SUMMARY

Rer Liban subclan (Issaq) is part of the Isaaq clan family; as such, Rer Liban is part of the Somali ethnic group. The Isaaq, which is one of the five overarching clan families in Somalia, is located in northern Somalia in the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. The Rer Liban also reside across the Ethiopian border in the Somali Region, for example in the Harshin woreda (subdivision). The Rer Liban engage in both farming and pastoralism, but compared to the neighboring Rer Samatar subclan they have a higher reliance on farming. Disagreement over farm allotment vis-à-vis cattle movement has caused tension and fighting between the Rer Liban and Rer Rer Samatar. According to Somali tradition, Rer Liban is senior to Rer Samatar; however, the latter of the two is much larger, and is considered one of the more powerful Habr Awal subclans. As a result, Rer Liban has on occasion cooperated with Rer Abene and Rer Abdulle in order to counter the influence of Rer Samatar.

During the conflict between the Government of Somalia and SNM, Rer Liban – alongside several other Habr Awal clans - supported the latter. Following the de facto declaration of independence for the Republic of Somaliland, the Somaliland president formed a coalition of smaller subclans (including Rer Liban) to counteract the more powerful clans, such as Rer Samatar. As such, the relationship between Rer Liban and Rer Samatar was negatively affected by politics in the Republic of Somaliland.

The complexity of the Somali clan system limits the amount of information available on the different sub-clans. Furthermore, the different sub-clans often disagree about their origins, and genealogy is often passed to the next generation orally without written records.