View text source at Wikipedia

Aynaba

Aynaba
Caynaba (Somali)
عينبة (Arabic)
Town
Aynaba
Aynaba
[[File:|Aynaba|266px]]
Aynaba is located in Sool
Aynaba
Aynaba
Location in Somaliland
Aynaba is located in Somaliland
Aynaba
Aynaba
Aynaba (Somaliland)
Coordinates: 8°57′24″N 46°24′43″E / 8.95667°N 46.41194°E / 8.95667; 46.41194
Country Somaliland
RegionSool
DistrictAynaba District
Government
 • MayorMr Mohamed Haibe Mohamud
Area
 • Total
18 km2 (7 sq mi)
Population
 (2013)[1]
 • Total
50,000
 • Rank10th
Time zoneUTC+3 (EAT)

Aynaba, also spelt Ainabo, Ainaba or Aynabo (Somali: Caynaba, Arabic: عينبة) is a major town in western Sool region of Somaliland as well as the administrative seat of the Aynaba District.

Overview

[edit]
Ancient ruins in Aynaba

Aynaba is situated on a busy tarmac road connecting Somaliland's major cities to Somalia and is the second largest town in the Sool region of Somaliland after Las Anod.[2] The town is almost at the exact center between Burao and Las Anod, with the town being 127 km and 124 km away from both cities respectively.[3][4] The name "Aynaba" or "Aynabo" translates to "black" in the Somali language.[5]

Aynaba is home to the famous Aynaba Well, well known throughout Somaliland and among Somalis in general for its depth and abundant water, which attracts nomads from neighbouring Togdheer, Sanaag and Sool regions and has been the subject of many poems.[6][7][8]

Ancient edifices have been found in Aynaba.[9] Somaliland in general, is home to numerous such archaeological sites and megalithic structures, with similar rock art found at Haadh, Gudmo Biyo Cas, Dhambalin, Dhagah Maroodi and numerous other sites, while ancient edifices are, among others, found at Sheikh, Aw-Barkhadle, Ancient Amud, Heis, Maydh, Haylan, Qa’ableh, Qombo'ul and El Ayo.[9] However, many of these old structures have yet to be properly explored, a process which would help shed further light on local history and facilitate their preservation for posterity.[10]

History

[edit]
The famous Aynaba well

19th century

[edit]

During the early to mid-19th century, Aynaba was the headquarters of the Soocane military faction led by the famous poet and military leader Kite Fiqi.

Dervish movement

[edit]

The town was one of many temporary local centers that the Dervish movement operated from, led by the Mad Mullah's second in command Haji Sudi of the Adan Madoba subclan of the Habr Je'lo.[11] The town was also the sight of clashes between the movement's Sufi tariqa, the Salihiyya and its rival, the Qadiriyya in 1955.[12]

Guba series

[edit]

Following a string of Habr Je'lo victories over the Dhulbahante after the collapse of the Dervish movement, in which they had captured many wells and reduced their opponents to a pitiful state, including expelling them from Aynaba and the wider Aynaba district, Salaan Carrabey composed a boastful poem dedicated to Aynaba called Haadaaqsi.[13]

Conquest of Aynaba

[edit]
Main article: Isaaq migrations § Migrations into Sool

The Isaaq clan expanded into traditional Dhulbahante territory to the east. This expansion was led primarily by the Habr Je’lo subclan. The clan boundary between the Habr Je'lo and the Dhulbahante during the 19th century was traditionally in Laba Garday, a pass in the Buurdhaab mountain chain situated between War Idaad and Wadamago.[14] The Dhulbahante had previously inhabited just east of Burao.[15] The Habr Je'lo took advantage of the Dhulbahante's weakness after the defeat of the Dervish movement to conquer much of their important wells and grazing grounds.[16][17] The Habr Je'lo subsequently expanded into and beyond the Saraar plain and the Ain Valley (which includes Aynaba[18]), pushing the Dhulbahante southwards towards the Haud:[19]

Thus under pressure from the Habar Tol Ja'lo expanding to their north, the Dulbahante claim that formerly their north-western boundary was the Sarar Plain now grazed mainly by Habar Tol Ja'lo. And there is good evidence that they have in fact been forced to move south. Those Dulbahante lineages which formerly grazed in the Ain region and which were accordingly called Reer ‘Aymeed today pasture their stock mainly in the scrub-lands of the northern Hand where they are known as ‘people of the bush’ (Reer Oodeed).

