Diiriye Guure

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Diiriye Guure
Garad of the Dhulbahante Garadate
Reign	1897 - 1920
Predecessor	Garad Ali Garad Mohomoud IV
Successor	Garad Aardheel Garad Ali
Sultan of the Darawiish
Reign	1895 – 1920
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Position abolished
Born	Diiriye Guure Ciid-Nugaal
House	House of Garaad Shirshore Ruler of Ciid-Nugaal
Religion	Darawiish tariqah

Diiriye Guure^[1] (also spelled Deeria Goori or Deria Gure) was the 16th Garad of the Dhulbahante Garadate, who as Darawiish Garad was sought by British colonial administrators for apprehension via "unconditional surrender".^[2] During his tenure as successor to Garad Ali IV, thus becoming the Dhulbahante Garad, and as Dervish sultan, the Darawiish became among the most perseverant polities in the Horn of Africa during the period of the Scramble for Africa wherein European colonialists targeted Darawiish territories^[3] although his influence declined post 1904, upon the handicap incurred at the Cagaarweyne battle.^[4] He hails from the Baharsame subclan of Dhulbahante.

Predecessors[]

Prior to the Darawiish, the 'Iid-Nugaal was subdivided into a northern and southern Dhulbahante garadate. However the Garad was not necessarily the most powerful figure of this polity, with Richard Burton reporting that the Abbaan, in modern parlance chiefly used as the derivative abaanduul meaning protector, on occasion exhibiting greater influence. For example, Husayn Haji, the Abbaan of the northern Dhulbahante was depicted as dictating terms for travellers in the mid-19th century:^[5]

The reason for this step was that Husayn Haji, an Agil of the Dulbahantas and a connection of the Abban, demanded, as sole condition for permitting Lieutenant Speke to visit “Jid Ali,”

Likewise, the Somali clans of this period didn't necessarily align on the basis of clan, with for example the southern Dhulbahante siding with the Warsangeli in their disputes with the northern Dhulbahante in the mid-19th century, according to explorer Richard Francis Burton:

But there is no hostility between the Southern Dulbahantas and the Warsingali, on the old principle that “an enemy's enemy is a friend.”

The reign of the 14th garad of the Dhulbahante, namely Garad Koore-baas was arguably the most backward period of the Dhulbahante Garadate, with Warsangeli sultan Cawl stating that it is too dangerous to even visit during the mid-19th century:

To this the Sultan replied, that as far as his dominions extended the traveller was perfectly at liberty to go where he liked; but as for visiting the Dulbahantas, he could not hear of or countenance it

The predecessor to Diiriye Guure, i.e. Garad Ali 4th, was sheltered from two foreign incursions by being an interior rather than coastal clan, with prior to the British, the Egyptian Khedivate likewise making incursions in Somali territories, preliminarily in 1870, with a full Egyptian Khedivate occupation on the Somali coast by 1874:^[6]

Egypt, which then crept southwards. In 1870 it acquired the coast between Bulhar and Berbera, and established garrisons at those ports as well as at Zeila, purchasing the Sultan's suzerain rights over the latter town for an annual payment of 15,000 l. In 1874 Raoof Pacha, at the head of 4,000 men, took possession of Harrar

Unconditional surrender[]

With regard to capturing Deeria Guure, the British stated that "no guarantee of any kind as to ... future treatment being given", insinuates the intent of retribution on the part of the British government and a high priority for capture.^[6] The verbatim motion as presented by James Hayes Sadler states that the Darawiish is a movement in among the Dhulbahante clan, and states that Diiriye Guure is among those it seeks to capture:

The object of the expeditions is to capture or defeat the Mullah and to put an end to his movement in the Dolbahanta ... In the unlikely event of the Mullah offering to surrender ... Deria Gure – only an unconditional surrender should be accepted, no guarantee of any kind as to future treatment being given.

The transcript from James Hayes Sadler to general Eric Swayne, and subsequently forwarded to levies was rendered by Somali historian Jama Omar Issa as follows:^[7]

Role[]

In terms of his position among the Darawiish, a report in 1903 in the Evening Express states that his role was equivalent to the commander of the Royal Engineers, whom in 1903 happened to be Richard Harrison. This report also states he was a veteran of the Gumburru battle.^[4] This means Diirye Guure in 1899 became the replacement for Garad Ali IV who was the former Garad (tribal chief) of the Dhulbahante Garadship. However this didn't happen until the Dhulbahante farah Garad were split at the turn of the 20th century, during a disagreement wherein Garad Ali IV wanted to maintain the Garadate whereas the darawiish disagreed; the subsequent assassination of Garad Ali meant a darawiish split occurred. This was unpopular and darawiish fled.^[8] However, the Darawiish were able to reestablish themselves at their original base in the Nugaal Valley when paying restitution towards the reer Garad subclan of Baharsame for this assassination^[9]

the Dervishes could not remain in the Ogaadeen and they hastily withdrew to the Nugaal, where the Sayyid propitiated the Dulbahante for the moment by a massive payment of blood monies.

Subsequently, the reer Garad subclan of Baharsame, their supporters and the Darawiish were once again on good terms.

