the Maḥammad Abokor was killed, two girls wounded, and twenty camels seized from the Habar Ja'lo Sambuur and 'Umar. Administrative forces found that tracks led to Barkad and Jaama' Siyaad encampments. On the 16th, there were no further incidents. And two days later, the Ḍulbahante Hayaag, Khaalid, 'Ali Geri, Wa'ays Aadan, Faaraḥ Hagar, Aadan Hagar, and Yaḥye and the Habar Ja'lo Maḥammad Abokor, Ḥssan 'Abdille, Abokor 'Abdille, Barre 'Abdille, Yuusuf, Aadan Madoobe, Reer Yuusuf, Reer Dood, and Reer Aftiḍeere were all required to sign a bond to refrain from further violence.This was the position in the Ain region with Government forces, Illalos and police actively patrolling the area to prevent further incidents. In the meantime in the Las Anod region, the Ḍulbahante Reer Nugaaleed lineages were struggling with the eastern Habar Tol Ja'lo. On November 15th Ḍulbahante clansmen looted camels of the Maḥammad Abokor in the vicinity of Hargeger. They were pursued, and in the ensuing engagement two men of the Ḍulbahante were killed and two of the Habar Ja'lo. In reprisal, the Mahammad Abokor attacked two parties of the Naalleeye Aḥmad, Reer Jibriil while on the move, and killed two men and looted all their stock. A force of police and Rural Constabulary was sent out to investigate. On the following day (November 16th) a major battle broke out at Deria Guban in the same region. Government forces arrived to find the fighting over and five men of the Ḍulbahante and four of the Maḥammad Abokor dead. The whole area was now being patrolled by Government forces, and on the 20th of the same month the District Commissioner Las Anod reported that the situation was serious. Reinforcements were sent to restore and maintain order.Both sides were now under strong pressure to make peace. In December elders of the Reer Oodeed and Maḥammad Abokor met at Muse Godeyr and agreed that:
1. All wells in the area of dispute belonged to the Ḍulbahante with the exception of those at Horafudi and Galgal.
2. Elders of both sides collect and return to their owners all looted stock and arrange for the payment of compensation for those killed in the battle at Ina Dan Dan.
3. The Maḥammad Abokor should not bring Habar Ja'lo traders to the area of the wells.
4. Grazing should be shared equally between both sides.
5. All trouble-makers of both clans be given up to the Government to prevent their fomenting further strife.
6. All stock stolen after this agreement should be repaid twice over.
Despite this treaty, sporadic outbreaks of fighting continued. On the 4th January, Ḍulbahante hamlets some ten miles to the northwest of Las Anod were attacked at night and after several shots had been exchanged the raiders were driven off taking with them five burden camels. Later police arrested eleven men of the Habar Ja'lo and recovered four of the camels. About the same time, a party of Habar Tol Ja'lo attacked Ḍulbahante watering at Las Adar and speared to death two youths of the 'Ali Geri and Naalleeye Aḥmad. They were driven off by a Government patrol with which they exchanged shots losing two of their number.
Later in the same month with the situation still tense, both Las Anod and Erigavo Districts were declared 'unsettled areas'. Movement within the regions was strictly controlled and entry forbidden to persons who were not normally resident in them. To prevent the marshalling of forces, the circulation of motor vehicles was prohibited except with the permission of the District Commissioner. Any Local Authority joining a meeting to send out clan forces or in any way inciting clan violence was rendered liable to a fine of 7,500 shillings or up to three years' imprisonment.
These measures severely curtailed the possibilities of further strife and paved the way for a general cessation of hostilities. Throughout the remaining months of the year and indeed until the spring of 1957, peace negotiations continued with the outstanding killings between the clans being settled by payment of compensation. The peace councils were attended by representatives of the Government, by sheikhs and Kadis assessing damages, and on occasion by prominent religious leaders. At a shir held at Hudin in January, 1957, the Government Kadi of Ainabo assessed thirty compensations for wounds during a few days. At an earlier period in the negotiations, it had been resolved that where claims for homicide on either side cancelled out, jiffos should be paid internally by the lineage of the deceased to his next of kin within a few months. It was also decided that in future killings between the clans compensation should be paid at the rate of 150 camels for a man and seventy-eight for a woman. Both sides were now tired of the struggle and each was anxious to
