Gadabuursi

The Gadabuursi (, ), also known as Samaroon, is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir.

Most Gadabuursi members are descendants of Sheikh Samaroon. However, Samaroon does not necessarily mean Gadabuursi, but rather represents only a sub-clan of the Gadabuursi clan family.

As a Dir sub-clan, the Gadabuursi have immediate lineal ties with the Issa of Djibouti, the Surre (Abdalle and Qubeys) of central/southern Somalia, the Biyomaal of southern Somalia, the Gaadsan, the Gurgure and the Isaaq.

In terms of subsistence patterns, the Gadabuursi are mainly sedentary agro-pastoralists, supplementing their cattle herding with cereal cultivation.Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha, , pp. 639 April 2011

Politically, the Gadabuursi are represented by the Somali Democratic Alliance (SDA). The former president of the northwestern Somaliland region of Somalia, Dahir Rayale Kahin, also hails from the Gadabuursi clan.

Distribution

The Gadabuursi are concentrated in northwestern Somalia and are the pre-dominant clan of the Awdal region. They primarily inhabit their traditional territories of Awdal, Salal (a new province carved out of Awdal) and parts of Gabiley.

The Gadabuursi are also found in Djibouti and the Somali Region in Ethiopia, where they almost exclusively inhabit both the Awbere district in the Jijiga Zone and the Dembel district in the Shinile Zone. Save the Children (2001), p. 8 (accessed 02...
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