In the 106th verse of the poem Gaala-leged, the Sayid claims to speak on behalf of the contemporaneous supreme Garad of the Ciid-Nugaal, Diiriye Guure; suggesting that the Sayid considered the Darawiish Garad Diiriye Guure as holding a more senior rank within the Darawiish than himself.^[10] The reer Garad hereditary lineage of Baharsame was not immune to the Darawiish revamp purveyed towards the twelve secondary segmentation traditional Dhulbahante clan chieftains as evidenced by the Garad Ali IV incident. The poem Dhurwaa Ariga Eebaa Leh by Dhiqle discusses how certain spotted hyenas stole or ravished livestock intended for the haroun; a whimsical verse composition that followed confirms the reconciliation between the traditional hereditary Baharsame lineage, by name-checking the two sons of Garad Ali IV as "Laba ilmo-Garad baa leh" i.e., telling the hyenas these livestock belong to his two sons i.e. Garad Mohamud and Garad Jama, although insinuating they are still young.^[11] British intelligence reports as well as Xuseen Dhiqle's poem damceystane discuss how the Darawiish tariqa permitted a form of marrriage called sighar, wherein multiple parallel marriages occurred with brides and bridegrooms being exchanged, and they subsequent esteem with a notable member of the haroun facilitated an increase in stature. Although Diiriye Guure and his younger sibling Maxmud Guure were siblings it is not known whether they were full siblings or half, although the latter was known to have been birthed by the Sayid's sister, and they both practised sighar, or parallel marriages. However the combined effect of the British arresting a leading member of the royal Guure family approximating the event of the Jidbali battle as well as Diiriye Guure's debilitating injury from Cagaarweyne battle, the Diiriye Guure position in effect became one of dissimulation approaching a nominal or non-sovereign monarchy.^[12][13] Maxmud Guure was mentioned in the Geoffrey Archer's 1916 important members of Darawiish haroun list. Diiriye Guure and Maxmud Guure hail of the Baharsame subclan of Dhulbahante, and a known moment of collusion between the two brothers occurred at the Cagaarweyne battle wherein the latter was forewarned of the occurrence of the battle wherein Diiriye Guure participated prior to the arrival of a scout by finding an eagle filled the remnants of human testicles: "waxaana calooshiisii laga soo saaray 500 oo xiniinyo rag ah", whereby those present assumed the occurrence of a cumbersome event.^[14] Although recognizing the faces of Darawiish members was difficult due to their habit of wearing keffiyeh's called duubcad, nonetheless, due to their distinctive horses, the British recognized the Cagaarweyne battle was commanded by the most important members of the Darawiish, in this case, happening to be the Darawiish Garad Diiriye Guure himself, due to the distinctive horses braced by snior Darawiish. The term Khusuusi used by Jardine is a native Somali term referring to the highest ranked-statesmen within the Darawiish:

There was no longer any doubt that the enemy were collected in thick bush some 10 miles to the west of Cobbe ; and a captured rifle, which had been lost by us at Erigo, and two horses which were recognised as belonging to the Mullah's khusuusi, or intimate advisers, gave rise to suspicions that the enemy force was represented by the leading " die-hards."

The Cagaarweyne battle, which occurred between the 15th and the 17th of April 1903, was commanded by the king Diiriye Guure himself, and was a complete annihilation of the British force, and the British dead included their lead commander Arthur Plunkett, besides 200 other British fatalities^{[citation needed]}. It represents thus arguably the biggest defeat inflicted by an African chieftain over a British professional standing army^{[original research?]}, in British African-military warfare, although the royal majesty of the Dhulbahante clan, Diiriye Guure himself sustained permanent debilitating injuries at Cagaarweyne. Maxmud Guure, Diiriye Guure's younger brother was a pretween when the Maxkamadaha Darawiishta (Darawiish legal court) was created in 1895, and yet his propulsion into a senior member of the haroun by the 1910s demonstrates the youth empowerment culture that existed among the Darawiish.^[12]

Position[]

According to author Said Samatar, the terms Garad and sultan are interchangeable, especially with regards to the Dhulbahante clan, where the usage of Garad is near ubiquitous.^[9]

Being the senior nobility of the Dhulbahante tribe, also by extension makes Guure the most senior nobility within the Darawiish, as the Sayid, i.e. the Mad Mullah, who was the head of state, defined the Darawiish polity as a Dhulbahante state in an official May 3, 1899 letter towards British authorities;^[15] he refers to himself as Amir whilst referring to Diiriye Guure as Sultan of the Darawiish:

This letter is sent by all the Dervishes, the Amir, and
all the Dolbahanta to the Ruler of Berbera ... We are a Government,
we have a Sultan, an Amir, and Chiefs, and subjects.

The next day, on May 4, 1899, after it was received, the British administrator James Hayes Sadler in a letter to the British prime minister also understood this letter to mean that the Darawiish was a Dhulbahante state, and Sadler uses the terms Darawiish and Dhulbahante interchangeably:^[15]

In his last letter the Mullah pretends to speak in the name of the Dervishes, their Amir (himself), and the Dolbahanta tribes. This letter shows his object is to establish himself as the Ruler of the Dolbahanta, and it has a Mahdist look

References[]

External links[]

Media related to Diiriye Guure at Wikimedia Commons