The Dervish army broke with Somali clan organization to build unity

Evidence

Although he was of Ogaden descent, however, his home had not previously been amongst them, and some members of the clan decided that they wished to have nothing to do with the Sayyid and plotted to kill him. But, as in subsequent attempts on his life, the news leaked out and Sayyid Muhammad confronted the ringleaders and succeeded in rousing such public indignation against them that he was able to have them summarily executed. On this occasion these stern measures, in the current situation of Ethiopian menace, served not to alienate the Ogaden but to win him further support. Rifles and ammunition imported through the French port of Jibuti and the ports of the Majerteyn coast, were now reaching the Dervishes in quantity and this greatly increased their morale and prestige. With these resources, trading caravans traversing the Ogaden country were systematically looted by the Dervishes, and a hurriedly assembled Ethiopian expedition sent out to deal with the situation failed to locate the Dervishes and dissipated its energies in looting camels and other livestock indiscriminately. This, of course, only further inflamed Ogaden feelings against the Ethiopians, and Sayyid Muhammad found little difficulty in organizing a force some 6,000 strong which in March 1900 stormed the Ethiopian post at Jigjiga and recovered all the looted stock. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 214 (#expands, via linked claim)

Notwithstanding this gloomy picture, however, an extremely significant development had in fact occurred, almost unnoticed, and without any assistance or aid from the Protectorate authorities. This was the gradual adoption of sorghum cultivation in the western part of the territory (in Borama and Hargeisa Districts), far from the scene of the Dervish operations in the centre and east. From shortly before the turn of the century, the Gadabursi clan and sections of the Habar Awal (especially the Jibril Abokor) living in the higher and better-watered land in the west had begun to follow the example of their kinsmen in the Jigjiga region of clearing areas of bush and planting sorghum, the ground being tilled by ox-drawn wooden ploughs. This comparatively advanced system of cultivation, strikingly different from the hand hoe technique employed in southern Somalia, seems to have been pioneered locally by a few religious settlements from which it soon spread to the surrounding clansmen. Far from hindering this economic revolution, the effect of the Dervish war appears on the contrary to have stimulated it by creating a highly lucrative market for local grain. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 285 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Somali clan maneuvering between rival empires weakened the Somali position; Somali nationalism burned out and clan divisions violently reasserted themselves — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 4; The Dervish war indirectly stimulated western Somali adoption of sorghum cultivation — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 285 (+8 more)

Related

• Sayyid Muhammad turned Ogaden resentment of Ethiopian raids into Dervish recruits (similarity 0.85)
• Internal clan and ethnic divisions crippled the Western Somali struggle for the Ogaden. (similarity 0.84)
• Somalis’ clan disunity prevented unified opposition to foreign rule (similarity 0.83)
• The Dervish war indirectly stimulated western Somali adoption of sorghum cultivation (similarity 0.83)
• Clan segmentation had blocked Somali national unity since the sixteenth century. (similarity 0.83)
• Somali clan maneuvering between rival empires weakened the Somali position (similarity 0.82)
• Internal clan divisions fatally undermined the Western Somali liberation struggle (similarity 0.82)
• The Somali Youth League’s four-point programme repudiated clan divisions (similarity 0.81)
• The Gendarmerie’s deliberate clan mixing advanced Somali nationalism (similarity 0.81)
• The Somali Youth League’s program repudiated clan divisions and promoted a Somali script (similarity 0.81)
• Dervish campaigns strengthened Ethiopia’s position in the Ogaden (similarity 0.81)
• Warsangeli defection to the Dervishes signaled renewed warfare (similarity 0.81)
• Ethiopia countered Somali nationalism by buying off clan leaders with higher salaries (similarity 0.80)
• Siyad’s arms-distribution policies caused the unprecedented clan cleansing (similarity 0.80)
• The Dervish war left British Somaliland undeveloped and bitterly mistrustful (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• The Dervish war indirectly stimulated western Somali adoption of sorghum cultivation #expands (0.60) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 285
• Somalis’ clan disunity prevented unified opposition to foreign rule #complicates (0.60)
• Sayyid Muhammad turned Ogaden resentment of Ethiopian raids into Dervish recruits #expands (0.60) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 214
• Somali nationalism burned out and clan divisions violently reasserted themselves #complicates (0.50) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 4
• The Somali Youth League’s four-point programme repudiated clan divisions #exemplifies (0.50) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 337
• The Dervish war left British Somaliland undeveloped and bitterly mistrustful #expands (0.50)
• Somali clan maneuvering between rival empires weakened the Somali position #complicates (0.45)