— Ioan Lewis

One of the most significant military and territorial gains was the Habr Je'lo conquest of the strategic town of Aynaba during a tribal war between the Habr Je'lo and the Dhulbahante in 1954-55.[20][21] At the start of the 20th century Aynaba and its surroundings were inhabited by the Dhulbahante, who controlled the important wells there, which was seized by the Habr Je'lo alongside the town itself.[22]

The immediate cause of the war was camel rustling in Erigavo District (today Sanaag region) perpetrated by the famous Dhulbahante warrior, Ali Guun. The camel rustling perpetrated by Ali Guun was however a bloody affair, which precipitated an all-out tribal conflict between the two clans. The death of Ali Guun in Ban 'Ade, a plain between Garadag and Hudun turned the tide against the Dhulbahante, with the actual war later on being fought in an area further south of Las Anod.[21] A Habr Je'lo poet stated:[21]

The most famous poem about the war was composed by Mohamed Adan Aws (Yawleh) of the Habr Yunis Isaaq. Intending to salt the wounds of the Dhulbahante, he said:[21]

The Dhulbahante loss of Caynabo constituted a form of collective trauma for the Dhulbahante, and touched a nerve among them, especially the subclans inhabiting the Buuhoodle area.[23] The current clan border between the Isaaq and the Dhulbahante is roughly between the towns of Oog and Guumays in Sool region.[24]

Drought

[edit]

Between 1974 and 1975, a major drought referred to as the Abaartii Dabadheer ("The Lingering Drought") occurred in modern-day Somaliland and the neighbouring northern Puntland region of Somalia. The Soviet Union, which at the time maintained strategic relations with the Siad Barre government, airlifted some 90,000 people from the devastated regions of Aynaba and the towns of Beer and Hobyo. New small settlements referred to as Danwadaagaha ("Collective Settlements") were then created in Jubbada Hoose (Lower Jubba) and Jubbada Dhexe (Middle Jubba) regions. The transplanted families were also introduced to farming and fishing techniques, a change from their traditional pastoralist lifestyle of livestock herding.[25][26]

Oil exploration

[edit]

The area Aynaba is located in is home to Block SL10B/13. In November 2019, Genel energy present estimation of block potential. It conclude the existence of active petroleum system and several stacked oil reserves within the block adding up to 1.3 billion barrels of oil. Full field development will have daily output of 50.000 barrels of oil.[27] In December 2021, Genel Energy signed a farm-out deal with OPIC Somaliland Corporation, backed by Taiwan’s CPC Corporation, on the SL10B/13 block.[28] According to Genel, the block could contain more than 5 billion barrels of prospective resources.[28]

Demographics

[edit]

As of 2018 Aynaba has an estimated population of 50,000.[1] In 2005, the wider district of Aynaba had a population of 75,702 residents.[29]

According to a book published in England in 1951, Aynabo was inhabited by the Habr Yunis, Habr Je'lo, and Dhulbahante clans.[30]

According to a 2016 document from EASO, and 2018 docment by Markus Virgil Hoehne, a lecturer at the Leipzig University, Aynabo is primarily inhabited by the Habr Je'lo subclan of Isaaq.[31][1]

