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The Gurgura , Gorgorah or Gurgure (Template:Lang-so, Template:Lang-ar) is a Somali clan belonging to the larger and major Dir clan family. They inhabit large portions of Zone 4 in Ethiopia, also known as the Oromia region, also in the Somali region and Afar region of Ethiopia. The identity of the Gurgura was contentious for the city of Dire Dawa as they largely speak Affan Oromo, but trace their genealogy to Dir ( A Major Somali clan family).
Distribution
The Gurgura are of the Madahwein Dir, making them directly related to the Gurre and Gariire of the Madahwein. Also as a Dir sub-clan they thus have lineal ties with the Issa, Gadabursi, Biimaal, Bajimal, Quranyow-Garre, Surre, Madigan, Magadle and Bursuuk
History
Oromo political organizations sought to coerce the Gurgura people, who largely speak Oromiffa to identify themselves as Oromo, though they belong to the Dir clan family of the Somalis. Oromo political organizations claimed that ""the Gurgura people who speak Oromiffa belong to the Oromo nation and they only started to identify themselves with the Somali after the 1974 change of the Haile Selassie regime""
This is false since the Gurgura are mentioned in the Futuh Al Habasha : Conquest of Abyssinia as source dating back as far as the 16th century, by author: Shihabudin Ahmad bin Abd al-Qadir 'Arab Faqih or 'Arab Faqih. It is recorded that the Gurgura were Somalis who fought along side Ahmed Gran or Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi with knights, spear-men and foot-soldiers and their leader Garād 'Abd.
Thus making the identity of the Gurgura very contentious for the city of Dire Dawa as they largely speak Affan Oromo, but trace their genealogy to Dir ( A Major Somali clan family). On the ground to the dislike of the Oromo many prominent Gurgura, notables and elders have identified as Somali
References
- Verdier, Isabelle (1997-05-31). Ethiopia: the top 100 people. Indigo Publications. p. 13. ISBN 9782905760128.
- Lewis, I. M. (1998-01-01). Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho. Red Sea Press. ISBN 9781569021057.
At the end of the book "Tribal Distribution of Somali Afar and Saho"
- Sindjoun, Luc (2010-01-01). The Coming African Hour: Dialectics of Opportunities and Constraints. African Books Collective. p. 210. ISBN 9780798302302.
- ʻArabfaqīh, Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir (2003-01-01). The conquest of Abyssinia: 16th century. Tsehai Publishers & Distributors. pp. 120, 123 and 401.