Dhulbahante

In 1998, they established the State of Puntland with other Harti clans due to the common kinship.[20][21][22] It is based on the ethnic composition and clan ties to Puntland, that voters in Sanaag and especially Sool were decidedly less supportive of Somaliland’s 2001 referendum on the constitution and independence.[20][23][24] Although the Dhulbahante community was split over the 2007 conflict, with some aligning with Somaliland and its troops in the area of Las Anod, in the Bo'ame Declaration of 2007 all Dhulbahante clan chiefs rejected Somaliland's secessionist agenda and demanded the withdrawal of its militia from the clans traditional territory.[25][19]

President Silanyo and Ali Khalif signing Somaliland-Khatumo Agreement in Aynabo in October 2017

In aftermath of the occupation of Las Anod in 2007, the clan became disillusioned with Puntland, consequently a new unionist movement which aimed to remove Somaliland from Dhulbahante territories emerged. The movement called the Unity and Salvation Authority of the SSC Regions of Somalia (Somali: Hogaanka Badbaadada iyo midaynta SSC (HBM-SSC)) was spearheaded by Saleban Essa Ahmed and founded in 2009.[26] The most important traditional leaders who lent their support to the SSC Movement were Garad Jama Garad Ali, Garad Jama Garad Ismail, and Garad Ali Burale Hassan.[27] In the Kalshale Conflict, Somaliland forces and SSC militia clashed in the Ayn region in 2011,[28] whilst more clashes were reported to have occurred in 2012.[28] In 2012, the SSC movement was replaced by Khatumo State after the Khaatumo II conference held at Taleh.[29][30]

Under the leadership of Ali Khalif Galaydh, Khatumo State commenced peace talks with Somaliland and subsequently the two entities reached an agreement at the town of Aynabo in October 2017.[31]

19th-century explorer C.J Cruttenden on the Dhulbahante and their horse breed:

"The Dulbahanta are a nation who fight chiefly on horseback, their arms being two spears and a shield. Their horses are powerful and courageous; the breed descended, according to Somali tradition, from the stud of Suleiman, the son Of David, and consequently is highly valued. The Dulbahanta, as far as I have seen of them, are a fine martial race of men, second to none...either in conduct or appearance".[45]

Taleh, the Dervish capital.

Dervish forces mostly hailed from the Dhulbahante, similarly the majority of the movements followers belonged to this clan and to a lesser extent the Ogaden clan.[16][8] The Dhulbahante in Buuhodle were particularly the first and most persistent supporters of the Dervish Movement.[46] The Dervish Movement resisted colonial occupation, especially the British who were aided by certain Somali clans (including segments of the Dhulbahante).[47] The Achilles heel of the British empire in the Somaliland Protectorate was the un-administered east, inhabited by the Dhubahante, Warsangali and a few sections of the Isaaq.[48] In this light Douglas Jardine explains that British priority was to keep the former two clans neutral, as the British administration and its allied clans would not be able to resist them without outside aid.[49]

Despite this, the Chief of the Dhulbahante clan, Garad Ali Garad Mohamoud, did not want to be under British occupation nor under Dervish authority, instead he wanted to retain his autonomy as clan chief. The Garad and Sayyid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan had a heated altercation which concluded with Garad Ali supposedly saying:

"I am the Ruler of Nugaal and its people, their management is mine and i expect everybody to respect it".[50]

Subsequently, Hassan ordered the successful assassination of the Garad.[51] As Douglas Jardine reports, Hassan took this action after the Garad reassured the British that their relations remained unchanged, although owing to the influence of Hassan his clan no longer obeyed his orders.[52] Issa-Salwe says news of the assassination stunned the Somali clans, consequently Hassan was only left with his maternal clan, the Ali Geri of the Dhulbahante.[53] According to John William Carnegie Kirk, all Dhulbahante clans sided with Sayyid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan, expect the three small sub-clans of Rer Hagar, Rer Wais Adan and Ba Idris who were considered friendly by the British.[54] In his poem Hanfi iyo Hungri, Hassan acknowledged the Dhulbahante as the true Dervish warriors:

Hawa beena Soomaalidaa, hadafka raacdaa leh.

Hadal ruma Daraawiishta iyo, weli hanoonaa leh.

Raggii diinta hooyga u noqdiyo, hanad shirshooraa leh.[55]

In 1904 Hassan attacked the Jama Siad clan[56] and in 1908 the Dhulbahante raided the Dervish and looted their camels. Hassan sent a letter to the British Commissioner Cordeaux, requesting his camels be returned and Blood money be paid.

