Rival Majerteyn leaders shared detention histories yet split by segment
Evidence
From the outset, an uneasy relationship existed between the two towering figures, Colonel ‘Abdillahi Yusuf, the guerrilla leader, and General Muhammad Abshir, the well-known and widely respected former commander of Somalia’s police. ‘Abdillahi had been a political detainee in both Siyad’s Somalia and Mengistu’s Ethiopia until April 1991, and Muhammad had been in detention for most of Siyad’s rule. Each was from a different Majerteyn segment, but had a support base extending widely in the clan. With the traditional clan ‘king’ (or boqor) of the ‘Osman Mahmud, they formed what Bernhard Helander has described as a ‘rudimentary administration for the three Majerteyn regions’. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 664
Categorization
- XREF: Sets up the Abdillahi Yusuf-Muhammad Abshir rivalry that recurs through the Puntland narrative, and matches the earlier pattern of Siyad-era detainees becoming region leaders. — connects to: Defeat in the Ogaden triggered an attempted coup by Majerteyn clan soldiers. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 586