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The Hawiye (Template:Lang-so, Template:Lang-ar) is a Somali clan. Members of the clan primarily live in central and southern Somalia, in the Ogaden and the North Eastern Province (currently administered by Ethiopia and Kenya, respectively), and in smaller numbers in other countries. Like many Somalis, Hawiye members trace their ancestry to Irir Samaale. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Human Rights Watch indicate that Hawiye is the largest Somali clan. Other sources, including the Canadian Report of the Somalia Commission of Inquiry, indicate that the Darod is the largest Somali clan. Hawiye is the dominant clan in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

History

The first reference to the Hawiye dates back to the 13th century writings of the Arab geographer, Ibn Sa'id, who describes Merca as the "capital of Hawiye country". The 12th century cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi may have referred to the Hawiye as well, as he called Merca the region of the "Hadiye", which Herbert S. Lewis believes is a scribal error for "Hawiye", as do Guilliani, Schleicher and Cerulli.

Settlement and commerce

Due to ancient pastoralist migrations and population movements across the Somali peninsula in search of water wells and grazing land over a period of thousand years, Hawiye clans today can be found inhabiting an area stretching from the fertile lands of southern Somalia between Barawa and Kismayo, to the regions surrounding Merka, Mogadishu and Warsheikh in the hinterland, west to the modern city of Beledweyne in the Hiiraan region, and north to the ancient port town of Hobyo in the arid central Mudug region.

Sub-clans of the Hawiye include the Degodia, about 40 percent of whom live in Ethiopia. When Arthur Donaldson Smith traveled through what is now Bare woreda in 1895, he found that the Degodia were neighbors of the Afgab clan, their territory stretching east to the Weyib and Dawa Rivers.

The economy of the Hawiye in the interior includes the predominant nomadic pastoralism, and to some extent, cultivation within agricultural settlements in the riverine area, as well as mercantile commerce along the urban coast. At various points throughout history, trade of modern and ancient commodities by the Hawiye through maritime routes included cattle skin, slaves, ivory and ambergris.

Clan tree

There is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures and many lineages are omitted. The following listing is taken from the World Bank's Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics from 2005 and the United Kingdom's Home Office publication, Somalia Assessment 2001.

• Hawiye
  • Gaaljal
  • Hawadle
  • Abgaal (Abgal)
    • Harti
      • Angonyar
      • Warsangeli
      • Abokor
    • Wabudhan
      • Da'oud
      • Rer Mattan
      • Mohamed Muse
    • Wa'esli
  • Murosade
  • Sheekhaal (Sheikal)(sheekhaal people says that they are not hawiye)
  • Habar Gidir (Haber Gedir)
    • Sa'ad
    • Suleiman
    • Ayr
    • Sarur
  • Waadan

In the south central part of Somalia the World Bank shows the following clan tree:

• Hawiye
  • Karanle
    • Murusade
  • Gorgate
    • Abgal
    • Habargidir
    • Sheikhal
    • Duduble
    • Ujeien
  • Gugun-Dhabe
  • Rarane
  • Haskul
  • Jambeele
    • Hawadle
    • Galje'el
    • Ajuran
    • Dagodi

In Puntland the World Bank shows the following:

• Hawiye
  • Habar Gidir
  • Abgall
  • Biyamaal
  • Hawaadle
  • Murursade
  • Ujuuran

Notable Hawiye figures

Heads of State

• Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, President of Somalia, 1960–67
• Abdullahi Issa, Prime minister of Somalia, 1954–1960
• Ali Mahdi Muhammad President of Somalia, 1991–1995
• Mohamoud Mohamed Gacmodhere former Presidential candidate, 2004-2009
• General Mohamed Farrah Aidid, President of Somalia 1995-1996
• Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, President of Somalia, 2000–2004
• Ali Mohammed Ghedi, Prime minister of Somalia, 2004–2007
• Nur Hassan Hussein, Prime minister of Somalia, 2007–2009
• Sharif Ahmed, President of Somalia, 2009-current

Politicians

• Abdirahman Janaqow, Somali leader, deputy chairman of the Islamic Courts Union of Somalia (ICU), Minister of Justice
• Ali Shido Abdi, Vice chairman of the SYL party, 1956–60
• Haji Farah Ali Omar, Minister of Finance, 1956–60
• Ali Mohamed Osoble, Minister of Commerce & Construction, 1967–69; co-founder of the United Somali Congress
• Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, politician who was based to the south of Mogadishu and member of TFG parliament
• Mohamed Sheikh Osman, Minister of Finance, 1980–84
• Abdullahi Ahmed Addou, Ambassador to the United States, 1970–80
• Hussein Hagi Bood, Minister of National planning, 1977–81
• Omar Hashi Aden, Minister of National Security, 2009

