Warsangali Sultanate

 

The Warsangali Sultanate was a centralized government on the pattern of a Muslim Sultanate, according to the late historian, I.M. Lewis. Today, the influence of Sultans and other traditional leaders has waned with the advent of modern nation state systems and a central government in Somalia that has to exercise national sovereignty. However, the longest surviving Muslim sultanate ever established in the Somali peninsula is the Warsangali Sultanate. It  has been in existence for the last six hundred years. 

The Warsangali Sultanate was established on the coast of Gulf of Aden and grew prosperous from its trade with India, Southern Arabia, and East Africa. Its long history is characterized by defined population, defined territory, and organized political structure. The people of Warsangeli inhabit a large territory that extend to the west of Erigavo from Bosaso (Bari region), straddling from the shore of Laaso Suurad, (“Ras Surad”), bordered in the North by the Gulf of Aden to the plateaus of Sool Haud (a land mass the size of Sool and Awdal regions combined). 

Relations with Other Countries

The Sultanate produced many seafarers who made their mark in the field of social science. Ibrahim Isma’il’s book, An Early Autobiography of a Somali (1919), a Warsangeli seafarer himself,  describes a decree issued by the Sultan in support of a judgment by the royal court. The sultan ordered a new dhow must be built as a redress to an accidental fire that destroyed an Arab-flagged dhow at the port of Ad Ado (present day Sanag region). To maintain the region’s  lucrative trade ties with the Arabian peninsula, the Sultan ruled that preserving its integrity as a place where traders have guarantees for the value and protection of their merchandise was important. Cruttenden’s travels (1848) in the interior of the Warsangali Country shows a similar observation. Cruttenden observed a widespread practice of good moral precepts in safeguarding the rights of private property and in deference to the law of the land. During his stay, not an article of his belongings was stolen. Cruttenden states, “In this land, to call a man a thief is a deadly insult only to be washed by blood alone.” The abolishment of the  slave trade on the coast of the Warsangali in 1886 also helped further the reputation of the sultanate as a land of peace and justice, following a treaty with Great Britain in 1886. Great Britain, notwithstanding its dangerous and ulterior motives decades later for colonizing East Africa, recognized the Warsangali country under the sultan’s  authority and jurisdiction. It also strengthened matters relating to “the interests of commerce, the administration of justice, the development of the resources of the country, or in any other matter in relation to peace, order, and good government, and the general progress of civilization”. Until 1920, the sultanate had  maintained its independence. Its illustrious sultan, Mohamoud Ali Shire, was exiled into the islands of Seychelles. The sultan was fiercely independent and detested foreign presence in his country. A newspaper as cited by Seychelles Nation, states,  “His independent policy, strength and indifference to the powers surrounding him, including the British has vexed London and led to his arrest and deportation to Seychelles.”

Sultan Mohamoud Gerad Ali Gerad Aul

The Sultan was described as a sovereign ruler of immense influence and a man of mercurial image by the historian I.M. Lewis. He was the 24th sultan in  a long line of Gerads (a Somali royal court). In 1920, the sultan was exiled to Seychelles along with two African Kings, King Prempeh of Ashanti (Ghana) and king Kabarego of Bunyoro (Uganda), and a former Prime Minister of Egypt, Sa'ad Zaghlul Pasha, as well as other luminaries of leaders in the wars of African resistance to the British colonialism were also there as exiles. He was the descendent of a six-hundred-year-old tradition (please see ‘What led to the discovery of the Nile’ by John Hanning Speke). In the 1940 and 50s, the Warsangeli leadership formed the United Somali Party (USP) following a three month convention at Gol-Khatumo chaired by Sultan Mohamoud himself following his return from exile. The USP was instrumental in Somalia’s long and painful road to freedom and independence from colonial powers. 