Excerpt from Hassan's letter to Cordeaux :

Your people, the Dolbahanta tribe, have killed fifteen of our men and looted eighty-four camels. I do not know if Abdulla Shahari reported this to you: if he did the fault lies with you; if not, I do hereby acquaint you of it. You are requested to restore to us our camels and the blood shed by your people [57]

Somaliland Camel Corps

In 1912 the Dervish army compelled friendly segments of the Dhulbahante clan to retire to the British controlled territory to gain protection, Horace Byatt reported that 800 dhulbahante arrived in Berbera, stating that only 300 native infantry and 200 King's African Rifles were in Berbera and insufficient to hold off a Dervish attack.[58]

In 1913 at the battle of Dul Madoba the Dervishes defeated the British. The Dervish forces under the leadership of Dhulbahante military commander Ismail Mire were attacked by the British expeditionary forces under the command of Richard Corfield.[59] It is reported that the Dervishes previously looted herds from the Jama Siad, who subsequently agreed to assist the British in their attack.[60] Thus, 300 Jama Siad warriors along with the Somaliland Camel Corps commanded by Corfield pursued and attacked the Dervishes at Dul Madoba. The British sustained heavy casualties and Corfeild was killed in battle, whilst the 300 Jama Siad warriors fled unscathed.[61][59]

Aerial bombardment of Dervish forts in Taleh

After the 1920 Bombing campaign of the Taleh fort and the Dervish retreat into Ethiopia, Tribal Chief Haji Mohammad Bullaleh (Haji the Hyena), commanded a 3000 strong army that consisted of Habar Yunis, Habar Jeclo and Dolbahanta horsemen and pursued the fleeing Dervishes. They attacked Muhammad Abdallah Hassan and the Dervish army in the Ogaden region and defeated them, causing Hassan to retreat to the town of Imi. Haji and his army looted 60,000 livestock and 700 rifles from the dervishes.[62] The Dervishes who fought colonial powers for 20 years in order to attain freedom for the Somali peninsula never recovered.

An historic summit was convened in Boocame from November 15 – November 23 of 2007, by the traditional leaders of the Dulbahante (Dhulbahante) sub-clan of the clan. The Dulbahante traditional chiefs issued an official communiqué on October 15, 2007 regarding the secessionist Somaliland region's militias’ aggression and occupation of Laascaanood (LasAnod), the regional capital of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn regions of Somaliland.[25][63][64]

All 14 major traditional chiefs of the Dulbahante clan attended this summit. In addition to the traditional chiefs, there were many intellectuals (women & men), students and civic organizations from outside and inside of the country attending the summit. All chiefs unanimously signed declaration communiqué on November 22, 2007.

The communiqué states that the Dulbahante clan is not part of (and was never part of) and does not recognize the administration that calls itself "Somaliland" and that there are no agreements between Dulbahante clan and "Somaliland", in the past or the present. The communiqué also calls for an immediate end of hostility, return of customary peaceful co-existences among clans and an unconditional removal of the Somaliland militia from their territory. Finally, chiefs declared that the Dulbahante clan stands for the Somali unity.

In the anniversary of their historic summit in Boocame in November 2007, the Dulbahante Traditional Chiefs (SSC Traditional Leaders Council) reiterated their previous declaration (above) that they are not part of the Somaliland separatist movement. The council sent its pronouncement to the European Union, United Nations Agencies and all NGOs that operate within Somalia.

• Ali Khalif Galaydh, Ex-Prime minister of Somalia and Khaatumo President.
• Indhosheel, former Khatumo president
• Ismail Mire, Darwiish supreme commander, poet
• Mohamed Abdi Hashi, President of Puntland, October 2004 - January 2005.

• Garad Jama Garad Ali, Traditional Clan Chief of Dhulbahante Clan.[67]

• Abdinasir Ali Hassan, Chairman of Hass petroleum.

• Abdi Holland, Somali artist.
• Aw Jama, Somali scholar, historian and collector of oral literature of Somalia. He wrote the first authoritative study of Dervishes.
• Saado Ali Warsame, singer-songwriter and former MP in the Federal Parliament of Somalia.
• Ali Dhuh, anti-darwiish poet.

• Mohamed Adam Ahmed, former Chief of Staff of the Somali Armed Forces

• Amina Mohamed, former Chairman of the INM and the WTO's General Council, and the current Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Kenya.
• Bashe Mohamed Farah, Speaker of Somaliland House of Representative.
• Abdihakim Amey, former Puntland vice-president
• Faisal Hassan, Canadian politician
• Abdisamad Ali Shire, former Puntland vice-president
• Ali Jangali Somalia's minister of foreign affairs
• Saleban Essa Ahmed, SSC Leader
• Ahmed Gacmayare, former Information Minister for Khaatumo State
• Faratoon, Somaliland minister of foreign affairs

• Abdi Bile, Somalia's most decorated athlete with the most Somali national records
• Mohamed Suleiman, first ethnic Somali to win an Olympic medal