The Gadabursi 21 Elder Clan Council dynasty of Sultans

The Gadabursi 21 Elder Clan Council dynasty of Sultans


The Gadabursi traditionally had a celebrated dynasty of Sultans which had become disrupted, in the 1950s, as a result of disagreement to succession and also because Of the division of the clan betweenthe British and Ethiopian administration (I.M. Lewis, 1961:204). In an important clan meeting thattook place in Borama town between 12-16 April 1992 the Gadabursi paramount Ugaas was reinstated.
This meeting which was sponsored and participated by this clan's Committee of Intellectuals based in Riad, Saudi Arabia, generated several resolutions apart from the reinstallation of the Ugaas as a symbol of Gadabursi unity.
The proclamations of the Gadabursi meeting included a decision to send elder's peace delegations, which had been effected, to reconcile the warring Isaq groups in hargeisa, Berbera and Burao and a call to organize a general meeting which would deliberate upon the restoration of peace and future prospects of the destabilized "Republic of Somaliland". The creation of a combined Gadabursi force to
defend this clan's territory and interests stands as another resolution, however this did not materialize.
The remaining four Gadabursi Ugaas are heads of major segments of the clan: Nur Yonis, Jibril Yonis, Habar Afan, and Baha Samaron. The last group is indeed an amalgamation of Gadabursilineage-groups who lived in Gabiley district before their displacement following the establishment of SNM rule in "Somaliland" in 1991.

The Gadabursi 21 Elder Clan Council is distributed among its three major divisions in
terms of their relative strength. The largest sub-clan, Makahil, is allocated 9 members, while each of the remaining two, Mahad Ase and Habar Afan, is allocated 6 each.