Information on Yahhar also spelled Yibir. [SOM8655]
According to Mohamed Abdi Mohamed (
Mondes en
Développement 1989, 68), the Yibir may have been the
descendants of a Tzigane tribe who emigrated to the Somali coast.
This author adds that Somalis of the Abgaal and Reer Shebeeli
tribes were using names based on the word
Yibir
(
Ibid.). Abdi Mohamed mentions that Somalis were afraid of
members of the Yibir (or Yibro) (
Ibid., 67). The Yibir are
considered to be members of the Somali Jewish community
(
Ibid.). The Yibir are divided between the Madoobe Barsame
Gaaljecel and Sooraante Gaaljecel clans or tribes (
Ibid.
69).
In his book
A Pastoral Democracy, I. M. Lewis makes a
distinction between the Midgaan, the Tumaal, and the Yibir bondsmen
of northern Somaliland "...who, though known collectively by the
same name as that of the common ancestor of the Digil and
Rahanwayn, are quite distinct from them" (1961, 14).
Further information on this subject is currently unavailable to
the IRBDC in Ottawa.
Bibliography
Lewis, I.M., A Pastoral
Democracy, Published for the International African Institute,
London, 1961.
Mondes en Développement,
Tome 17. no. 66. 1989. Mohamed, Abdi Mohamed, "Croyances Populaires
et Religions Classiques en Somalie".