Understanding something of the character of 'Abdurrahman Mursaal is also important, not only for appreciating the events which lay behind the Aulihan rebellion, but also for comprehending the critical fact of why other Somali groups failed to join his resistance to colonial rule. 'Abdurrahman Mursaal was the son of Mursaal bin Omar, an important Ogaden leader in Italian Somaliland. 30 The Aulihan chief and "holy man" came to the EAP after working for the Italian Benadir Company and running amiss of the Italian colonial administration. 31 'Abdurrahman Mursaal briefly served the Kismaayo [End Page 13] administration after 1896, when the British sent him and 18 constables to establish a customs post at Serenli. 32 He became a leader of an Ogaden rebellion in British territory in 1898, however, and was involved in the death of the Jubaland subcommissioner, A. C. W. Jenner in late 1900. 33 Nevertheless, the Reer Waffatu chief was soon working with the British again.
Much to the relief of anxious colonial authorities, the leaders of other Somali clans, who likewise experienced the indignities of British rule, refused to join 'Abdurrahman Mursaal. 37 Without doubt, part of the reason for their reticence lay in the already existing conflicts among the Somali clans, and had nothing to do with the Aulihan headman per se. To take the case of the Marehan, 'Abdurrahman Mursaal had supported a British attempt to disarm them in 1913 and, not surprisingly, the Marehan still had not forgotten his collaboration.
The Somalis proved so divided among themselves that the colonialists' fear of a united Somali front was never realized. The leader of the uprising, 'Abdurrahman Mursaal, had enlisted no allies before embarking on his reckless course. In fact, it was over a dispute with rival Marehan that he had come to blows with Elliot in the first place. Because of this, colonial representatives were able to find important allies among the Somalis
Believing themselves impartial and just, British administrators presided over Somali shirs, mediated dia disputes, settled bride-wealth cases, and decided rights to watering sites. Such intervention could become dangerous for frontier representatives since they lacked legitimacy in Somali eyes and were without the means to enforce their decisions. That this was part of the reason for the Aulihan uprising is evidenced by the fact that, after the sack of Serenli, 'Abdurrahman Mursaal wrote a letter to King George V complaining of Lieutenant Elliot's partiality to the Marehan. 27
The Aulihan, indeed, had paid a heavy price at the hands of the British punitive expedition. Not only did they lose many of their animals--and thus their means of subsistence--but also they had to surrender many of their leaders who were then either hanged or deported. Nonetheless, the campaign had not been a total success for the British. 'Abdurrahman Mursaal had eluded colonial troops and eventually escaped into Ethiopia with a small number of followers.Meanwhile, Marehan levies conscripted to help the British with the seized Aulihan stock had scrambled off with many captured animals to the embarrassment of colonial officials. More importantly, this inability to control the Marehan illustrated just how little control the colonial state exercised on the northeast frontier. This example of Somali resistance certainly would make the British think twice about imposing their dictates in the northeast for some years to come. Indeed, the presence of so-called recalcitrant Somalis there had much to do with the nature of the cession of Jubaland to Italy in 1925.
Source:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/northeast_ ... mpson.html