Colonial courts forced clan identification that Somali nationalists rejected

Evidence

The British administration did not support the club’s antitribal stance as indicated by the following report by a senior officer: “It is noted that the promise not to reveal their tribes is causing a certain amount of worry to the Civil Affairs Officers in their capacity as Judicial Officers, as it is necessary in Court cases to record the tribe of the accused and of the witness. When asked for their tribes, members of the S.Y.C. now state simply that they are Somalis.” — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1195

Categorization

• CANDY: A wonderfully concrete detail: nationalist club members, when pressed for their clan, answered simply that they are Somalis—colonial authorities were baffled.