Britain’s hurried partition border cut through communities and homes

Evidence

From the end of the Dervish period until after the East Africa campaign during the Second World War, this remained the general character of life in the Protectorate. Yet, although the rudiments of law and order were now effectively established, there was during this period considerable turbulence in the west, particularly amongst the Gadabursi and ‘Ise clans. This created serious administrative difficulties which were aggravated by the effects of the arbitrary colonial partition which divided these clans between Britain and Ethiopia and, in the case of the ‘Ise, France also. Rival claimants for the leadership of the Gadabursi clan and their adherents sought to play off to their own advantage the Ethiopian authorities at Jigjiga and the British at Borama. In 1930, this dangerous game led to an unfortunate incident when, guided by the pro-Ethiopian Gadabursi claimant, an Ethiopian force crossed into the Protectorate and seized livestock. An encounter with the Borama authorities quickly followed in which shots were exchanged and four Ethiopians were killed. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 294 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial partition split Somali clans across borders and fuelled turbulence — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 294

Related

• Colonial partition split Somali clans across borders and fuelled turbulence (similarity 0.92)
• The 1908 Italo-Ethiopian treaty partitioned Somali clans arbitrarily (similarity 0.88)
• The partition of Somaliland’s territories permanently foreclosed a unified path to independence (similarity 0.86)
• Somali lands were divided among Britain, France, Italy, and Ethiopia into five domains (similarity 0.83)
• The nineteenth-century partition entrenched barriers that doomed future Somali unity. (similarity 0.82)
• Britain’s 1897 withdrawal of protection exposed Somali clansmen to Ethiopian occupation (similarity 0.80)
• Long-run southward Somali migration funnelled protected clans into Ethiopia’s sphere. (similarity 0.79)
• Menelik’s 1891 circular asserted Ethiopian sovereignty over Somali clans (similarity 0.79)
• Britain’s 1897 withdrawal knowingly doomed the Somali clans’ independence. (similarity 0.79)
• Colonial partition entrenched fragmentation that would later generate friction (similarity 0.78)
• Somali clans remained ignorant of the 1897 partition until 1934 (similarity 0.78)
• British miscalculation ignored population drift that pushed protected Somali into Ethiopia’s sphere (similarity 0.78)
• British withdrawal unleashed clan feuds and mass starvation in the interior (similarity 0.78)
• Britain ceded 67,000 square miles of the Haud to Ethiopia in 1897 (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Colonial partition split Somali clans across borders and fuelled turbulence #exemplifies (0.80) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 294