SomaliNet Forums

Who are the Gabaweyn (also known as Gabwing or Gobaweyn)? Are they Somali, Oromo, or Jareer? Is it true that the Barre administration evicted them from their land and gave it to the Marehan?

I think they are Rahanwein of some type. They associate with them. Barre did not exactly evict them from their lands but like all other minorities their lands were seized by Somalis during the 70's because it as very fertile and farming was becoming the shit back in the days. Because they live in Gedo though, it was Barres clan that did most of the forced eviction and of course the Gabaweyns cries were not heard, ignored or they didnt even cry at all because they obviously knew no justice would be forthcoming. Most of them live in Kenya now. Very sad, what people dont realise is the Somalia we knew was not made up of only ethnic Somalis. Culture, way of life and everything else went hand in hand with the minorities living with us...after the civil war since so many were evicted or chose to leave, I dont know what sort of Somalia this new one will turn out to be. The colors of our country will be pretty bland because it was the minorites who added so much into what Somalia was

The Gabaweyn were kicked out of Gedo many years ago. Around 1920-30, the Gabaweyn used to live on the border of Gedo and Ethiopia and some lived right next to where the Juba river entered from Somalia. The Gabaweyn were sort of slaves or workers for the Italians, they were used for farming etc. Their lineage is not known, they speak Somali. They are not Raxanweyn or Dir. During 1920/30 a Uurmidig (Marehan) man who lived in Luuq Ganaane (his name was Farax Bille) told the Italians that the people of Gedo (Marehans) did not want the gabaweyn to settle in Gedo. The Italians refused to listen to the man. The leader of gabaweyn was called Umar Meeyo, Farax Bille the Uurmidig guy then ignored the Italians and killed the leader of Gabaweyn Umar Meeyo. Since the guy was killed many Gabaweyn workers started to leave the border and riverine side of Gedo. They at present day live in Ethiopia, some of them have migrated towards Bakool. The Marehans call them sixiroole people, they weren't religious people. They were seen as filth.

1920s??? Are you sure?

Mckuus wrote:1920s??? Are you sure?

Yes.

This is just a FOB story to degrade Mohamed Siyad Barre, its FAKE story. Only a fool believes in these stories.

Siad Barre had time to worry about who owns farms in Gedo....yeah right. Why would the owner and the liberator of Gedo steal farms when they own it themselves.

Just go to Gedo, travel from top to bottom, speak to elders about history of Gedo. Then you will get the REAL picture. Don't bring me here these anti-Siyad Barre stories.

The Gobawein (Bantu) and Gasaargude (cultural elite of the Raxanweyn) were the former more prominent non-Marehan groups and they have been sidlined in the region since 1920's. In 1991, they supported the USC against Marehan and when Marehan expelled the USC invaders from the Jubba Valley, of course those that supported them face reprisal including forced eviction from wherever else they were left in the region however generally though by that time there was a lot most none to nothing.

As for all this revisionist history, somethem will even tell you Marehan were "moved into Gedo" by "Siad Barre" when we have historical references about Marehan being the most dominant group in the land even before Italian colonization. I learned never to trust what a miskiin liberal white ethnographer writes using local sources full of bias and revisionist history and because this is a third world, Black African society there is no reason for them to even waste time double-checking sources and correlating information. It's a waste of time.

Voltage wrote:The Gobawein (Bantu) and Gasaargude (cultural elite of the Raxanweyn) were the former more prominent non-Marehan groups and they have been sidlined in the region since 1920's. In 1991, they supported the USC against Marehan and when Marehan expelled the USC invaders from the Jubba Valley, of course those that supported them face reprisal including forced eviction from wherever else they were left in the region however generally though by that time there was a lot most none to nothing.

As for all this revisionist history, somethem will even tell you Marehan were "moved into Gedo" by "Siad Barre" when we have historical references about Marehan being the most dominant group in the land even before Italian colonization. I learned never to trust what a miskiin liberal white ethnographer writes using local sources full of bias and revisionist history and because this is a third world, Black African society there is no reason for them to even waste time double-checking sources and correlating information. It's a waste of time.

I see. Thanks for the input, but are they really Bantu? Most sources claim that they are Rahanweyn or some weird Cushitic type outcast group rather than Jareer. So which is true? I have seen ethnographers erroneously claim that Tuni and Boon are Bantu as well, while this is incorrect.

"Raxanweyn" is a political grouping for all the groups in the south who weren't part of the traditional nomadic herding clans. It includes everything from pre-Somaloid like the Eyle (hunter-gatherers), to agro-pastoralist ethnic Somalis, to Bantu groups, to remnants of coastal Swahilis.

Have you ever encountered Gabaweyn people? I somehow doubt they are Jareer since they lived historically that far inland.

I guess you don't know anything about Somalia. Somali Bantu lived as far in land as the Shabelle Valley inside Ethiopia past Feerfeer and Mustaxiil. One of the principal groups living in Beled-Weyne and into Ogaden are the Makane, a Somali Bantu group.

The Gobaweyn, Shiidle, Makane, reer Shabelle, and Kaboole are the earlier Swahili slave trade Somali Bantu from hundreds of years ago. They are completely Somalized. They are different from the Gosha and Mushunguli who came through colonialism and still speak their languages and have their identity. Most Somalis are familiar with the latter group who are less assimilated and live near the coast in Lower Shabelle and Jubba, but the people who lived near them are familiar with all.

Wherever the two rivers crossed inside Somalia, Somali Bantu toiled on the land.

They could be Nilotic/Omotic people from Sudan/Southwest Ethiopia.

''D. W. Mcclure, Sr. first reported to me the presence of Sudanese immigrants on the Wabi Shebelle River at Gode in the eastern Ogaden. They are said to have their own language, bearing the given name [Rerebere]. Later Taye Reya informed me that Sudanese immigrants are found along the Ganale and Dawa Rivers as well, and that they are referred to by the Somali as rer bare.''
- The Ethiopian Nilo-Saharans , M.L. Bender, p.74

Who moderates this section?