The Reer Barre (or Rer Shabelle) are a tribe in the Gedo region of the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Ogaden Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled ''Ogadēn''; , ) is one of the historical names used for the modern Somali Region. It is also natively referred to as Soomaali Galbeed (). The region forms the eastern portion of Ethiopia and borders Somalia ...

region on the Shabele River, near

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, who currently speak Somali. Historically farmers, a small number of Reer Barre are pastoralist, mostly keeping cows and goats and are usually residents of eastern cities of Ethiopia, such as Jijiga, Gode, Kelafo, Far-libah, Feerfeer, Mustahiil, along with more cities and towns in different parts of the Somali Regional state of Ethiopia. These tribes are unknown to the government of Ethiopia so far, regardless of the country's ethnic based federalism who has no stock of its ethnic group. They are a large family who also have a large population in the Shabelle region, Somalia. ''Reer'' means "family" and ''Barre'' is a name, altogether meaning "Barre family". They are descendants of Barre Abdille.

Language and origins

Their unattested but apparently non-Somali language seems to have been first mentioned in print by Lionel Bender in 1975: Others have linked the Reer Barre to the Bantu language family, implying that they may be the remnants of a Bantu-speaking pre-Somali population or, like the " Somali Bantu" in the Jubba River valley of southern

, the descendants of Bantu slaves imported from other parts of East Africa in the 19th century, but this one seems to be false. Tobias Hagmann refers to them as "Somalised Bantu".Hagmann, Tobias (2005): , Briefing for Review of African Political Economy Vol. 32, No. 103, p. 5 According to Ulrich Braukämper: A British hunter, Colonel Swayne, who visited Imi in February 1893, relates that he was the guest of Gabba Oboho, a chief of the Adona, for several days.H. G. C. Swayne
"A Trip to Harar and Imé", ''Geographical Journal''
2 (September 1893), p. 251 Reer Shabeele clan is also divided into 9 sub-clans including Isse, Gasar, Ali Maad, Duube digil, Baajimaal Mohammed, Maadle Guuled, Dagiine Digil, Geedow Ahmed, Muddora'do.

References

Bibliography

* Bender, M. L. ''The Ethiopian

Nilo-Saharan The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of around 210 African languages spoken by somewhere around 70 million speakers, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributari ...

s''. Artistic Printers,

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

1975.

External links

* Ahmed Yusuf Farah,

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Permanent Agricultural Settlements Along The Webi Shabelle River In Gode Zone Of The Ethiopian Somali National Regional State (1995)
(PDF) Ethnic groups in Ethiopia Unattested languages of Africa {{Africa-ethno-group-stub