Military personnel

• Daud Abdulle Hirsi, Commander-in-chief of the Somali national army, 1960–65
• Salaad Gabeyre Kediye, Father of the 1969 revolution
• Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Chairman of the United Somali Congress, 1991-1994
• Ahmed Maxamed Xasan, Lieutenant colonel who defused Mig-17 jet fighter bombs
• Mohammed Hussein Ali, Commissioner of the Kenyan police; 2004–08
• Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of Islamist revolution in Somalia, 2006–09
• Muuse Suudi Yalahow, warlord

Leading intellectuals

• Hussein Sheikh Ahmed Kaddare, author of the Kaddariya script, 1952
• Abdulkadir Yahye Ali, peace activist, Co-Director and Founder of Center for Research and Dialogue
• Abukar Umar Adani, businessman who operates the Elman port services
• Hilowle Imam Omar, co-chairman of the reconciliation program 1995-2000
• Ali Jimale, educator at the City University of New York
• Ali Sheikh Ahmed, dual president of Mogadishu University and Al-Islaah
• Abdi Mohamed Ulusso, political science graduate and 2003 presidential candidate
• Hussein Ali Shido, founding member of the United Somali Congress
• Amina Said Ali, author, poet, and medical scientist
• Ibrahim Hassan Addou, Foreign Minister of the Union of Islamic courts in 2006
• Farah Weheliye Addow (Sindiko), former leader of the African football confederation
• Marian Hussein Awreye, director of the Isma’il Jim’ale human rights organisation

Traditional elders and religious leaders

• Olol Diinle, last king of the Ajuran empire
• Sheekh Xasan Barsame, Ahmaddi anti-colonialist scholar
• Cabdulle Gorod, elder based in Hobyo
• Waber Ahmed Waber Abdi, leader of the Baadicade clan
• Sheikh Ali Dhere, founder of the first Islamic Court in Mogadishu

Music and literature

• Abdi Bashiir Indhobuur, poet and composer, writer of several patriotic songs
• Magool (Halima Khalif Omar), musician
• Hasan Adan Samatar, musician
• Abdulle Geedannaar, Mogadishu poet
• Sheekh Ahmed Gabyow, 19th-century poet
• K'naan, contemporary Somali-Canadian poet, rapper and musician

Political factions and organizations

• United Somali Congress (USC) Formed in 1989, it played a key role in the ouster of the government of Siad Barre
• Somali National Alliance (SNA) formed by Mohamed Farrah Aidid
• Somali Salvation Army (SSA), the Ali Mahdi Muhammad branch of the United Somali Congress
• Juba Valley Alliance (JVA), primary opponent of the Somali Patriotic Movement
• Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a rival administration to the Transitional Federal Government.
• Hizbul Shabaab, the Youth Movement wing of the ICU before ceding the organisation to Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow".
• United Somali Congress (USC/UJ)
• Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, (ARPCT) a Somali alliance created by various warlords and businesspeople
• The Democratic Union Party (DUP), has supporters in the area of Negele Boran in the Ogaden's Borena Zone in Ethiopia, with the majority of the Hawiye/Degodia clan heading the party

Notes

1. Central Intelligence Agency (2002). "Ethnic Groups". Somalia Summary Map. Retrieved February 15, 2006.
2. Human Rights Watch (1990). "Somalia: Human Rights Developments". Human Rights Watch World Report 1990. Retrieved November 21, 2005.
3. "The Situation in Somalia". Report of the Somali Commission of Inquiry, Vol. 1. Retrieved November 21, 2005.
4. Somalia Assessment 2001, Annex B: Somali Clan Structure, Country Information and Policy Unit, Home Office, Great Britain
5. "'Truce' after Somali gun battle". BBC News. 2007-03-23. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
6. Herbert S. Lewis, "The Origins of the Galla and Somali", in The Journal of African History. Cambridge University Press, 1966, pp 27–30.
7. The Somali, Afar and Saho groups in the Horn of Africa by I.M Lewis
8. Donaldson-Smith, Through Unknown African Countries: the first expedition from Somaliland to Lake Rudolph (London, 1897), p. 143
9. Kenya’s past; an introduction to historical method in Africa page by Thomas T. Spear
10. The Shaping of Somali society; reconstructing the history of a pastoral people by Lee Cassanelli
11. Worldbank, Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics, January 2005, Appendix 2, Lineage Charts, p.55 Figure A-1
12. Country Information and Policy Unit, Home Office, Great Britain, Somalia Assessment 2001, Annex B: Somali Clan Structure, p. 43
13. Worldbank, Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics, January 2005, Appendix 2, Lineage Charts, p.56 Figure A-2
14. Worldbank, Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics, January 2005, Appendix 2, Lineage Charts, p.57 Figure A-3
15. http://www.crdsomalia.org

• Muslim communities
• Somali clans
• Somali clans in Ethiopia