Baraawe

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Baraawe
مدينة ﺑَﺮَﺍﻭَة
Baraawe
Baraawe (Somalia)
Baraawe
Baraawe
Coordinates 1 ° 7 '  N , 44 ° 2'  E Coordinates: 1 ° 7 '  N , 44 ° 2'  E
Basic data
Country Somalia

region

Shabeellaha Hoose
ISO 3166-2 SO-SH
Residents 32,800
Baraawe, 1985
Baraawe, 1985

Baraawe (also written Brava or Barawa ; other name Mwiini ) is a city in southern Somalia , in the Shabeellaha Hoose region . It is located on the Benadir coast on the Indian Ocean about 200 km south of Mogadishu .

Population and culture

The long-established residents of Baraawe, the Brawanese ( Bravanese ), form a separate ethnic group in Somalia, which is predominantly inhabited by Somali . Her ancestors include Arabs , Portuguese and others. They speak a dialect of Kiswahili called Chimwiini or ChiMwini , which includes words from Tunni, Maay, and Standard Somali. Her own name for the city is Mwiini or Nti ya Mbalazi . Many Brawans also have a command of Somali . Many have fled because of the civil war in Somalia since 1991.

Baraawe is known for its architecture and craft. The architecture is characterized by wide streets between the houses made of burnt coral lime and relatively large windows. Crafts include alindi cloth, special hats ( kofiya baraawi ) worn by dignitaries, traditional sandals, shields, belts and furniture. Gold and silver jewelry, metal beds, tea and coffee vessels, spears and arrows were made.

As a trading town, Baraawe linked caravan routes from the interior of the country to the Indian Ocean and maintained relationships with various rulers along the trade routes. Cattle, ivory, spices, amber , animal hides and slaves were traded via Baraawe .

history

Baraawe was one of the earliest cities of the Swahili culture on the East African coast. According to legend, it was "founded around 900 by Arabs from al-Hasa ". Different ethnic groups took turns in control of the city and together with traders from different areas became the ancestors of today's long-established population. Finally, the Tunni are said to have displaced the Jiidu to Qoryooley and concluded an agreement with them, according to which the Jiidu would settle west and the Tunni east of the Shabelle and would not tolerate any settlement by strangers. However, the Tunni are said to have allowed the settlement of Muslim-Arab immigrants (the Hatimi from Yemen and the Amawi from Syria) around the 10th century, and Baraawe became a prosperous trading city and a center of Islam. Al-Idrisi described the place in the 12th century as an Arab-Islamic "island" on the Somali coast.

In 1506, Baraawe was destroyed in a Portuguese attack and then came under Portuguese control. Later it could end the Portuguese rule. In 1822 the city placed itself under the rule of the Sultanate of Oman and from 1856 the Sultanate of Zanzibar . In 1840 the city was largely burned down when the strictly religious rulers of Baardheere tried to secure access to the sea. At the end of 1875 the city was briefly occupied by Egypt. From the end of the 19th century the Benadir coast came under the control of Italy, although in particular the important Qadiriyya Sheikh Uways al-Barawi resisted the colonial power.

In 1903, according to a count by the Italian journalist and anti-slavery activist Luigi Robecchi-Brichetti, 830 of the 3,000 inhabitants were slaves (cf. Somali Bantu ). In the hinterland, slaves were used as farm laborers on irrigated land. In particular, cotton was cultivated, which in the course of the 19th century replaced cotton imported from India as a raw material for local weaving.

The traditional weaving mill lost its importance in Baraawe, but also in other cities, because it was in competition with imports from the USA, Great Britain and Germany (later from India and Japan). In general, the colonial era began to decline as the city was neglected while the port facilities in Mogadishu and Merka were expanded. The neglect continued in independent Somalia after 1960. Politically, Baraawe was a stronghold of the Hizbia Dastur Mustaqil al-Sumal party , which was supported by the Rahanweyn clan and various minorities in southern Somalia.

Under Siad Barre , after the drought of 1974–1975, thousands of former nomads were settled in nearby Sablaale , where attempts were largely unsuccessful to retrain them to become farmers and fishermen. These newcomers changed the character of the city. At the beginning of the civil war , Baraawe was damaged by troops from Siad Barre on their retreat to the south in early 1991, and this was followed by looting and destruction by Mohammed Farah Aidid's troops . A large part of the long-established, militarily weak population left the country. The Brawanese arrived mainly by sea in refugee camps in Mombasa, Kenya . From there, thousands were relocated to the USA and Great Britain in the mid-1990s.

African Union troops above Baraawe 2014.

In 2009, Baraawe, like much of southern Somalia, was under the control of radical Islamists. On September 15 of this year, the suspected terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan was killed in a US air strike near the area .

On the night of October 4-5, 2013, the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group attacked an al-Shabaab base in Baraawe. The operation targeted a senior Shabaab leader believed to be in connection with the Westgate shopping mall attack . After a firefight, the attackers withdrew unsuccessfully. Since October 5, 2014, the place has been controlled again by troops from the central government and the African Union .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Mohamed Haji Mukhtar : Barawa. In: Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Scarecrow Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8108-4344-7 .
  2. ↑ a b Mohamed Kassim: Brava. In: Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. Volume 1, 2003, ISBN 3-447-04746-1
  3. ↑ a b Andreas Birken: The Sultanate of Zanzibar in the 19th century. Stuttgart 1971. p. 157.
  4. ^ Andreas Birken: The Sultanate of Zanzibar in the 19th century. Stuttgart 1971. p. 158.
  5. ↑ Robecchi-Brichetti, cited above. in Catherine Besteman: p. 55.
  6. ^ Edward A. Alpers: East Africa and the Indian Ocean. 2008, ISBN 978-1-55876-453-8 (pp.)
  7. ↑ Alpers 2008 (p. 89)
  8. ↑ Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos: Exodus and reconstruction of identities: Somali “minority refugees” in Mombasa
  9. ^ Center for Immigration Studies : Out of Africa - Somali Bantu and the Paradigm Shift in Refugee Resettlement. 2003.
  10. ^ Tristan McConnell: Top militant Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan 'killed' in helicopter raid on Somali village. In: Times Online. September 15, 2009.
  11. ↑ Kimberly Dozier, Abdi Guled, Jason Straziuso, Associated Press: US Forces Hit Extremists Behind E. Africa Attacks. ABC News, October 5, 2013, accessed October 6, 2013 .
  12. ↑ Nicholas Kulish, Eric Schmitt: US Says Navy SEALs Stage Raid on Somali Militants. The New York Times, October 5, 2013, accessed October 5, 2013 .
  13. ↑ Army in Somalia pushes Shabaab further back In: Deutsche Welle Online October 5, 2014.