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Sheikh Bashir Haji Yusuf
(Shiekh Bashir Haji Yussuf)1905-1945 was Somali hero who stood up against British colonialist and was killed in action at Gumburlibah, southeast of Burao in 1945.

Sheikh Bashir was born round 1905 in in the camp of Dervishes. His father Haji yusuf Fiqi Abdi was a well-known Sheikh and member of the top Dervish council (Qususi). It has been said, when Bashir was born Sayed Mohammed said, this boy will Insha’Allah terrorize an infidels. Bashir grew up in the Dervish camp and completed his early education including memorizing Qur’an and science of jurisprudence in Dervish Madrasa. Though unfortunately, the Dervish fire was extinguished before Bashir was able to involve in combat, his experience in his other family members combating, and father’s involvement in the top decision making council or Qususi, had affected him so deeply from an early age and sown the seed of desire to driving the infidels out of his land. When Dervish struggle is finally crushed, his family settled in BEER, 30 miles east of Burao, where they encountered systematic abuses which involved direct verbal abuses, property confiscations and deprivation of resources, for partaking the Dervish movement. Whilst Bashir was still young and was growing up in Beer and Burao, he had practically witnessed all the negative things the Sayed had taught them regarding the white infidels. This involved for example, if a member of a tribe committed a crime, the whole tribe was punished for the crime. The authority imposed an unfair taxes on people. Such taxes were for example, people were required to pay tax if they were supposed to water their animals from their own wells. How I am I required to pay money from drinking my own water one man said. Since there was no proper judiciary in the land as yet, whipping and property confiscation was the prevailing punishment system readily used by the authority. It became unacceptable to Bashir how an alien white man could suddenly become the master of his own land and inflict such humiliations to his own people, while the natives of the land are treated as a second class or even less. To the young Bashir this was an outright demonstration of all the things Sayed Mohamed preached and fought against. As result he developed resentment towards them and longed the day when they will be driven out from the country. But was unsure whose job was it to undertake such responsibility. Haji Yusuf finally left Beer and went to Makkah taking young Bashir who had great passion for holy land with him. After they had completed their Hajj duties, Bashir sow the opportunity to increasing his knowledge of Islam from those eminent doctors of Islam and thus stayed in Makkah and Madinah for number of years. He had learned from many well-known religious specialists in Makkah and Medina at the time. He also learned from those experts how the Muslims are conquered and their lands divided by the same infidels who divided and colonized Somalia.

Finally, Sheikh Bashir came back to Somaliland with zeal of liberating the country from the heathens. It was a time when the wounds of the Dervish wars were still healing and the people were very wary of any person preaching hate against the administration. Particularly, if such person was from the religious community, he was instantaneously labeled as trouble maker. The Sheikh did not help himself either, by reciting the polemics of the Sayed and thus exposing his connections to that hated Dervishes. This situation hindered his early successes and he had to struggle many years in gaining the trust of the people. He travelled throughout Somaliland and beyond and had in the end managed to bring a kind of fluid organization together, for his purpose. He then engaged the enemy by surprising them and then disappearing without trace, and he was successfully doing this for number of years.

