SUMMARY

The Abdalle subclan of Habar Awal clan (Isaaq) (also known as Abdalle subclan of Hawadle) is part of the Isaaq clan family. 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. Concretely, the Abdalle subclan of Habar Awal is located primarily in and around Wajaale town in north-western Somalia, close to the Ethiopian border.

The Habar Awal played an important role in the non-state conflicts that shook Somaliland in the first half of the 1990s, mainly because of the group’s clear support for Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, who was the second President of Somaliland.

The complexity of the Somali clan system limits the amount of information available on the different subclans. Indeed, there are several perspectives on the lineage charts, namely a northern, a central and a southern one. Furthermore the different subclans often disagree about their origins. Genealogy is often passed to the next generation orally and is not kept in any written form. Consequently, there also exist various different spellings for each clan and subclan name.

Abdalle subclan of Habar Awal clan (Isaaq) has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.