Postby ABSAME' » Thu Nov 30, 2006 5:19 pm
History lesson
"Though the Harti were not alone in collaborating with the British, few Somali sections cooperated as completely as they did after 1894. One of the main reason for Harti collaboration lay in their proximity to the coast. This point was stressed by Cali Naxar, who explained to Murghan Yusuf, Ogaadeen Chief of Afmadow, that Harti villages were all within easy striking distance at Kismaayo. It was also the view of an officer who spent several years at Kismaayo and observed: 'The Hartis are so tied to the small district around Kismaayo, Yoonte and Kurkumez, that they never dare rebel against Government as a tribe.' Thus the Harti were the first Somali clan to resist British penetration, but they were also the first to be brought fully under control and 'pacified'. And a number of officials, such as the Inspector General of the King's African Rifles in 1914, contrasted the apparent lack of government control over Somali clans in the interior with the position of the coastal Harti."
"When the government first sent an armed caravan to the Ogaden Sultan at Afmadow, there was a fight not between the government troops and the Ogaden, but amongst the Ogaden themselves, who could not agree on whether to resist or to capitulate."
