The 12 Koofi, more commonly known as Reer Marka, are a Somali confederation of clans inhabiting the city of

Merca Merca (, ) is the capital city of the Lower Shebelle province of Somalia, a historic port city in the region. It is located approximately to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home territory of the Bimal c ...

and other southern coastal towns of

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 ...

Overview

Reer Marka, also known as 12 Koofi are confederation of clans part of the larger confederacy Benadiri based in the southern port town of Marka. Members of this group of clans can also be found all over southern Somalia, especially coastal towns such as:

Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

, Baraawe,

Kismayo Kismayo (, , ; ) is a port city in the southern Lower Juba (Jubbada Hoose) province of Somalia. It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region. The city is situated southwest of the capital Mogadishu, near the mouth of the Jub ...

, Gendershe, Dhanaane,

Jilib Jilib is a city in the Middle Juba region of Somalia. It currently serves as the ''de facto'' capital of the Islamic Emirate of Somalia controlled by al-Shabaab. Jilib has an estimated population of around 100,000 inhabitants and covers an area ...

, Marka and Jaziira.

Language

Reer Marka or the 12 Koofi speak a very unique dialect of the

Somali language Somali is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Somalis, Somali people, native to Greater Somalia. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethio ...

even though Lamberti labelled this the Albakri(duruqbo) dialect the locals call it Mah doonte or Aff May Doonte.

Clan Tree

This group of clans originally was originally made up of 12 clans hence the name 12 Koofi ( Somali: 12 Hats/Caps), however over the last century the number of clan groups part of this confederacy has increased due to merchant clans settling in from Baraawe and

, also due to some of these Benadiri clans being counted as one and no longer are. In Pentano, 1910 he mentions the groups who live in

as: * Gameedle * Asharaf 'Alawi * Asharaf Al-Mahdali * Asharaf Al-Ahdali(Bin Hassan) * Reer Al-Ubeidi(Al-Khatib) * Al-Haatimi *

Duruqbo Duruqbo ( Somali: Duruqbo Arabic: دورقبو) are a Benadiri/ 12 Koofi clan mainly from the southern coastal cities of; Marka and Mogadishu and have established communities in the hinterlands in towns such as Qoryooley due to trading. Overvi ...

* Shanshiyo * Shukureere * Juunji * Kafaari * Reer Manyo * Shiikhaal Jaziira and Gendershe Patano also went on to mention in Marka there were Bravenese people from various clans living there also. According to Hassan Osman Ahmed's "La Citta' di Marka, I Biimaal e il Dominio Sulla Costa Somala" book 12 Koofi are split into 2 groups lixda gibil cad ( Somali: 6 lightskin) and lixda gibil madow ( Somali: 6 darkskin). These Groups are: * Gameedle *

* Shanshiyo * Haatim * Asharaf (Bin Hassan, Alawi and Mahdali) * Shiikhaal ( Jaziira and Gendershe) * Reer Manyo * Shukureere * Ahmed Nur * Kafaari * Juunji According to a more recent paper sent to the

Federal Government of Somalia The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS; , DFS; ) is the internationally recognised government of Somalia, and the longest running attempt to create a central government in Somalia since the collapse of the Somali Democratic Republic in 1991. It ...

the list elders came from 16 different clans and are as follow: * Ahmed Nur * Asharaf Alawi * Reer Manyo *

* Asharaf bin Hassan * Shukureere * Gameedle * Fasahaale (More commonly known as Kafaari) * Reer Khadiib * Haatim * Shanshiyo * Garjanti * Juunji * Shikhaal Jaziira * Shikhaal Gendershe * Shikhaal Aw Osman

Notable people

* Shaykh Ali Maye, a revered Sufi saint of the

clan, a yearly festival is held for him outside his shrine in Marka and it ends on the 5 of the Islamic month of Safar. * * Aw Osman Hassan, also known as Aw Usmaan Marki. Synonymous with the Benadiri town of

where there's saying "Marka 'Aday Mininka Aw Osman", which translates to as "White Marka House of Aw Osman". He is venerated in not only Marka but all over

Lower Shabelle Lower Shabelle (, , , ) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in southern Somalia. Geography Lower Shabelle is bordered by the regions of Banaadir, Middle Shabelle (Shabeellaha Dhexe), Hiran, Bay, Middle Jubba (Jubbada Dhexe) and by the ...

; there is a mosque named after him in the beginning of the city when coming from the former port where annual ziyaaros happen for Aw Usmaan. * Shaykh Mohamud Hassan, the ancestor of the Reer Ma'ow (Ba Muqtar) clan of the Reer Maanyo confederacy and annual festival is held for him. *Shaykh Muqtar *Shaykh Mohamed Shaykh Ali Maye, son of the revered Sufi saint Shaykh Ali Maye buried in Boondhere, Mogadishu.

References

{{reflist Ethnic groups in Somalia