Notable residents

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Zenker, Olaf; Hoehne, Markus Virgil (2018-02-02). The State and the Paradox of Customary Law in Africa. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-01479-9.
  2. ^ Abdi Ali, Eng. Hussein (12–13 March 2012). "Somaliland Road Sector Developments" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-09-25.
  3. ^ "Aynabo till Las Anod". Aynabo till Las Anod (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  4. ^ "Burao till Aynabo". Burao till Aynabo (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  5. ^ Diiriye, Anwar Maxamed (2006). Literature of Somali Onomastics & Proverbs with Comparison of Foreign Sayings. Gobaad Communications & Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-9726615-1-5.
  6. ^ WARBIXIN TAARIIKHDA MAGAALADA CAYNABA, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2021-05-08
  7. ^ S. Samatar, Said (1982). "Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-05-22.
  8. ^ Aden Muhumed, Abdirizak (15 March 2019). "POPULAR ISLAM AND LIMITS OF SECULAR STATE ON THE SOMALI PENISULA" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-05-22.
  9. ^ a b Mire, Sada (2015-04-14). "Mapping the Archaeology of Somalia: Religion, Art, Script, Time, Urbanism, Trade and Empire". African Archaeological Review. 32 (1): 111–136. doi:10.1007/s10437-015-9184-9. ISSN 0263-0338.
  10. ^ Michael Hodd, East African Handbook, (Trade & Travel Publications: 1994), p.640.
  11. ^ Markus V. Hoehne (2016). John M Mackenzie (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Empire. John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe069. ISBN 978-11184-406-43.
  12. ^ Lewis, I. M. (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. Haan Associates. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-874209-87-4.
  13. ^ a b Galaal, Musa H.I; Andrzejewski, B.W (1963). Journal of African languages A Somali Poetic Combat - III. Macmillan. pp. 190–205.
  14. ^ Muray, John (1893). Supplementary Papers. p. 553. Our way for a day's march lay amongst stony hills and up a thorny valley , until we reached the summit of a low range which separates the Habr Toljaala from the Dulbahanta country , and is here called Laba Gardai ( two views ) .
  15. ^ Höhne, Markus Virgil (2015). Between Somaliland and Puntland: marginalization, militarization and conflicting political visions. Contested borderlands. London: Rift Valley Institute. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-907431-13-5.
  16. ^ Höhne, Markus Virgil (2015). Between Somaliland and Puntland: marginalization, militarization and conflicting political visions. Contested borderlands. London: Rift Valley Institute. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-907431-13-5.
  17. ^ Zenker, Olaf; Hoehne, Markus Virgil (2018-02-02). The State and the Paradox of Customary Law in Africa. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-01479-9.
  18. ^ MacFadyen, W. A. (1933). The Geology of British Somaliland. Government of the Somaliland Protectorate.
  19. ^ Lewis, Ioan M. (1999). A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism & politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa. IAI classics in African anthrpology. International African Institute (3rd ed.). Oxford: James Currey. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-85255-280-3.
  20. ^ Lund, Christian; Eilenberg, Michael (2017-07-11). Rule and Rupture: State Formation Through the Production of Property and Citizenship. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-38473-1.
  21. ^ a b c d Mohamed, Jama (1996). "Constructing colonial hegemony in the Somaliland protectorate, 1941-1960". University of Toronto: 336–338. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.
  22. ^ Höhne, Markus Virgil (2015). Between Somaliland and Puntland: marginalization, militarization and conflicting political visions. Contested borderlands. London: Rift Valley Institute. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-907431-13-5.
  23. ^ Höhne, Markus Virgil (2015). Between Somaliland and Puntland: marginalization, militarization and conflicting political visions. Contested borderlands. London: Rift Valley Institute. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-907431-13-5.
  24. ^ "CrisisWatch: October Alerts and September Trends 2023". www.crisisgroup.org. 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2025-01-30.
  25. ^ Prunier, Gérard (2021). The Country That Does Not Exist: A History of Somaliland. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-78738-203-9.
  26. ^ Adam, Hussein Mohamed (1979). Somalia, Revolutionary Transformations: Somali Papers Presented at the Third Frantz Fanon Conference, Muqdisho, June 18-24th, 1979. State Print. Agency.
  27. ^ "Somaliland Block SL10B/13" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  28. ^ a b Reed, Ed (2021-12-20). "Genel reaches East African farm-out with Taiwan's CPC". Energy Voice. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  29. ^ "Regions, districts, and their populations: Somalia 2005 (draft)" (PDF). UNDP. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  30. ^ Hunt, John Anthony (1951). A General Survey of the Somaliland Protectorate 1944-1950: Final Report on "An Economic Survey and Reconnaissance of the British Somaliland Protectorate 1944-1950," Colonial Development and Welfare Scheme D. 484. To be purchased from the Chief Secretary.
  31. ^ "EASO Country of Origin Information Report: Somalia Security Situation" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-06-26.
  32. ^ Maxamed Jaamac, Axmed. Taariikhdii Marxuum Indhadeero.
  33. ^ Ifiye, Khadar (2022-05-28). "AKHRISO: Taariikh nololeedka AHUN Sheekh Cali Warsame oo geeriyooday". Horseed Media. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  34. ^ "Olympedia – Jama Aden". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
Sources

8°57′N 46°25′E / 8.950°N 46.417°E / 8.950; 46.417