Jidwaaq: the most misunderstood Somali clan

Jidwaaq is the most peaceful and misunderstood Somali clan....

Jidwaaq is the most misunderstood Somali clan. We include some background information and explain the obscurity of the Jidwaaq clan in the political spotlight, the media radar and everyday social context of the Somali society. The Jidwaaq clan resides in Jubaland State of Somalia and three provinces of the Ethiopia's Somali Region; Faafan, Jarar and Nogob provinces. It consists of three major subclans; Abaskuul, Bartire and Yabare.


A Peaceful Clan

Compared to other Somali clans, the Jidwaaq clan has been a peaceful clan since Garaad Wiilwaal, a 16th century Jidwaaq ruler based in Jijiga, presently the Ethiopia's Somali Region capital city. And Garaad Wiilwaal's Sultanate collapsed following knights' infighting, the Jidwaaq clan grew into a politically obscure clan among the Somali clans who usually vie for power. In Somali cafes and other areas Somalis gather for casual conversations known in Somali language, Fadhikudirir, peaceful fight, the Jidwaaq clan members either do not come or stay silent; and they rarely say that they belong to the Jidwaaq clan, a phenomenon that gives the wrong impression that Jidwaaq is a minority clan, ; the more members of a certain clan participate in Fadhikudirir, the more people believe that their certain clan is a major clan; paradoxically, the Jidwaaq clan makes three million of the seven million inhabitants in the Ethiopia's Somali Region.

Dulmidiid Movement

After years of corruption, murder, illegal imprisonment and other countless human rights violations engulfing the Ethiopia's Somali Region under president Abdi Mohamud Omar, famously known as Abdi Iley, the Jidwaaq clan organized a movement in the diaspora, mainly in America. The movement called as Dulmidiid, Persecution Resistance, was a peaceful struggle in the wake of the new Ethiopia under prime minister, Abiy Ahmed. Jidwaaq created an alliance with other Somali clans within the Dulmidiid Movement, which prompted the Federal Government of Ethiopia to intervene and capture Abdi Iley ending years of meyham and injustice. Now, Dulmidiid is the largest grassroots movement in the Ethiopia's Somali Region eclipsing Ogaden National Libration Front ((ONLF), which unsuccessfully engaged weak military confrontation with Ethiopian forces, finally relinquishing violence in 2018 after the Ethiopian government removed it from the list of the terrorist organizations.


References

"Abiy Ahmed: Ethiopia's prime minister." BBC, BBC, 9 July 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43567007. Accessed 16 Aug. 2018.

Maasho, Aaron. "Ethiopian rebel group declares ceasefire in wake of reforms." Reuters, 12 July 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-politics/ethiopian-rebel-group-declares-ceasefire-in-wake-of-reforms-idUSKBN1K22H0. Accessed 16 Aug. 2018.

"Somali Regional State." Ethiopian Government Portal, Ethiopian Government Portal, www.ethiopia.gov.et/somali-regional-state. Accessed 16 Aug. 2018.

The Geat Soviet Encyclopedia. , 2002.