Indian Ocean Diplomacy

As mentioned, the Warsangali Sultanate placed high value on maintaining diplomatic ties with rulers in Europe and South Arabia as evidenced by archival files in Arabic text containing such correspondence. John Hanning Speke wrote when he visited the Warsangali country in 1855, “the United Kingdom would hold Sultan Mohamed (21st Sultan) accountable” if his safety were compromised. Lidwien and Spaulding (2002) described two important documents that signify how the Sultanate administered its affairs and guarded its independence. Lidwien and Spaulding mention a laissez-passer document issued by Sultan Mohamed to a French physician, Gerges Revoil, on 12 December 1889. The laissez-passer  instructs the French to observe the protocol of entering the country. Any foreign visitor or dignitary on a mission would enter the Warsangeli country via its sea port of Las Qoray for lawful admission and security. However, given the French traveler’s unfamiliarity with the established rules and customs of the land, the sultan made a rare exception allowing the French to enter by land through Bandar Mura’aya. 

The Conquest of Abyssinia 

Gerad Ali Gerad Mohamoud (known as Ali Dable), was the 13th Sultan of the Warsangali Sultanate, reigning from 1491 to 1503. He earned the nickname Ali Dable (the word “Dable” in the the Somali language means "the one armed with fire"),  After returning from an exile in Yemen, Sultan Ali  brought along with him mercenaries and a shipload of small guns and cannonfire. Oral tradition corroborate this epic event of internal power struggle within the Warsangali Sultanate.  Sultan Ali Dable first managed to invade the Dolbahante territory, and allied himself with Dhulbahante rebels to defeat the Gerad of Dhulbahante's troops in the Battle of Garadag. In 1540, Gerad Yusuf sent a contingent of 300 troops to Imam Ahmed “Gran” (Ahmed, “the left-handed”) to participate in the conquest of Abyssinia. The Arab chronicler, Sihab ad-Din, who was an eyewitness in many of the battles to conquer the highlands of Abyssinia (present day Ethiopia’s Tigre and Amhara regions), compares the 300 Harti army to a famous Arab knight whose name was Hamzah al-Jufi.

“On the left was the Somali tribe of [Warsangeli] Harti, from the people of Mait (Sanaag); a people not given to yielding. There were three hundred (300) of them, famous among the infantry as stolid as swordsmen.....One of the Arabs called Hamzah al-Jufi engaged in a battle to the death in front of the Imam of the Muslims. He was one of the footsoldiers and stood his ground and stood the test, confronting war with a full heart. He never struck one infidel whom he did not unhorse, dead. He killed so vast a number of them in the middle of the river, that the river water was turned red by the blood. The whole tribe of [Warsangeli] Harti was like him" (Sihab ad Din, p. 78). 

Strategic Alliance with the Dervish Movement

Another historical epoch was the sultanate's alliance with the Dervish movement (1908 - 1913). In The 'Mad Mullah' and Northern Somalia,  Robert L. Hess touches upon the Warsangali alliance with the leader of the Dervish movement, Sayyid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan. Hess states, "in attempt to break out of Obbian-Mijertein encirclement, the Mullah sought closer alliances with the Warsangali of British Somaliland and Ogaden  of Ethiopia". The Dervish movement's spiritual leader also succeeded in building a formidable force, which triggered the British Empire's decision to adopt the famous withdrawal and evacuation policy to the Somali coast. The Dervish force was split into three major parties, per Douglas Jardine. Douglas writes the three parties are (1) Haroun (Xarun), which was concentrated in or near Italian Somailand (Mudugh and Nogal); (2) the Warsangeli force, which was concentrated in the North East and in the Haisimo valley, and (3) the Ogaden, which was concentrated in the South. 

In 1910, the British Empire following the Wingate Mission concluded that the Dervishes in or near the Italian Somaliland border were getting "considerably weaker" due to a series of defections and a local Majeerteen resistance. A two-pronged strategy was carried out to contain and reverse the advances of the three parties of the Dervish forces as stated above. With respect to the first military front, Manning, the Brigadier-General of the colonies, devised a plan to counteract regular Dervishes at the Xarun front from making any serious raids. With respect to the Warsangali, Manning acknowledges that the Isakh (Isaq) tribes had been vulnerable against the Warsangali Dervish attacks, but the Isakh could be strengthened with sufficient supplies of ammunition and back-up forces from the King's African Rifles company. After both strategies failed, London adopted the withdrawal policy because it proved too costly to sustain any military expedition against the Warsangali Dervishes, particularly in the Ayn Valley. London imposed a blockade on the Warsangeli coast, and this was the beginning of the unraveling of the Warsangeli Sultanate as the economic blockade continued for several years.  

By Mohamed Elmi

References