Surre (clan)

Surre
سري

Regions with significant populations
Somalia	n/a
Ethiopia	n/a
Languages
Somali and Arabic
Religion
Islam ^(Sunni)
Related ethnic groups
Biimaal, Gadabuursi, Isaaq, other Dir groups and Somali clans.

The Surre (Somali: Surre, Arabic: سري‎), also known as Dir Of central Somalia, is a central and southern Somali clan. It is a sub-division of the Dir.

History

In the Bari and Mudug regions of Somalia and all the way to Hiiraan region is a cluster of the Dir clans known as the Surre (Abdalle and Qebeys). The Surre have been associated with spreading the Islamic faith in Somalia and the Qadiriya Sufi tariiqa in southern Somalia. They left the Lafaruug area of Woqooyi Galbeed region where their founder was killed during the clashes with the Ethiopians and they were defeated. That last defeat forced the Biimal to flee to the Lower Shabeele region while the Surre (Abdalle and Qubeys) fled to Central and southern Somalia. The majority of western scholars (both Italian and British) simply referred to the Surre as the "Dir of central Somalia" without differentiating them, but recent studies in Somalia revealed that the majority of the Dir in Mudug Hiiran, Gedo and Jubba are divided into two branches, the Qubeys and Abdalle, both descendants of Surre.

As of 1996 the Surre were represented by the Southern Somali National Movement led by Abdi Aziz Sheikh Yusuf^[1] and Abdi Warsame Isak.

Distribution

Qubeys and Abdalles, both Surre subclans, inhabit central Somalia.The Saleban Abdalle^[2] clan is mainly local to Puntland especially in districts of Mudug region such as Galkayo, Tawfiiq and Jariiban while another cluster of Abdalle clan of mainly Fiqi Mohamad reside from Xeraale in Galgaduud all the way to Boholgaras of Gedo parallel to the Ethio-Somali border. The Qubeys clan is local to Galmudug where they live in a close vicinity to the Suleyman of Habar gidir a Hawiye clan that led to conflicts between the two over land disputes near Bacaadweyne and Cammaara, they also reside in Hiiran region and solely inhabit the commercial town of Kabhanley. While in Jamaame district of the Jubbada hoose region they reside side by side with their Biimaal brothers who are vastly predominant in that area.

References

1. "Somalia: Information on the militia and clan that has controlled Merca since 1993, whether the Somali National Alliance (SNA) controlled Merca, and whether the SNA recruited people from the Reer Hamar to their militia in 1995 in the Merca area". UNHCR Refworld. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 1 September 1996. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
2. http://www.angelfire.com/nb/geeskafrika/awad.html