However, in 1945, the brave leader, Shiekh Bashir Haji Yussuf, organized one final battle to finally capture Burao and kill all the white infidel Officials, including the District and police Commissioners, army officials and all the rest who resided in Burao. He moves his troops from Ainabo - about two hundred miles from the east, on Lories, disguised as religious party visiting Burao for a holy occasion. He planned to surprise the city by capturing the people in charge and then pacifying the barracks by little force. To execute such plan, the Sheikh divided his troops into units and put them in place covering all his targets, and ordered them not to fire until he gives them the go ahead. He then proceeded with a small band to the district commissioner’s mansion, quickly surrounded the house and then moved to the front door in person and nocked. His aim was to bring the commissioner right into the door and then shoot him in point blank. He believed if he did that, the rest will fall quickly. Unfortunately, the commissioner was already awake and had by this time sensed the silhouette movements of the men outside his windows. When the Sheikh knocked the door and called out the name of the commissioner, the commissioner responded with warning saying if he does not leave the door immediately he was going to shoot them. When he realized the Commissioner was not coming to door, he aimed his gun where he thought the voice of the commissioner was coming from and fired number of shots and as result wounded the commissioner. But the commissioner fought back and had managed to put up big fight and keep those bandits at bay. The fire fight had alerted everybody and as result both the police and army headquarters guards noticed the army surrounding them. Hundreds of rounds were fired by all parties and the British side was initially taken by surprise and as a result had many loses. However, they soon regrouped and kept firing. As he always did, before the British regrouped and attacked him, he managed to move with his troops during the night and retreated to his domain. When the dawn broke out, the authority made an announcement of substantial reward for any information about who attacked the city the night before. Soon the authority received the information they were looking for, and the Sheikh became their main target. As always happened, when an operation is carried out, the fluid army as I mentioned before, would retire to their families temporarily and will undertake their personal businesses and will only come back when they are called for another operation. Thus, the Sheikh was left on his own with only a few units of his devotees and council men. Meanwhile, the British pulled all the resources available including air reconnaissance and soon located the Sheikh’s headquarters in Gumburlibah south of Beer. Then they launched an invasion from three sides and the poor Sheikh was soon surrounded. Bashir’s little force was outnumbered, possibly by 100s. These men held a number of hills, which rose steeply from the light bush beside the wide sandy riverbed, which is known Tog-dheer. There was a few to cover a front of 900 yards, and the most of them had been in action before; but were his determined that no British troops should force their way unchallenged and the fight they put up was a lesson in determination which the British troops signally failed to emulate. Bashir himself was in his natural element when fighting out in the bush, but here he was given a position to hold and, however much stuff the British showered on him. He had no opportunity of using his bush tactics. He just to stay put and take it, and certainly he did this and others well and died in dignity. The British campaign against him provide abortive after several defeats as his forces kept on moving from one place to another to avoid any permanent location. No sooner had the expedition left for the area, the news traveled fast among the Somali nomads across the plain. The war had exposed the British administration to humiliation especially Mr Jember and his team. The government (the as quite cabinet) came to conclusion one time that another expedition against him would be useless; that they build a railway, make roads and effectively occupy the whole of the protectorate, or else abandon the interior completely. The letter course was decided upon, and during the first months of 1945, the advance posts wren withdrawn and the British administration confined to the coast town i.e. Berbera. Shiekh Bashir, settled many disputes among the tribes in the vicinity, this kept them from raiding each other, and was generally thought to be the side of Islamic Sharia. He accredited with the possession of supper nation of supernatural powers he gathered around him a strong following. Sough after he was eventually killed and became a martyr held in great reverence. The impression then among the British colonial officials in Burao, was the teachings of Farah Omaar of nationalism still remained and were not extinguished. The British administration had managed to recruit and brought Indian and South African troops to fight against him and had intelligence plans to capture him alive. Those who claimed they had participated the war against him felt cheated of victory and wither away out on the volt than to welcome them back to the fold with a promise rewards. The British administration did not offer back compensation to the families who lost their love once (Muqadamin). Nevertheless, this appreciation is not compensation for the family’s disappointment and abhorrence of the policy of the British government towards the death of Shiekh. Literary struggle of poems called for the people to rise against the colonial policies and revenge for the corpse of Sheikh Bashir which was refused for burial and displayed instead as an exhibition in Polyneices’ punishment where his body was kicked and spat upon as a tactic to intimidate and humiliate the people. Haji Adan Afqaloc, a native of Erigavo composed two historic national poems. “Raqdii Bashiir”, “The Corpse of Bashiir” and “Gobonimodoon” while in Burco Jail. (Interestingly enough, Mahatma Gandhi and Kwami Nkurumah had been to Bur’o jail.) Previously, the rise of Sheikh Bashir came after the colonial adminstration punished the Habarjeclo by confiscating one thousand of their camels and charging extortionate money for the release of each camel. His struggle was short-lived after units of police officers attacked his fort and killed him and all of his followers. The poem in English goes:

Sheikh Bashir was hanged in daylight, at a house near you, His body torn out by bullets, May Allah curse them, they uprooted a massive shading tree He was folded in sheet and still covered with wet blood, His enemy and infidels came to view him with contempt. They kicked and insulted him

When the unwashed body was thrown outside, And refused burial, you were all a witness.

There were others killed playfully, About which nothing was done Qayb-diid is not yet forgotten and his bones are still releasing fat. Though an old man, Farah was sent to jail And now like a beggar he roams the outside world They refused him rights over his family and wealth The unjust man (British) is punishing everybody.

What the English always wanted, the people of India refused The houses of Punjab and the gold that they hoarded there have been denied to them Now they look back at them with nostalgia

The celebration is for Muhammad Ali (Jinnah of Pakistan) And the French are leaving Syria that they conquered They withdrew from Beirut, and Lebanon.

Many ships will arrive at our ports, They will bring here (Somaliland) all the dirt left by the flood, The place where you pasture Daawad (the land), the infidels will settle, A man who owns a car and an aero-plane will force you to work on his farms, Few would survive such humiliation.