Banadir resistance

Banadir resistance

Italians and Somali colonial troops fighting against the Bimaal at Danane.
Date1888–1924[2]
Location
Horn of Africa, southern Italian Somalia
Result Italian victory
Insurgency suppressed
Belligerents
 Kingdom of Italy Bimali rebel forces
Wa'daan rebel forces[1]
Commanders and leaders

Giacomo Trevis

Lieutenant Gustavo Pesenti

Sheikh Abdi Abikar Gaafle Ma’alin Mursal Abdi Yusuf

Haji ibrahim Gaashan
Casualties and losses
~10,000[3] Unknown

The Banadir resistance, also known as the Bimaal revolt, Merca revolt, or simply the Bimaal resistance, was a guerrilla war that lasted from the 1890s to 1924, opposing Italian colonial expansion in southern Somalia.The Biyamaal resistance and their sieges of Merca, and the Italian authority's retribution, continued unabated for many years. It was heightened when, in November 1896, while on a pleasure trip, Consul Antonio Cecchi [it], the Societá del Benadir administrator and also the de facto governor of Southern Somaliland, and his lieutenants, were ambushed at Lafoole, a small village a few kilometres from Afgooye, south of Muqdisho, by Wa'daan and Biyamaal fighters, who killed 14 of them, including Cecchi.

Originating primarily from the Bimaal clan,[4] the resistance was most active in the Lower Shebelle, Banadir and Middle Shebelle regions. Its intensity and significance have drawn comparisons to the Somali Dervish Movement.[4]

  1. ^ Carpanelli & Scovazzi 2020, p. 88-89.
  2. ^ Kusow, Abdi (2004). Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Contested Nationalism and the Crisis of the Nation-state in Somalia. Red Sea Press. ISBN 978-1-56902-202-3.
  3. ^ Carpanelli, Elena; Scovazzi, Tullio (2020)
  4. ^ a b Ciisa-Salwe, Cabdisalaam M. (1996-01-01). The collapse of the Somali state: the impact of the colonial legacy. HAAN. p. 19. ISBN 9781874209270.